Expert IEP founder Antoinette Banks outlines how special education has been chronically underfunded for decades—and how the potential dismantling of the Department of Education adds new complications.
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The computer-generated transcript is below:
Laura Ascione, Editorial Director, eSchool Media
Hi and welcome to another episode of Innovations in Education. I’m your guest host Laura Ashley owned editorial director of E School News, and I have with me Antoinette Banks, the founder of expert IEP. She’s an award-winning cognitive scientist and advocate in the special education space and the mother of a child who has autism. Antoinette, thank you so much for joining us today.
Antoinette Banks, Founder, ExpertIEP
Thank you for having me, Laura.
Laura Ascione
Absolutely. I think this is going to be a great. There’s so much happening with special education, and I know that on some days it seems we have a million moving parts. Today’s conversation is just going to dive right in. I thought we could start by chatting a little bit. About some of the challenges in the special education space, and that could be challenges that parents and caregivers experience as they advocate for their children. Could be challenges that schools and districts are up against, or it could be policies and practices that that should be in place or should change. And I know that is a very broad question, but I’m looking forward to your insight on this one.
Antoinette Banks
It’s very broad question. But I think it also fits because there is so much nuance that’s involved within the ecosystem of special education and everything touches each other in different time. Is what I like to say. But what I always go back to is what I’ve constantly been talking to my colleagues and parents in generals that we know that special education has been underfunded since the individuals with Disabilities Education Act was enacted, and that was in 1975. And Congress committed to fund 40% of the average per people expenditure for special education services. So you can imagine if it hasn’t even reached 40% and it’s been around 14.7 maybe 15 on a Goodyear. It creates this sort of tension between families, between educators, between policymakers and states federally, across the board of how do we serve students without impacting families without impacting well meaning educators. And I really think that that’s where it starts.
Laura Ascione
Absolutely. So that’s 14.5 to 15% instead of 40%. Is a massive, massive shortfall.
Antoinette Banks
Yeah. Can you imagine if you knew that you were supposed to receive these funds and all of a sudden, now we have to be creative and understanding? How do we support students that really have the most emergent needs? It’s it’s ridiculous.
Laura Ascione
Right. And part of that is knowing on the parent and caregiver side is knowing how to advocate for your child and what avenues you have. I know that it can often be very overwhelming to support a child with special needs in terms of getting them the access. And inclusion in their school that they deserve, and that they’re entitled to. Where do some of those challenges crop up as parents and caregivers are navigating that scenario?
Antoinette Banks
Yes, I mean, I want to just paint the picture of you have a family and they’re all of a sudden here as a mother, as a father or caregiver, seeing differences in your child when they play in the schoolyard or they play. Other kids. And all these other inputs coming in of knowing that, OK, my kid is presenting a little bit differently. Have to understand what’s going on. So that’s number one. And then #2, they make it all the way to receive a diagnosis and then they understand that their student now has a learning difference or disclose disability. And so while managing this and therapeutic support and all these things, they really think that the public school education is going to be where they can find some care and support.
Laura Ascione
Mm.
Antoinette Banks
But then it becomes this maze. That they have to navigate rather than the support system because you can have anywhere between 8 to 13 different people that will do assessments and it’s deficit focused. In reality, parents are trying to figure out, OK, am I battling between? Speech therapy. Behavioral supports appropriate classroom accommodations while feeling like they’re positioning my kid as something that we need to remedy rather than support. Hugely an emotive. Process that is definitely hard to navigate because the questions are #1 why be OK. And all these services that I now have to sign on on an IEP plan, will these truly support them? And then should I agree to this plan or is there is there something that I’m missing? A lot of anxiety that’s involved.
Laura Ascione
Yeah, I can imagine that anxiety both as a parent and then trying to ensure that your child is receiving those services in school. Kind of like A2 fold anxiety. You’re you’re focused on your child, their development. And then you have to bring the school component in.
Antoinette Banks
Interesting to that though, is the opposite side too, where the educators have spoken. Are struggling with their own anxieties. They’re saying, hey, am I doing a good enough job?
