California: Falling enrollment, MORE SPED students, "INCREASINGLY COMPLEX NEEDS"

Mar 12, 2026, More students, less funding: Special education in crisis | EdSource

California schools are grappling with rising numbers of special education students who have increasingly complex needs — even as declining enrollment means school budgets are shrinking. 

This budget squeeze has direct implications for students and staff, both inside and outside special education. The staffing of special education classrooms has increasingly become a flash point in negotiations with teachers unions across the state this year.

The trend of rising numbers of disabled students is not unique to California, but it is one the federal government hasn’t begun to tackle in any meaningful way.  The federal government still pays less than a third of what it originally promised to students with disabilities, when the landmark Individuals with Disabilities Education Act passed 50 years ago. 

Gov. Gavin Newsom is proposing an additional $500 million in annual funding for special education in his recent budget proposal.