Dive Brief:

• A California proposal to redistribute how special education funding is doled out, cutting out special ed intermediary organizations, has drawn widespread ire from parent groups — which rely on the organizations, known as Special Education Local Plan Areas, to do work they say districts cannot do alone.
• The plan would roll funding into a larger funding formula, which allots money to districts and gives them flexibility on spending, but parents complained that districts are often under-resourced and unprepared for dealing with special education students without SELPA aid.
• The proposal was part of a report by the Public Policy Institute of California, and it is not expected to be considered for implementation at this time.

Dive Insight:

The report comes on the heels of a high-profile Supreme Court ruling, stating that school districts have an obligation to provide an education to students with disabilities that is more than "de minimis," but instead one that challenges students as they get older to tackle new and more advanced goals. The ruling was a culmination of a long-standing suit brought by Denver-area parents against their district when their autistic son had stalled in his education progress and was experiencing behavior issues. The parents put the child in a private institution and sued the district to reimburse their costs.

The ruling is expected to put more emphasis on Individual Education Plans that are more robust and developed in collaboration with parents and other stakeholders. One law blogger has assessed that this will put the onus of proving that a student's IEP is up to sufficient standard on the school district, which may be required to provide evidence that it is sufficiently challenging if brought up in court.