Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham issued an executive order in May creating a new Office of Special Education after a bill stalled during the legislative session. Advocates applauded the move, but the state’s largest school district recently announced it’s cutting certain special education classes.
The decision by APS to cut special education services in social studies and science was criticized by lawmakers during an interim meeting of the Legislative Education Study Committee.
Chief of Schools at APS Dr. Channell Segura wrote in a memo that the goal is to create more inclusivity by ensuring students with disabilities have equitable access to grade-level standards and general curriculum so they’re no longer secluded in their own classes.
Democratic Representative Elizabeth Thomson disagrees with the district’s decision saying that these students will be in general education classes and receiving no support.
"If kids with special needs could just absorb by being around typical kids, we wouldn’t have any issues and they don’t. And so this is like a slap in the face to Yazzie/Martinez" said Thomson.
The Yazzie/Martinez lawsuit was settled in 2018 and challenged the state’s failure to provideservices that students in certain groups need to be successful. That includes those who are low-income, Native American, English language learners, and those who have disabilities.
APS said the district believes in terms of Yazzie/Martinez its decision will contribute to robust education experiences and it expects to see increased academic gains as a result.
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