New York’s Preschool Special Education Services have gaps, according to an audit

Albany, New York – In New York, children with impairments between the ages of three and five are guaranteed access to preschool special education services by the state. However, instead of fulfilling that promise, an audit of the New York State Education Department (NYSED) revealed that delays and deficiencies placed many children behind.

In schools and homes around the state, NYSED is in charge of occupational therapy, speech therapy, special education, and counseling. NYSED effectively managed these services for 40,846 New York children in 2022.

The full 31-page study is available at the bottom of this article.

Approximately 83% of the 550 districts surveyed by the Office of New York State Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli’s audit had children on waiting lists for these programs. Comptroller’s Office auditors visited 40 schools on-site and discovered that 21 of them, or 53%, had waitlists for special education services prior to kindergarten. There were 301 students on waitlists in those districts.

Republican State Senator Jim Tedisco, the ranking member of the state’s Senate Education Committee, stated, “As a former special education teacher, I know first-hand how important special education services are to children in need.” “Instead of waiting for some state bureaucrats to move paper from one side of a desk to another, children should be getting the services for which they are qualified.”

Many students wait until it’s too late, if at all, to receive help that is essential to their growth. However, according to the Comptroller’s Office, NYSED only monitors just 118 out of 710 districts—less than 17%—each school year and does not maintain real-time queue data.

Data collection for all districts in the state takes six years because only one-sixth of schools are monitored annually. Because of this, a thorough, annual accounting of the number of children in New York who do not get preschool special education is lacking.

The audit also found that NYSED does not gather enough statewide data on preschool evaluation referrals. Over 22,000 of these referrals were made by parents and districts in 2018–2019 and 2021–2022. Delays were exacerbated in 182 cases during those times when a kid had several referrals in a single school year.

In addition, there are insufficient service suppliers. Districts are forced to contract with outside organizations to conduct evaluations and assessments of children with disabilities because they frequently find it difficult to hire the specialist experts required to deliver these services. Delays brought on by outsourcing lengthen the time it takes for children to eventually get care.

A referral for evaluation and parental agreement are the first steps in the preschool special education process. Individualized education plans (IEPs) and evaluations must be finished within 60 days, and services derived from the IEP must be rendered within 60 school days. Both federal and state laws mandate prompt assessments and treatment delivery, including a seamless transfer from early intervention to an IEP by the child’s third birthday.

A portion of NYSED’s response within the audit’s pages states, “Taken together, the Department is grateful that audit findings validate a number of the genuine needs that we have consistently recognized in our priority recommendations, and we anticipate effective advocacy that will lead to improved services for our young students with disabilities.”

The 2023–2024 school year saw an improvement in oversight, and districts are now required to submit statistics on a quarterly basis. However, in order to overcome personnel constraints, the audit suggested reworking the NYSED plan, enhancing district monitoring, establishing data controls, and refining their method for determining which districts require quick assessment.

Republican Assemblymember Mary Beth Walsh stated, “As a parent of a child who needed early intervention services, I know how important it is that these students receive the help they need early on.” “I’m happy to learn that efforts are being made to find a lasting solution.”