***Lebanon, PA: District sees huge increase in students with ASD; more expected
The number of special education students in Lebanon schools diagnosed with autism is quickly rising, prompting the district to form a committee for how to “best support the needs all students require to succeed,” Jessica Evans, director of student services and special education, told the school board Monday, Oct. 19.
With early intervention, the district can move some students out of restrictive full-time classroom settings, she said.
Evans stressed that the Lebanon School District is not alone in facing increased autism diagnoses. Special education enrollment for autism support is climbing across school districts in Pennsylvania and nationally, she said.
The need for full-time classes for autistic students is part of a quickly growing need for special education overall, according to Evans. There are 322 more special education students in the Lebanon district since 2022, she said, at the same time overall enrollment has dropped by approximately 250 students.
But the increase in Lebanon students receiving full-time support for autism is particularly striking.
There were 36 elementary students total, 30 in the Lebanon district and six out-of-district, with full-time autism support for the 2022-23 school year, according to Evans’ report. By the school year just ended, 2025-26, Lebanon district had 61 students with full-time autism support, including 47 in-district, the report states. This year, 2026-27, there are 92 students diagnosed with autism, 77 of them in-district, Evans’ report shows.
Her report projects that number will climb to 104 elementary students for the 2027-28 school year, 88 in-district and 16 out of district.
Students educated out-of-district are placed in schools with programs designed for their individual needs, which include licensed private academic schools, superintendent Nicole Malinoski told LebTown. . . .
“Based on historical data, students are coming to us at a faster rate than data would project they would be,” Evans said. “No fault of anybody. It’s just what it is.”
For Lebanon’s secondary schools (including the intermediate school), there were 26 students, 20 of them in-district with full-time autism support for 2022-23, Evans’ report shows. The number of secondary school students rose to 36 by 2025-26, of which 21 were in-district, and for 2026-27, there were 48 students with full-time autism support, 40 of them in-district. Her report projects 52 students receiving full-time autism support for 2027-28, of which 43 would be in-district and nine of them out-of-district.
Secondary school increases are the result of elementary school students matriculating and students moving in from other districts, she said.
School board member Kerry Shuyler asked Evans for her thoughts on why the number of autistic students is increasing so rapidly.
“I wish I knew,” Evans responded.
“It’s all going in one direction,” Shuyler added. “Do we know why?”
“I think a lot of people have their thoughts, but no,” Evans said.
There are nine in-district support classrooms in Lebanon elementary schools for students with autism, Evans said. They are regulated to no more than eight students per full-time autistic classroom, she said, and so she expects the district will need 12 to 13 classrooms for the 2027-28 school year.
Evans affirmed board member Matthew Hershey’s question of whether the cost per student of special education for children with autism is rising.
“Most students in an autistic classroom require a teacher, paraprofessionals, speech and language therapy, occupational therapy,” Evans said, and often a behavioral support supervisor, a special education supervisor, and sometimes physical therapy. . . .
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