SpEd services are mandated by federal law, including the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), and judicial decisions, such as the Supreme Court’s ruling in Endrew F. v. Douglas County School District. Under the law, students with disabilities are entitled to a Free Appropriate Public Education (FAPE). 

However, SpEd services are severely underfunded across urban school districts, with estimates suggesting that many districts face funding shortfalls of 50-60%. The Council of the Great City Schools has reported that some of its member districts face significant gaps in meeting IDEA obligations, while the National Education Association (NEA) highlights a nationwide shortfall of $23.6 billion. Despite IDEA’s requirement for federal funding to cover 40% of the additional costs, the reality has consistently fallen short, with federal contributions covering only 14-16%. Additionally, research by the Center for American Progress (CAP) highlights how underfunding, particularly in high-needs districts, exacerbates educational inequities and disproportionately impacts students with disabilities. Such gaps have led to increased financial burdens on local districts, often forcing them to reallocate funds from other programs to cover mandated services.

Failure to adequately support SpEd students has long-term consequences that extend beyond education. Students with IEPs (Individualized Education Programs) are disproportionately represented in the school-to-prison pipeline, facing higher rates of incarceration and homelessness as adults. This group is more likely than almost any other to require extensive city resources in adulthood, from homelessness prevention to incarceration and beyond. Investing in SpEd now is crucial to breaking this cycle and preventing lifelong inequities.

If elected, I will work with our Sacramento and Washington D.C. legislative delegations to advocate for increased funding for SpEd and to raise awareness of the far-reaching consequences of underfunding these services. In addition, I will push for more funding from the Student Success Fund (SSF) and the Public Education Enrichment Fund (PEEF) to be directed toward SpEd services, including necessary outside placements, to ensure that SFUSD can meet its legal obligations and provide the support students need to succeed.

We need independent audits of SFUSD's SpEd services to build trust with families and ensure compliance with the law. Many parents feel the District engages in calculated noncompliance, where the District chooses to accept the financial burden of legal settlements rather than fully invest in the support services mandated by law. Independent audits would bring transparency to the District’s decisions and practices so that families would be able to see what the District is actually doing and enable us to improve District processes and remedy issues if needed. 

Every IEP must be fully compliant with state law and District policy, particularly in terms of intervention and student support. By ensuring full compliance, the District can reduce its legal liability and the costly practice of placing students in Nonpublic Schools due to its inability to meet their needs. With more effective and timely interventions, more students will be able to stay in SFUSD while receiving the education and support they are entitled to under federal law.

By auditing and reforming the system, we can stop the cycle of financial inefficiency, legal settlements, and failure to serve our students. Every dollar spent on outside settlements is a dollar that could have been invested in improving our schools, hiring more qualified staff, and providing the resources our SpEd students need to succeed.

To improve outcomes for SpEd students, SFUSD must first address the chronic shortage of qualified staff, including paraprofessionals, resource specialists, speech-language pathologists (SLPs), occupational therapists (OTs), and school psychologists. The District’s inability to recruit and retain these essential workers frequently leaves it out of compliance with SpEd requirements, which directly impacts students who rely on these services.

A key issue is that many classified staff, such as paraprofessionals, leave SFUSD for other districts or professions that offer greater financial security. While recent pay increases have helped, we must go further to make paraprofessional positions more stable and desirable. Three actions would help:

• Make paraprofessionals full-time instead of part-time employees so they don’t have to seek out other jobs and students can have more consistency in the classroom;

• Include paraprofessionals in a pension system, if it becomes financially viable to do so (the District must first address its fiscal crisis and become financially sustainable); and

• Establish a "grow our own paraprofessionals" CTE pathway in partnership with CCSF.

Establishing a paraprofessional pathway would create a steady pipeline of qualified staff, giving students a valuable career option while also addressing the District’s staffing shortages. This model could be extended to other classified staff positions as well, ensuring a sustainable workforce for the future.

Equally important is minimizing SFUSD’s reliance on outside contractors. While contracting labor may sometimes be necessary, especially in SpEd, it undermines the goals of community and stability that the District should strive for. Contracted staff often lack a connection to the school community, and they may not participate in crucial activities such as staff meetings or additional duties required of full-time educators. Moreover, it can actually be more expensive to rely on contractors, particularly in SpEd, where contracted paraprofessionals do not offer the same continuity of care that union employees provide.

By investing in recruitment, retention, and professional development pathways, SFUSD can build a stable, qualified workforce that reduces the need for costly outside contractors and better serves SpEd students. This long-term investment will lead to more consistent, high-quality support for students, while reducing the financial inefficiencies created by high staff turnover and outsourcing.

Early education and targeted interventions are critical investments that set students up for long-term success. By addressing basic needs early on, we can prevent or reduce stress and the potential for downward spiraling, close equity gaps, and reduce the need for costly remediation later. Among other things, we should integrate instructional interventions, such as small-group instruction and specialized reading support, directly into the school day to ensure equitable access for all students.

Foundations for success also start with early assessments in childhood, along with universal pre-kindergarten and transitional kindergarten programs. While SFUSD uses standardized testing to monitor student progress, failure to act on findings of low scores means many students who struggle don’t receive the support they need. We must ensure that early assessments and interventions lead to timely, effective action to support every student's academic journey.

I support the move from a caseload model to a workload model for SpEd staffing, a shift that began in the latest round of contract negotiations, as it will better address students’ unique needs and reduce stress for educators. Under the caseload model, educators and specialists are often overwhelmed by the sheer number of students they are assigned, leading to burnout and insufficient support for each child. By transitioning to a workload model, SFUSD can better align staffing with the complexity and intensity of student needs, ensuring that each educator has the time and resources to provide meaningful interventions. With a workload approach, we can both improve outcomes for students and strengthen the recruitment and retention of qualified staff by offering a more sustainable and supportive working environment.

SpEd teachers in SFUSD face immense pressure from both the demands of their students and their administrative workload. Managing IEPs, scheduling meetings, documenting student progress, and ensuring compliance with state and federal law are time-consuming tasks that significantly detract from the time teachers can spend on instruction. The heavy administrative burden, combined with the complexities of supporting students with a wide range of needs, often leads to burnout, serious health issues, and high turnover.

Efforts to retain SpEd teachers through policies such as pay stipends have proven insufficient to solve the problem. Even significant bonuses, such as the $10,000 annual incentive offered in Clark County, NV, for hard-to-staff schools, have not been enough. SFUSD, too, has struggled to retain its SpEd workforce, with a 30% annual turnover rate from 2014 to 2019. The reality is that, while pay increases are important, they don’t address the underlying issue: the job is too demanding without adequate support.

I support the creation of a pilot program to introduce dedicated administrative support staff in hard-to-staff schools. By starting with the highest-need schools, SFUSD can better attract and retain experienced SpEd teachers where they are needed most. This program would not only reduce the administrative load on teachers but also improve the quality of SpEd services by allowing teachers to focus on their students.

Administrative support staff would take on key responsibilities such as scheduling IEP meetings, preparing documentation, tracking compliance, and coordinating with families, service providers, and translators. By handling these time-consuming but essential tasks, administrative support would enable SpEd teachers to prioritize instruction and individualized student support, leading to better outcomes for both teachers and students. If the program is successful in stabilizing hard-to-staff schools, it could be expanded district-wide to ensure that all SpEd teachers have the support they need to succeed.