Maddy started talking a lot later than other kids her age. And when she finally did, her parents noticed she struggled with pronunciation — especially her brother’s name.
“Because of her speech issues, she couldn’t say, ‘Benji.’ So her speech therapist suggested she call him ‘Bubba,’” said the children’s mother, Ali Jones.
But unlike many school kids, Maddy’s speech delays didn’t fade over time.
“She has some issues with behavioral and cognitive delays,” Jones said.
Maddy was evaluated when she was 2 and began speech, occupational and behavioral therapy.
Now in kindergarten, Maddy receives those special education services through her Blue Valley school.
She’s one of 80,000 students in special education in a Kansas public school. But districts say paying for the extra support that students like Maddy need is expensive — and the state still isn’t funding its full share.
As the Kansas Legislature creates the K-12 education budget for 2027, school districts, parents and educators are once again pleading for lawmakers to fully fund special education, something they haven’t done in 15 years.
Underlining the urgency, all six Johnson County public schools superintendents wrote a letter to lawmakers last week saying the state has the resources to fund special education.
“It simply must choose to do so,” the letter reads.
What school districts say
Last week, every Johnson County superintendent signed a joint letter criticizing the budget, adding they offered a way to fully fund special education.
Because of declining public school enrollment statewide, about $269 million in general education funds were not fully used last year, the letter said. Typically, that money returns to the state general fund.
The superintendents urged the Legislature to reappropriate that money into special education, something lawmakers haven’t yet brought to the table.
“We presented lawmakers with this solution that is affordable and practical,” the superintendents said. “Fully funding special education should not be a partisan issue. We encourage all Kansas residents to contact your legislators and ask them to support full special education funding at the level required by law.”
How SPED funding works
Giving students who qualify special education services typically costs more than educating a student in general education. But, Kansas statute requires the state to reimburse districts for 92% of the excess cost, or the average amount above what it costs to educate a student in general education.
The Kansas Legislature hasn’t hit that target since 2011.
Some lawmakers have pointed out that the statute includes the phrase ”subject to appropriations,” meaning the Legislature can fund special education at its discretion.
The state provides districts with $5,378 per student in base aid, according to the state funding formula. According to the Johnson County superintendents, because the state isn’t reimbursing districts fully for special education, about $1,400 of that per-student money is redirected from general education services to cover special education gaps.
That leaves the districts with less money from its general education coffers to cover those expenses.
On average, the state is reimbursing about 64% of special education costs. In Johnson County, it’s even less.
According to statements from several districts, combined, the six public school districts in Johnson County spend $272 million on special education. This school year, the state reimbursed Johnson County schools $139 million — leaving a $133 million gap that local districts have to use general funds to cover.
That means the state reimbursed Johnson County districts about 51% of their excess special education costs, well below the 92% target set by law.
Further contributing to the underfunding, the cost of special education in Johnson County increased by 11% or by more than $27 million from 2024 to 2025, according to the districts.
In an email to the Post, USD 232 Superintendent Cory Gibson attributed the rising cost to “increased identification of students with disabilities” and “greater mental health and behavioral needs.”
Inside the classroom
After 20 years in a general education classroom, Blue Valley teacher Stacey Sales made her way back to special education this year.
She teaches students with disabilities like dyslexia, autism and other learning-specific disabilities at Blue Valley schools.
“We don’t have the necessary manpower, especially as far as paraprofessionals go, to help support the needs that they have,” Sales said. “We’re having to have kids go to other classrooms for certain lessons so that they can have para support.”
She said all students — not just hers — are impacted by this.
Sales said understaffing has led to the third-grade classes at her school having 27 students each.
“That’s a lot,” she said, “especially since our third grade also has the highest number of special education students in our building of all our grades.”
At the statehouse
At the beginning of every legislative session, the governor and the Kansas Department of Education make budget recommendations.
This year, Democratic Governor Laura Kelly proposed adding $50.6 million to special education funding, while KSDE recommended $150 million. That would bring the funding of special ed services to about 70% and 80% of excess costs, respectively.
But when the K-12 Education Budget Committee met last week to create its own budget proposal for the 2026-2027 school year, the numbers were lower.
Rep. Susan Estes, a Wichita Republican, proposed adding $10 million to the budget beginning in 2027, bringing the total to $621 million, or 65.7% of excess costs.
Estes emphasized wanting to keep the budget as tight as possible.
“I think we all have hearts that want to do more,” she said, “but I think that in light of the budget stabilization that we’re trying to achieve, adding more than we can stabilize and maintain in the long run does a disservice.”
Rep. Jarrod Ousley, a Democrat from Merriam, criticized the move.
“This really does nothing to address the tremendous shortfall that we have,” Ousley said during the committee meeting.
Rep. Nikki McDonald, a Democrat from Olathe, proposed funding the full 92%, which would add $225 million to the education budget.
“If I go home and say we got you $10 million, I think that’s pretty insulting,” McDonald said, “not just to our school districts, but to our students and to our parents.”
Estes’ motion passed.
On the Senate side, Minority Leader Dinah Sykes, a Democrat from Lenexa, made a motion to add $92 million to special education.
The subcommittee on education made no additions to the special education budget.
Families feel the impact
Julie Aldridge has seen the effects of underfunded special education firsthand.
Aldridge, who was elected to the Gardner Edgerton school board last November, earned a master’s degree in special education after her twins with special needs were born so she could better advocate for them.
“It’s across the board,” she said. “You don’t have enough staff. You can feel the pulls and pushes from everywhere.”
Aldridge said fully funding special education would have meant all her children’s needs in school were met.
“The twins had a lot of gaps in their education,” she said.
Aldridge currently works as a substitute special ed teacher for Olathe Public Schools.
In Blue Valley, Jones and her husband, who live in southern Overland Park, sent their daughter Maddy to Hilltop Learning School, the district’s preschool primarily for students with special needs. There, she received speech, occupational and behavioral therapies.
Now, in kindergarten, Maddy goes to speech therapy several times a week, as well as occupational therapy. She has some lessons in smaller groups.
“She also does have a para for a couple, for a little bit of time each day during lessons to kind of help her stay on task, not distract other students and just help with additional learning if she needs it,” Jones said.
She said it would have been difficult to get Maddy the help she needs if it weren’t for her school’s special education program because private therapy wasn’t a good option for the family.
“Not only is it really expensive, but also, both myself and my husband work full time,” Jones said. “And kids’ therapy is usually an hour long, at least once a week, sometimes twice a week during the work days.”
Because districts take funds out of general education to cover special education, Jones worries about how her son could be impacted.
“How does that affect my 10-year-old? Are they going to lose music programs, arts, Spanish?” she said. “What will they have to cut there to make up for education?”
What happens next
The House Appropriations Committee will review the K-12 Education Budget Committee’s proposal and have the opportunity to make revisions.
The potentially revised budget will then go to the Senate for a vote. Kelly will have the final sign-off.
At the Olathe Public Schools Board of Education meeting last week, board member Claire Reagan encouraged constituents to reach out to the lawmakers who didn’t support additional funding.
“Fully funding special education, the excess investment that we as a district make, should be a moral issue,” Reagan said. “It’s the right thing to do.”
Jones said that in just a few months of kindergarten, she’s seen Maddy’s growth.
When Maddy gets excited, her words can still be hard to understand — but one is clearer now.
“Bubba,” Jones said, is now “Benji.”
