Special Education: Rights to keep on your radar
Our union contract includes rights to help ensure that students and educators get the support they need! That includes rights to equitable distribution of Special Education caseloads. SDEA leaders and staff have heard from some members about concerning practices:
- IEP clustering: Students with IEPs being placed all in one class in violation of 29.1.6.
- Unbalanced caseloads: Administrators assigning students to Special Education caseloads strategically to avoid paying the caseload penalty payments that are a right recently won in 29.1.3.3.
If you are experiencing these, make sure to speak with your site rep immediately! Enforcing our contractual rights helps hold the District accountable for providing students the support they need.
For Ed Specialists:
- Were you over caseload in the 2023-24 and/or 2024-25 school years? If so, did you get your settlement check already? If not, August 31 is the deadline to submit appeal forms! See more here.
- It’s a good idea to keep a record of your caseload each week or whenever it changes, to submit as evidence if the District doesn’t pay you an overage stipend or breaks the contract in any other way. Download or print a caseload report from PowerSchool IEP with a date and timestamp. You are the one who knows your caseload best! (Remember: The District still hasn’t finished calculating exactly who was over caseload in last school year!)
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