Laura Ascione
Mm.
Antoinette Banks
Do the goals that I suggest. Are they rigorous enough? Are we going to push this child to achieve and then can they achieve and then will this IEP also stand up to scrutiny because my job could be on the line? And so if there’s unspoken fears and then there’s tension and mistrust? Then how do we create a better system that dismantles this cycle?
Laura Ascione
Yeah. And I’d like to go into that a little. You mentioned how do we create this better system and maybe pulling from the areas where you’ve seen schools maybe not have enough resources or kind of struggle to rebuild that trust? What are some of those avenues that we could look at to maybe better this process and and build more trust between parents and the educators?
Antoinette Banks
Oh yeah. Communication. Yeah. Communication. Communication is king. Yes, I think that there are some well meaning people that say, oh, if we involve the family or if we tell them sort of what they’re entitled to under the law or what this might mean, they’ll they’ll impose too much.
Laura Ascione
Mm.
Antoinette Banks
But what I’ve seen the opposite, especially with my work. The more a family understands, then the more they can appreciate what is happening in the school environment. And then it becomes a team rather than a fight. Because schools have to meet legal requirements, period. And then if they’re pushing compliance because that’s what they have to meet, then families are already they’re walking away, feeling unheard and uninformed, of course. If we modernize how families engage with the IEP process. Whether or not taking away these 30 and 50 page documents, but they can see it, they can read it, they understand it. It’s not as. Of a hard read. I mean, I think we can all look on our libraries and home and we all have that one book that is such a hard read and you keep saying I’m going to get to it. Never get to it because it’s difficult to understand.
Speaker
Mm.
Antoinette Banks
Yeah. And imagine, though that this is the same feeling on an IEP. And now instead of, you know, some make believe person, you’re actually talking about your kids. And what that actually means, one family said to me that ieps for them is like doing taxes. And trying to understand what is being asked of me to sign off on, because if I sign off on it then I agree. And so I think it goes back to communication. If we tell families what they can expect confidently from the school environment and the school environment knows that the family is on board and we do regular check. Not just when a student has a behavior problem, but when a student is also. Well, then I think that you know that puts positive deposits into back into the family to want to support what’s happening in the school environment.
Laura Ascione
Yeah, I think that’s an excellent. I love that positive deposits and you know there there is that saying you know catch them doing good. Right. And I think that kind of applies when you talk about sending positive feedback and and positive feed. And yeah, really just that idea of communication. I think that the more informed everybody is and the better the communication is, the more everyone like you said is going to feel like a team and like they are all working together for the child. The students best interests instead of approaching a meeting. Being very wary of of maybe what’s what’s going to be brought up or what changes are going to be implemented.
Antoinette Banks
Yeah. So.
Laura Ascione
I wanted to touch very briefly. Just talk a little bit about how special education has always been underfunded and now, with a new presidential administration entering the picture, we have talked about dismantling the Department of Education, which this is not the first time that has been brought up by an administration, but I think. Is certainly the the first time we’ve seen such swift and. Movements that. We hear about everyday news coming. I think the latest is there is a lawsuit. Involving Texas and a number of other states trying to get rid of 50 fours and ieps between all of these events and what we’re pretty sure is going to be limited funding for education. What challenges do we think special education programs are going to be up against under this new presidential administration?
Antoinette Banks
Yeah, it’s not something to be taken lightly. I think that everything that gets published is so vague and almost a prelude to what we know can certainly become under attack.
Laura Ascione
OK.
Antoinette Banks
And cause huge strain and stress across the board and and it’s very real and I don’t want to, you know, skate by and pretend that it’s not and people are feeling fear and that is valid because. They’ve probably often fought for their kids. And across the board, educators as well. And so when you have something. Like this in your. It’s very difficult to manage because we know if the Department of Education is dismantled. Then we special education could become a state by state issue that creates even more disparities. And we know now that some districts are very well. There are other districts that aren’t well funded, but if we cut programs entirely. And we leave students without critical services. And that’s just a fact. It there’s no way to get around that. It’s 100% effect and the best way to do that. The best way to combat that is to understand what advocacy groups are doing. Programs like mine, what we what we are offering, we’ve gone to the drawing board. Since January, to really revamp how we communicating real time advocacy tools with our families so that they’re less dependent on schools or other programs that are seen as. And then for schools, how do we offer insights that, yes, insurers compliance, but also has student centered programs as well? And so I feel like there’s a lot of tension, but at some point, maybe I’m delusional. I think that there’s going to be a lot of opportunity here. For parents to come together like they did, which is the reason why we have special education from the grassroot efforts of families. And I do think that there’s going to be a light at the end of tunnel.
