There is no denying that the COVID-19 pandemic changed life as we knew it on a global scale. On March 14, 2020, we were living life as we had always lived it before. The next day, everything just stopped. There was no going to work, gym, store, or school. Suddenly, sweat pants and COVID haircuts were in vogue. People developed a burning desire to bake sourdough bread. And every parent or caretaker was an instant teacher. Though there is no doubt that COVID caused extreme upheaval in our society as a whole, I would argue that one of the disproportionately affected groups was our kids with special educational needs, particularly those in school districts that serve lower-income families.

Adjusting to online learning was difficult for everyone: parents, teachers, and students. There were challenges across the board. But what often gets overlooked is how completely devastating the COVID shutdown was for those students who received special education or 504 services. Many of the services routinely provided at school became exceedingly difficult, if not impossible, to provide in a virtual environment. These problems crossed socio-economic borders, but districts with more money were able to negate many of the issues by redirecting funds. Lower-income communities had no funds to redirect. 

With the advantages of time and hindsight, today, we will take a moment to dissect the challenges in special education that COVID brought to a head. I hope we use the lessons learned to advocate for lasting change in our special education systems.

Before addressing how COVID changed the system, we need to understand how the system worked before the shutdown. This is complicated by the fact that every state is unique in its laws and procedures for education. But some federal regulations and standards are the same across the board. By federal law, all districts must provide a free and “appropriate” education (aka FAPE) to every student enrolled. If a child needs special services such as speech therapy, occupational therapy, or special accommodations within the classroom, the school district must provide the necessary services, technology, or hardware.

The IDEA ( The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act) requires that all districts provide free and adequate education to students with disabilities to receive federal education funding. Congress passed a supplement to the IDEA part B that ups that compensation to 40%. However, despite much lobbying by special education teacher groups, parents, disability rights activists, and even some members of Congress, lawmakers have not provided states with the promised increased funds for their special education programs.

This budgetary shortfall creates a catch-22 situation in even the most well-funded school districts. The costs of the services and accommodations that school districts are required by law to provide students are only partially covered by the federal funding they receive. This leaves the states to pick up the shortfall. But states usually use property taxes to cover a large portion of the education costs for districts. This system creates a significant disparity in funding between districts with high or low property values.

Districts with more money can afford to pay for aides, therapists, needed materials and equipment for accommodating students, and other staff to administrate the departments. Even then, parents often must fight for their students to receive the desperately needed services.

But lower-income districts already have a large budget deficit. This leaves little to no money for special education services and places these districts in the impossible position of needing to provide services to receive federal funding but having few to no resources to offer them. Parents then have the unenviable position of fighting the district for the services their children need and are guaranteed under the IDEA. Unfortunately, these education battles cost money and time that most parents do not have. 

This dire view is what the special education system looked like across the country before the COVID pandemic. Once COVID hit and the schools shut down, the system that was already overloaded and at the breaking point completely fell apart.

It took weeks to months to get virtual learning set up and in place for the general population of students. Teachers were overwhelmed on every front. They were worried about the health of their family and friends. Many had their own children at home that they had to care for while trying to teach. Students and teachers alike struggled with hastily constructed computer systems that worked poorly, if at all. This was the best-case scenario. Teachers in the lower-income districts had to find ways to teach students without access to reliable computers or internet services. On top of all these challenges, many students relied on school breakfasts and lunches for their meals. Their parents did not have the money to replace those meals. Needless to say, everyone was struggling with how to overcome these problems.

But special education students often rely on accommodations, services, and materials only available in person. Speech, Occupational, and Applied Behavioral Analysis ( aka ABA) therapies are best when done one-on-one. Teaching a child where to place their tongue, how to hold a pencil, or appropriate social behaviors require teachers and therapists to be there in person to observe, teach, and correct problems as they arise.

Specialty materials and devices such as speech-to-text enabled devices, manipulatives, and visual aids that students relied on to function in an inclusive environment became unavailable overnight. Aides that sat with and followed students throughout the day were no longer there to scribe, refocus, explain, and provide stability for special needs students.

Districts with money could compensate a little by providing the needed technology to students. But the necessary hands-on aspects of teaching and learning were still missing. However, students with special educational needs reported much higher rates of frustration and learning impediments while trying to learn in a virtual environment. Still, many students had no access to the online classes because low-income districts had no technology to send home. Special education took a back seat to just surviving the school year.

Added to these issues was the fact that special needs students often suffer or even regress when their routines are interrupted or stopped. Stability is essential to the progress of these students. All therapies outside school were also stopped or modified for virtual sessions, further disrupting their routines and therapeutic services.

The effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on special education are not yet fully understood, as studies are still ongoing. That said, it is already clear that the special education system was in no way prepared to handle a crisis such as COVID. The system is dysfunctional and on the verge of a catastrophic meltdown during average school years. Special Education Students drop out of school at more than double the rate of general education students during the “best” times. The lack of resources, feeling frustrated or undervalued, and the social stigma often leave students feeling hopeless and doubting the benefit of their high school education. 

In many ways, COVID simply turned a spotlight and exacerbated the problems and challenges that already existed within the special education system. It pushed an already stretched and embattled system beyond what it could handle. COVID showed us what all special education teachers and advocates have been saying for years: we MUST fix the system. The fix begins with adequately funding special education for all districts and all students. Once the money is there, the other challenges can be met with the appropriate materials and staff. Then every student will finally have access to a free and appropriate education.