Report: Major increases in funding have not improved special education outcomes

Nov. 14—Outcomes for students with disabilities in New Mexico's public schools remain poor despite huge increases in special education investments in the past decade, a new legislative report shows.

Neither individual school districts nor the state Public Education Department emerged unscathed in the program evaluation presented Tuesday morning to the Legislative Finance Committee.

The report found many public schools failed to fully utilize state and federal dollars for students with disabilities and that the department failed to adequately oversee and standardize the implementation of federally mandated special education services across districts.

With $716 million from the state and $119 million in federal dollars flowing toward special education this fiscal year — and a newly established Office of Special Education within the Public Education Department — lawmakers heard from evaluators and top state education officials about how to leverage recent infusions of funding to improve student outcomes.

"A billion dollars just for special ed — and you can't get it done? It's not for a lack of money; it might be for a lack of trying or a lack of knowledge or a lack of training," said committee Chairman Sen. George Muñoz, D-Gallup.

He continued, "I'm on your team, so you need to tell me how we need to give you a hammer and an ax and say, 'You're going to do this.' "

Only two-thirds of disabled students in New Mexico public schools graduate from high school, state data shows. In 2013, about 5% of the state's fourth graders with a disability were proficient in reading. By 2022, that number dropped to just 3%.

In the same 10-year period, however, per-student spending on students with disabilities increased by 60%, from just over $6,500 in 2013 to nearly $10,500 in 2023.

Although the rate of disabled students in New Mexico also increased in the past decade — from 13% in 2013 to 17% in 2023, surpassing the national average — the data makes one thing clear: The state hasn't yet seen a return on its recent investments.

"There are clearly a lot of resources not being utilized fully. We're willing and able to invest additional resources, but we need to have that expertise ... to be as confident as possible in what these investments will yield," said Rep. Nathan Small, D-Las Cruces.

The program evaluation offers a few recommendations to make that money count.

First, the report indicates school districts are not using "ample available resources" to their full potential. Since 2018, evaluators found schools have underspent special education dollars by an average of $105 million annually across the state.

Part of that underspending is likely due to vacant teacher positions. The state is short about 270 special education teachers, according to the latest teacher vacancy report from the Southwest Outreach Academic Research Evaluation and Policy Center at New Mexico State University.

However, the lack of special education teachers is not due to a lack of teachers with special education licenses, said Sarah Rovang, a program evaluator for the Legislative Finance Committee: Some 1,300 teachers holding special education licenses across the state are teaching general education courses.

"Special education teacher shortages are less about the lack of licensed teachers and more about an inability to attract existing teachers," said Clayton Lobaugh, another program evaluator.

The evaluation recommends districts offer stipends to attract licensed teachers to special education, citing Santa Fe Public Schools' decision to provide teachers in some special education classrooms with $10,000, $15,000 or $20,000 stipends — rather than outsourcing the jobs to a contractor.

Additionally, the evaluation advised stronger oversight by the Public Education Department and districts failing to adhere to Individualized Educational Plans, which outline necessary services for each student with a disability.

Abiding by students' IEPs is not optional; it's required under federal law.

That requirement was reaffirmed in 2018 with the landmark state District Court decision in the Yazzie/Martinez lawsuit, in which a judge determined the state failed to provide sufficient education to several groups of students, including those in special education.

The Public Education Department is tasked with overseeing schools' implementation of special education services, and the agency's new Office of Special Education — established in May by an executive order from Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham — will serve as a repository for data, dispute resolution resources, professional development and technical assistance related to special education.

The program evaluation determined 92% of complaints investigated by the Public Education Department identified instances of noncompliance with special education requirements, requiring corrective action. And the state doesn't have a standardized process for managing IEPs, rendering the sharing of information across districts more difficult.

Students in special education — particularly Black and Hispanic students in such programs — also face disciplinary action at higher rates than their peers in general education, Rovang told lawmakers Tuesday.

Several of these challenges are on the Office of Special Education's to-do list, said Margaret Cage, the new director of the office. She plans to divide the state into five sections, assigning a team to each to provide professional development for educators and advocacy resources to parents, she said.

The state has plans to release a standardized IEP template this spring, Cage added.

"It is extremely crucial and one of my passions to make sure that we are receiving a return on our investment — and on your investment — for all the money that you are pouring into special education programs," she told lawmakers.