The Changemaker 5/6/26
But is it working?
The harder question for SPED leaders this week — and three signals from the past seven days that make it unavoidable.
But is it working?
IDEA was written 50 years ago with the intent to provide equitable access to a Free and Appropriate Public Education for all students. Even then, the authors knew this was a heavy lift. It required checks, balances, and adequate funding. The federal government committed to funding 40% of the cost of educating the "average pupil." It has occasionally reached 18%. It currently hovers around 12%. States fill the rest.
In Kansas, the law says the state funds 92% of excess costs. That target would be easier to hit if the federal government met its obligation, but Kansas has not met its own fiscal responsibility since 2010–2011. The proposal for FY 26–27 covers 65–67%.
Schools are still mandated to provide every service a student with a disability needs to access FAPE. Regardless of funding. So the money comes from somewhere else.
"But is it working?"
That is the question I asked in my dissertation on quality of life for recent IDEA graduates and completers with IDD. Many report being unemployed or underemployed. Lacking a network of friends. Limited access to their community. Why? Where did it break?
Courageous leadership is taking a deep breath and asking, "What else isn't working?" Funding is broken. Yes. But if IDEA were fully funded tomorrow, would the majority of our graduates experience an equitable quality of life because they had equitable access to FAPE?
There are essentially zero federal supports right now. Ensuring FAPE is up to each leader. You have to rely on each other for the checks and balances that have been growing for 50 years and just stopped.
What just happened, and why it sharpens the question
Three things hit the field in the past seven days that should be on every leadership team's radar.
Each of these is a story on its own. Together, they are part of the answer to the question above. If the question "is it working?" was uncomfortable five years ago, it is unavoidable now.
Worth your Sunday afternoon
The Sanders report is the single most important document published this year for anyone who runs special education in a school district. It is 39 pages. The executive summary is four. Read Justice Denied: How Trump's Office for Civil Rights Reached a 12-Year Low in Protecting Students from Discrimination before your next leadership meeting. Bring the four pages with you.
A parent's rights when progress stalls
I am writing because I am frustrated and honestly, I do not know where else to turn. My son is in fifth grade and has an IEP for a learning disability in reading. We are now in May and I just attended his IEP meeting last week. When the team shared his progress data, I was shocked. He has made almost no measurable progress on any of his reading goals this entire school year. I was told there had been several substitute teachers covering his resource room, that he had missed some sessions due to school assemblies and testing, and that he sometimes refused to work. It feels like we are just going to start all over again in the fall with the same goals he could not meet this year. I do not know what my rights are in this situation.
Dr. Grimwood Responds
Your frustration is completely valid, and your instincts are right. A lack of measurable progress on IEP goals is not something a team should simply carry forward and hope for better results next year. IDEA has something to say about exactly this situation.
Under IDEA at 34 CFR § 300.324(b)(1), IEP teams must revise the IEP when a student is not making expected progress toward annual goals. Carrying goals over without examining why progress did not occur is not a compliant response.
If your son was regularly missing specially designed instruction due to scheduling conflicts, assemblies, or staffing issues, that raises a question of whether his IEP was being implemented with fidelity. IDEA requires that services be delivered as written. Inconsistent delivery is not a reason to lower expectations. It is a reason to fix the delivery.
You have the right to request an IEP meeting at any time. You do not have to wait for the annual review. Put your request in writing, send it to the special education director or building principal, and keep a copy for yourself.
Before the school year ends, ask in writing for:
- All progress monitoring data on your son's current goals
- A record of what services were delivered, how often, and by whom
- Documentation of what changes will be made — not the same goals carried over, but a revised plan
Your son has a right to a free and appropriate public education. Appropriate means he must have the opportunity to make meaningful progress. You are asking exactly the right questions, and asking them in writing is where you start.
Special Education Teacher & Administrator
Former Special Education Dispute Resolution Coordinator, Kansas State Department of Education
Help us answer the harder question
If we are going to know what is working — beyond compliance, beyond funding — we have to ask the people doing the work. Our national study examines the relationship between special education and general education leadership. Where it holds. Where it breaks. What it takes to rebuild it.
If you are a special education director, principal, or assistant principal, take 12–15 minutes this week.
Get The Changemaker in your inbox every week.
Subscribe · Past Issues