Washington was one of just 11 states that met federal requirements for educating students with disabilities this year.
This stamp of approval marks a first for the state in recent memory. Washington has trailed the national average historically on outcomes for students who qualify for special education services, which until this year meant the state had to undergo additional scrutiny from U.S. Department of Education officials. Nearly 167,000 public school students qualify for special education services, around 15% of total enrollment.
State officials credit new spending on special education, including more money baked into the student funding formula, and programs that maximize the amount of time students with disabilities spend in general education classrooms, which research shows is tied to increasing their academic success. They say advocates, including students and families, have been critical to pushing the state in a better direction.
But the federal government's requirements leave a lot to be desired, two education attorneys in the state said, and don't reflect the ongoing difficulties that kids with disabilities and their families still face.
To meet the requirements, states must show they comply with the federal special education law and meet certain benchmarks for academic progress, including test scores and graduation rates. But students' performance on federal and state exams is still quite low. Last school year, less than one-quarter of eighth grade Washington special education students met or exceeded math standards on federal exams, which are given to a representative sample of children in each state.
Other measurements include participation rates on state and federal exams, which don't say much about a student's growth.
"There's a disconnect between what the government considers important and what parents believe to be important," said Kathy George, an attorney whose clients include families of students with disabilities. "So what? Those statewide assessments have no bearing on individual programming for students with disabilities."
In 2022, Washington was 34th in the nation when it comes to how much time students spend in general education classrooms. That's an improvement from 2017, when Washington was 43rd. Federal officials account for this data when grading states' special education programs.
Graduation rates have improved for students with disabilities following policy changes that altered requirements to graduate. One of the changes scrapped an alternative diploma awarded to students with significant cognitive challenges, and instead provided more ways they could earn a regular diploma. But Lara Hruska, an education attorney, said there are circumstances where the learning is heavily modified in order to graduate the student.
"Modifying and accommodating is important, but we also want a high school diploma to be meaningful and reflect some level of substantive academic achievement," said Hruska, whose firm filed a class-action lawsuit against the state education agency earlier this year, alleging the state's cutoff for students to receive special education services is illegal. "Kids are graduating who can't write a paragraph. I think we're failing those students."
Officials at the state Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction say the changes to graduation policies do not permit school districts to waive required coursework.
The report also misses important data points around isolation and restraint, Hruska added.
Students with disabilities are disproportionately subjected to physical restraint and situations where they are locked into rooms where they cannot exit on their own. A recent Seattle Times investigation explored reports of abuse at the state's nonpublic agencies, which contract with school districts to provide education for students with complex disabilities.
Kids who receive special education services also post lower outcomes compared with peers across the state. They are more likely to be disciplined, miss more days of school and drop out.
State officials acknowledged this federal designation doesn't address everything.
"That's the first step," said Tania May, assistant superintendent of special education services at OSPI. "[The students] can be in the room and not being served well."
In the end, the designation doesn't change much for the state. May says the state won't see any financial boon from it, but it does remove the risk of the state losing federal funding.
Both OSPI and advocates will seek more funding for special education services. A bill that would have removed an enrollment cap on how much school districts receive for special education services failed to pass the Legislature this year. It is expected to return next session.
