KEY QUOTE: “Special education is so important. And when a district has to supplement funds to provide special education, it really impacts all families,” said JaKyta Lawrie, executive director of the Wyandotte Comprehensive Special Education Cooperative. “There are some students that really need help and support but don’t qualify for special education. When you take funds away from general education, you limit how you can support those kids as well.”

'A safety issue': Johnson County mom says low Kansas funding creates special ed crisis

- Educators across the state are urging the Kansas Legislature to increase special education funding to the level set by state law. To make up for millions of dollars districts say they say they should be getting from the state, school leaders pull funds from their general budgets, money they wanted to use for salaries, training, and services and instructional resources for all students.

- “As a longtime educator and administrator, I have never witnessed the near perfect storm with the combined effects of staff shortages, increased student needs, and lack of funding. It is deeply concerning to me,” said Lee Hanson, an administrator in the De Soto district. “From my viewpoint as a director of special education services, we are getting by, but at the cost of burnout to our staff.”

- “I think it’s unfortunately a common experience among parents of kids with disabilities that we are used to being overlooked,” said Laura Robeson, a parent of a fifth grader with cerebral palsy and epilepsy. “We are denying what our children need to be educated and grow up safe and supported. It’s an unfortunate choice. And it is a choice. At this point, it is a conscious choice to deny it. We have the resources, but we lack the will.”

- Governor Laura Kelly — who made education funding a hallmark of her campaign — has called for the Legislature to infuse into special education $72 million in new dollars each year for five years to fill the gap, saying the state can afford it.