Zachary Suri, Contributing Photographer

BRIDGEPORT & HARTFORD — Since the pandemic, school districts in Connecticut have seen large increases in the number of special education students.

Two weeks ago, legislators from the state’s Select Committee on Special Education convened for the third of four stops on their “listening tour” of Connecticut in a half-full ballroom at Housatonic Community College in Bridgeport.

“Special education is not going to be so special if everyone is in it,” Joy Colon, a teacher in Stamford Public Schools and a member of the Trumbull Town Council, told legislators.

For nearly two hours, teachers, parents and administrators recalled similar circumstances in schools across Southwestern Connecticut, from Stamford to New Haven. A number teared up recounting their experiences trying to get their students the special education services they are guaranteed by federal law. Speaker after speaker touched on one of the most controversial aspects of Connecticut’s special education system: private, out-of-district special education facilities.

Districts in Connecticut spend millions of dollars each year to send special education students to 88 private special education schools in the state. According to Rep. Maryam Khan, around 75 percent of these out-of-district facilities are nonprofits, but the other 25 percent are for-profit entities, many of which are owned by private equity firms.

Analisa Robertson, a special education teacher in Stamford Public Schools, expressed her concerns about outplacements to legislators.

“Districts should be creating their own special ed academies, where we can have therapeutic environments and don’t have to pay such outrageous fees,” Robertson said.

Rising costs

New Haven Public Schools alone spends $30,106,429 annually to educate around 285 special education students in private special education facilities, according to NHPS Communications Director Justin Harmon. The district spends millions each year on transportation to these facilities alone.

According to Harmon, the cost of these out-of-district placements has increased in the last few years, as has the number of students who need them.

For many district leaders and policymakers, the reasons for these cost increases remain unclear. 

“The costs appear to us to be rising rapidly,” Harmon wrote to the News. “The number of students identified as having learning disabilities has increased over time. As to the price of special education services, this is a good question to ask one or more of the providers.”

Rep. Maryam Khan, a former special education teacher and Deputy Majority leader, expressed concern about the rising costs of out-of-district special education placements. This issue is affecting districts across the state, both rural and urban, she said.

Connecticut has long relied on private special education providers, although a number of states do not. The costs for both nonprofit and for-profit private special education placements have gone up significantly in recent years, Khan said.

There have been no legislative changes to staffing ratios which would explain the rising costs, Khan said. Any increased costs due to inflation would also affect public school staffing costs, but the state’s public schools have not registered such increases, she added.

“I don’t see a reasonable kind of explanation right now that could explain [those] costs,” Khan said. “I am hearing some of them say that they are struggling to make their budgets. So I just don’t understand what has happened there that has changed.”

In his biennial budget address earlier this month, Governor Ned Lamont called for $14 million in state grants to incentivize districts to invest in in-district special education programs. He also proposed capping the cost of out-of-district placement. These programs would not come into effect until the second year of the two-year budget cycle.

Although the governor was concerned about additional spending this fiscal year, on Wednesday, Senate President and New Haven Senator Martin Looney and Speaker of the House Matt Ritter announced a plan to direct $40 million in surplus from this fiscal year to reimburse districts for some of the costs of special education.

Despite ongoing disputes over spending, state action is needed urgently, the speakers in Bridgeport argued last Tuesday.

“We need more financial support from the state of Connecticut,” Leslie Blatteau, president of the New Haven Federation of Teachers, told legislators.

She called on the state to revise the Education Cost Sharing formula to account for special education costs, expand state grants to cover special education costs and cap student-teacher ratios for special education students.

Blatteau emphasized the importance of increased state regulation of out-of-district special education schools.

“Tuition increases are skyrocketing, and we can’t keep up. And we’re very concerned about takeover by private equity firms,” Blatteau said. “Why are private corporations preying on vulnerable students and trying to make a profit? This is exactly why we need government to intervene.”

Regulation

According to Khan, the Connecticut State Department of Education does approve private special education facilities, but much of the onus for regulation and supervision rests on individual school districts.

“If you’re a large district, like New Haven or Hartford, and you have students going to 25 different providers … there’s no way that you can go and do site visits throughout the year,” she said. “The staffing that would be required of a local district to be able to do that is not there.”

State inspectors, she said, are few and far between, and special education advocates have expressed concern that their recommendations are not enforced.

“We visit each facility to learn about its program and infrastructure. We oversee the placement process for individual students. The Connecticut State Department of Education provides oversight and monitoring for special education programs; we work from their list of approved providers,” Harmon wrote the News on behalf of NHPS, an account seemingly counter to  Khan’s concerns. 

The state’s Taskforce to Study Special Education Services and Funding, of which Khan was a member, recommended in May that districts reinvest in new in-district programs.

Khan expressed confidence that the governor’s proposal would encourage in-district programs but agreed with advocates that additional support is necessary this year, not just the next.

Blatteau also expressed support for the governor’s efforts to encourage special education in students’ home districts.

At the Bridgeport meeting, however, some parents and teachers praised outplacement facilities as providers of critical educational services.

According to Tom Cosker, an advocate for Disability Rights CT, Connecticut has the highest rate of out-of-district placements for special education students, with more than 6 percent of special education students sent out of their districts.

Both for-profit and nonprofit out-placement facilities are a problem, but for-profit out-placement schools are particularly problematic, Cosker said. These schools focus too much on profit, not on student outcomes, he argued, often relying on staff that are not certified to provide special education services.

Cosker praised the governor’s proposals, but said they would fall short of meeting the needs in the state. He is also worried an increase in state reimbursements for special education costs could fuel further outplacements.

Disability Rights CT is a federally designated Protection and Advocacy Organization for people with disabilities in the state.