This story was originally published by EdSource.
Student enrollment has been declining in the McFarland Unified School District, so Superintendent Aaron Resendez was surprised to start this school year with an uptick in students who require special education services.
The 3,282-student district in rural Kern County needed to act quickly to meet the needs of these students. Resendez said the district scrambled to find two teachers, paraprofessionals and accessible classrooms for students with moderate to severe needs.
“We had far more students with special needs enroll at the lower grade levels than we anticipated,” said Resendez. “We ended up adding two more classes.”
This year wasn’t a fluke. There were 449 students who required special education services in 2024-25, up from 248 students in 2014-15, while enrollment dipped by nearly 200 students.
What’s happening in McFarland Unified is happening in districts across the state. Even as enrollment declines in California, an increasing number of students are qualifying for special education services.
Educators and researchers chalk up the increase in students requiring special education services to several factors: improved identification because of advocacy and reduced stigma, a rise in the number of students with emotional or behavioral disabilities, and pandemic disruptions that may have delayed early interventions.
Serving more students with disabilities may require hiring more teachers, paraprofessionals, psychologists, speech-language pathologists or other specialists, conducting more training or buying specialized equipment. There are strict federal requirements ensuring these students are served. However, state and federal funds earmarked for special education don’t cover these growing expenses. That strains district budgets already hit hard by declining enrollment.
The rising numbers of special education students and rising caseloads have also been a factor in heated labor negotiations across the state, including West Contra Costa County Unified and San Diego Unified.
Gov. Gavin Newsom’s January budget proposal noted that 15% of students qualified for special education in 2024-25, up from 13% in 2018-19. During the same period, total TK-12 enrollment declined by over 380,000 statewide, while the number of students who qualified for special education grew by over 70,000.
This isn’t unique to California: 15% of students in public schools qualify for special education services in the United States, according to the National Center for Education Statistics from 2022-23. That number has been rising nationally, too.
Administrators of the regional agencies that provide funding and oversight for students with disabilities — SELPAs or Special Education Local Plan Areas — say that it’s not just about the rising numbers of students with disabilities.
“We are also seeing a rise not only in students with disabilities, but students with more complex needs,” said Veronica Coates, chair for SELPA Administrators of California. “So it’s kind of that double whammy in some respects.”
Rise in special education population hits budgets
The governor’s January budget proposal tackles one long-standing problem for special education funding in California: equalizing the base funding rate for special education between regions. The governor proposes increasing ongoing funding specifically for students with disabilities by $509 million.
Coates, who is also assistant superintendent for Tehama County SELPA, said she was having a conversation with the agency’s finance director about covering a $1 million deficit the day Newsom proposed equalizing rates for SELPAs. His proposal would cover $850,000, she said.
“It really is a beginning to address the problem,” said Coates. “I wouldn’t say, ‘Oh my gosh, this solves the problem.’”
This will help SELPAs like Tehama County’s that have been plagued by what a 2018 report by the Legislative Analyst’s Office called “seemingly arbitrary funding inequities” since the 1990s. In 2019-20, the Plumas Unified School District SELPA received $493 per average daily attendance, while the Modoc County SELPA received almost double at $942.
But the problem with rising special education costs goes beyond these disparities between SELPA regions, administrators say.
There are strong federal laws, such as the 1975 Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), that require schools to offer students with disabilities the support they need to learn. But a perennial problem, according to disability advocates, is that those mandates come with a fraction of the funding originally promised.
Each year, members of Congress reintroduce legislation to provide 40% of the average per-pupil expenditure for special education students — currently, it is below 13%. None of these efforts, thus far, has been successful in pressing for more federal funding for students with disabilities.
The state also provides some dedicated funding for students with disabilities, but the vast majority — roughly 65% to 70% — comes from school districts’ general funds, Coates said.
This means that increases in special education can strain a school district’s general funds, according to Scott Turner, executive director of the East San Gabriel Valley SELPA in Los Angeles County. That strain could lead to larger class sizes, for instance, or fewer innovative programs and clubs.
In other words, if the state earmarks more funding for special education, it wouldn’t necessarily mean that funding for special education services would increase.
“We’re fearless advocates for our students with disabilities, and they are getting all of their services as required under IDEA,” said Coates.
Instead, more state funding would benefit all students — both those with disabilities and general education students, Coates said.
“It would really be enhancing that overall general fund budget,” she said.
Behind the rising numbers
As a preschool teacher in the San Jacinto Unified School District, Anthony Segura is often the first teacher his students have. Segura is a special education teacher who co-teaches a class with a general education teacher under a unique inclusion model. He’s seen firsthand why numbers are rising in California. Most of it, he said, is better identification.
“Now we can actually identify these students,” Segura said.
Families are asked to fill out a questionnaire to identify potential problems a child may have, such as delayed language development or behavioral concerns.
“We’re certainly better at diagnosing these conditions in more subtle ways,” said Aubyn Stahmer, director of UC Davis MIND Institute.
There has been more disability advocacy that has reduced the stigma for disabilities such as autism and attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), Stahmer said. There is a greater willingness to be identified as having a brain that operates differently. She notes that in the past, some conditions were misdiagnosed, too. Black students who were autistic were more likely to be misdiagnosed with behavioral or conduct disorders, for instance.
But the pandemic has also had long-term effects, Stahmer said.
Families isolating might have missed doctors’ appointments, which are crucial for identifying developmental delays or disabilities in children up to 3 years old. This early intervention includes speech therapy, occupational therapy and helps develop social and emotional skills. It also prepares students for success in school, Stahmer said.
Segura has found that some families recognize their child needs more help and support, but they aren’t aware of the services available to them. Some of these services in the early years can make a big difference in the long term.
“Early intervention is key before the gaps widen,” said Segura.
He has also noticed that children are arriving with weaker social skills, which could also be attributed to reduced socialization during the pandemic.
Anthony Rebelo, SELPA director for Trinity County Office of Education, noted that more students may have disabilities related to trauma and social-emotional issues. In Trinity County alone, the number of students in special education grew by more than 21% between 2022-23 and 2024-25, while enrollment increased by 1%, according to California Department of Education data. Schools in rural Northern California have become a sort of “catchall” provider for the region with high rates of poverty, foster youth and homelessness, he said. These students may need additional services, such as counseling and social work.
But those issues aren’t unique to one region.
“Our data is showing that we are seeing more behavioral and mental health challenges,” said Stahmer, with the UC Davis MIND Institute. “We’re definitely seeing more of that than in the past.”