Laura Ascione
Well, I think if that makes you delusional, that makes a lot of us delusional. ‘Cause I. That’s what we all have to hope for. Because at at the bottom of it all, every student deserves to be on an equal footing when they leave high. No matter where they go, they deserve the same access to opportunities. They deserve to be supported in the ways that help them learn and achieve best. No matter what their different challenges are, and we all have challenges, right? So with that. I did want to turn the page just a little bit and ask you. We’ve talked about some of the challenges and maybe some of the more discouraging things that we might be facing. What have you seen that encourages? What have you seen from parents or from districts or or, you know, in your work? Have you seen that really inspires you?
Antoinette Banks
The inspiration is always with the heart. The people. I have seen incredible organizations really take a stand and then say hey, we. Have you and we have your families? My organization is one, but I see them a lot, especially the Ark in DC, the National Center for Learning Disabilities, as well as one of them. And people are not backing down in terms of wanting and a drive and a need to first, let me explain how the current law says that families are protected regardless of where funding goes. Families and their rights are still protected. That’s number. And if anyone is listening, I want you all to know that too. Yes, we’re understanding that funding does have an impact. Your rights are still protected. At the end of the day, and that would cause me to have a little bit more of an umph in my step. Not going and talking to people. I mean, the voices of the Community will continue to rise as we’re already seeing now, in an effort to support, to protect and to continue to love despite of because I am. I am a person that understands that love. Will be able to trample fear and that love creates more intuition. It creates more purpose and it creates more meaning in our work. Because we’ve gone back to revamp the way in which we do things to support families, especially to understanding this, we do have a wait list. And if there are families that really need support right now, what I can do is bump you up. And if you just e-mail. At expertiep.com, I promise I’ll get you connected. That.
Laura Ascione
Awesome. Yeah, that’s a powerful. And certainly even more powerful to know that you have allies and advocates behind you helping you.
Antoinette Banks
Special education in General, I think makes a lot of people feel alone and isolated just by #1 the diagnosis and depending on what community or culture you’re a part of, it is very. But at the end of the day, I think that is one thing that most of the families and educators in this ecosystem are going to feel. They’re going to feel like you’ve been doing the work alone. And it may feel like that, but you’re actually not. There are people who are supportive of where your kids are going to end up wherever you are across the pond.
Laura Ascione
Absolutely. Well with that, Antoinette, I want to thank you so much for being here and for chatting with me. I feel like we could probably talk all day on this, so at some point I’m probably going. You’re probably going to get an e-mail from me wanting to catch up and maybe check in and see what else has developed since we chatted. But I I really thank you for your time. Thank you for joining us for this episode of Innovations in Education. See you next time. Thank you for joining us on this edition of Innovations in Education, which was sponsored by managed methods. Stay tuned for more insightful discussions about what’s next in Ed Tech. This episode was brought to you by managed methods. Managed methods is the only company providing K12 specific cybersecurity and safety for Google Workspace Microsoft 360. An online. Browsing our product suite makes cybersecurity and safety easy and affordable for school districts working to keep their students, faculty, staff and community safe. Gain the visibility and control you need to monitor, alert and respond when time is of the essence. No proxy, no agent, and no special training needed. Our newest product classroom manager is the classroom management tech that teachers have been waiting for. Contact manage methods today to learn how other districts are benefiting from unifying their cybersecurity students. Web filtering and classroom management systems. District Tech teams love our products, reliability, ease of use, and lightweight construction, which has minimal impact on the end user experience.
