NY State spends "$15B serving its special education students"

Sept 18, 2026, Spectrum News One: School opens dedicated space for individualized learning

ROCHESTER, N.Y. — A ceremonial snip of a ribbon marks a milestone for students at Rochester Prep St. Jacob campus elementary school.

“We worked really hard over the last six months to a year to make that become a reality,” said James Dill, student support services director for Rochester Prep. “So today is really just a culmination of all the hard work.”

It's a newly designed classroom where every corner is built around focus, support and specialized learning.

“There's more opportunity for feedback, for 1-to-1 support for modified instruction and delivery of content,” Dill said. “Sometimes that's a lot more challenging to deliver that in a larger classroom setting. For a period, we had some students with some higher academic needs in our classrooms. And we felt like we could be doing a better job of service to our students. And it was at that point that we decided to make this shift and consider opening a specialized classroom to support those needs. It certainly depends on student population. And you want to make sure you have the need there to make that happen.”

The official opening of its new classroom, named FAMU in honor of Florida A&M University, contains a maximum of 15 students with individualized education programs (IEP) and at least one special education teacher.

“Our students come to us with different strengths, learning profiles, experiences and needs,” said Daimyn Badzic, special education coordinator. “Expanding our special education program allows us to better respond to that diversity, while ensuring students remain an important part of our larger school community. The name FAMU was chosen very intentionally. Florida A&M University is a historically Black university with a strong legacy for preparing educators, including those committed to special education. Its history also reminds us that meaningful institutions can begin with something small and grow into something extraordinary.”

It's a level of individualized care that was once disrupted by the pandemic. According to the New York State Comptroller’s office, parents of children with an IEP were more than twice as likely as parents of children without, doing little to no remote learning — leaving a huge learning loss for students with disabilities.

“They do exist,” parent Korayma Sanchez said. “They are there. They are just hard to reach. So having this classroom is not only bringing this to a public setting, a more public setting, but it helps other people to find those resources and help their kids at home. As a mom and also an advocate for people with developmental disabilities, it is really important because every kid learns differently. In the case of Liam, the transition setting, the math setting, the science setting, expanding that intelligence from those areas helps them grow and challenge them. We want them to be successful. At the end of the day, we are parents and eventually we're not going to be here. They're our future, so it's really important for them to be successful in life prior to having this classroom and like other school settings.”

The need for special education services continues to rise for students with disabilities. According to a 2020 report from the Empire Center, New York spends an estimated $15 billion serving its special education students. 

This new addition to Rochester Prep is helping students with disabilities ensure they get the supports needed. Through the grant called IDEA, also known as the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, public schools receive funding for each student on an individual education plan; however, it is solely up to the school to see fit how those funds are being spent.

According to school officials, the federal government committed 40% of the costs; however, the current climate now covers only around 12%. Districts nationwide are facing a massive shortfall, leading to intense annual budget deliberations regarding student support staffing.

For Rochester residents attending local charter schools, the base rate is $14,277 per student, but special education students receive an incremental premium directly tied to the level of assistance and service hours outlined in their IEP. According to historical tracking by the Education Trust, New York, Rochester City School District schools serving the highest concentration of students with disabilities receive approximately 10% more funding per student than those with the lowest concentration. . . .