Caring for Kansas children with special needs includes fully funding special education

Our family has been a part of the special education programs through Wichita Public Schools for years. From OK Elementary to Wilbur Middle School, our daughter’s experiences have been amazing.

Having a child with special needs can sometimes feel isolating. Our child has different needs than her peers, needs that many other parents simply don’t understand. But I have never felt anything but supported by the special education program — and staff — in my community.

It brings both of us great joy — and peace — to know that the professionals who care for our daughter truly love her. They go the extra mile to help ensure all of her needs are met, and they have always been communicative with us and work with us to ensure our child thrives both in and outside the classroom.

These things are important to any parent, but especially to parents of a child with special needs.

While we are lucky for the experiences our daughter has had and for a community that has welcomed us with open arms, there is so much more we must do for our special education students and teachers.

That begins with fully funding special education in Kansas.

While our public schools have been fully funded for the past several years, that has not included full funding for our special education programs.

Just like funding public education, fully funding our special education programs is required by Kansas law. The state is supposed to pick up 92% of the cost of special education not covered by federal aid, but it has failed to do so for the past several years.

Nearly 90,000 students in Kansas are part of special education or gifted programs, which are funded through special education, including our daughter. That’s about one in five Kansas students who rely on funding for these programs.

While many might think that means the majority of Kansas students do not need this funding, they would be wrong. Failing to fully fund special education impacts every single Kansas student because, without those funds, schools end up diverting money away from other areas to provide these services. We should never have to choose between funding public education or funding special education, and we should never have to pit our students with differing needs against each other.

We should be funding both programs in full because every student in Kansas deserves the same opportunity to learn.

Fully funding special education is also essential to make sure we pay our special education teachers and professionals a living, dignified wage. Too often, special education professionals earn less than their peers in general education, despite their specialty. Our hard-working paraprofessionals, who often provide one-on-one care to special education students, earn even less. They often don’t even qualify for many benefits, despite their exceptional work.

It’s completely unacceptable.

Our special education teachers do so much for our students, personalizing lessons and navigating individual students’ needs. We must ensure we are adequately and fairly compensating our special education professionals if we want to prevent the teacher shortage from growing.

Our daughter goes running into school laughing every single day. That’s how much she enjoys it. And that’s a testament to our special education educators and professionals who make her day exciting, inclusive, and fun.

We must fully fund special education. For our children, for our special education professionals, and for the future of our public schools in Kansas.