The Seattle Times (Editorial)

Washington state is where laws guaranteeing education for students with disabilities got their start back in 1971. Before then, kids who had trouble reading, walking, or hearing were largely ignored by schools, with lifelong consequences. So it is a particularly bitter irony that this state, despite its forward-looking rhetoric, has been such a laggard in actually paying to educate children with special needs. Chris Reykdal, the Superintendent of Public Instruction, says school districts are annually shelling out $500 million more for these legally mandated services than the state is providing. Generally, that means they are squeezing funds intended for sports, activities and other programs to make up the difference. Meanwhile, 171,000 kids with disabilities trudge through their K-12 years. Their ranks just keep growing as outcomes languish. For instance, though graduation rates have improved slightly since 2017, eight years after leaving high school, an astonishing 88% of special education students have neither a college degree nor a trade credential. Is the problem a lack of money or poor programming? Experts say it’s both.