Voters will see evidence of the growing special education funding gap on their ballots next month, as seven school districts seek more than $3.3 million in supplemental levy funds to pay for special education.

That’s a significant increase from May, when four districts asked for just over $980,000 to cover special education.

And those are just the explicit asks. School districts commonly use levy funds to pay staff salaries and benefits, and staffers are often paraeducators who largely serve special education students.

The levy asks come at a time when the gap between what the state and federal government reimburse for special education services has grown to an estimated $100 million. Superintendent of Public Instruction Debbie Critchfield has made reducing the gap her top priority for

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