The centralized services would be run through an “educational service agency,” a public entity authorized by law to coordinate and provide services. The agency should be ready to launch next year, said Shayla Guidry Hilaire, chief student and school support officer for NOLA-PS.

Shifting to a centralized model “presents an opportunity to create long-term solutions and sustainability for long documented challenges,” Hilaire told the school board this week.

“It also really sends a direct message to the public that we are serious about outcomes for students with disabilities,” she added.

But questions remain over what the agency would look like in practice, including how much control charter networks would have over its operation, how it’s funded and what services it could provide.

New Orleans has long struggled to meet the needs of all its students. In 2010, a group of students sued the Louisiana Department of Education alleging they were discriminated against because of their disabilities. Public schools, including charter schools, are legally required to provide services to meet the needs of any student who might choose to attend. For single-site charter schools especially it can be financially and feasibly challenging to provide specialized services for every student’s need.

Ken Ducote, executive director of the Greater New Orleans Collaborative of Charter Schools, said at the Orleans Parish School Board committee meeting that he supported centralizing special education. It can be especially challenging for schools to serve students with “low-incidence” disabilities — or less common disabilities such as blindness or significant cognitive impairment — particularly in the face of teacher shortages, he added.

“You just cannot have a low-incidence exceptionality served, whether efficiently or not, when it’s attempted to be served at every school,” he said. “This is a significant improvement.”

The Center for Learner Equity, a national nonprofit that promotes high-quality special education, began meeting with school leaders in 2021 to explore the idea of a centralized service. In interviews with more than 30 New Orleans charter school leaders and special education directors, along with parent focus groups organized by the nonprofit Families Helping Families, researchers found that some charter schools struggle to provide the individual special education services the different students need, according to a report released this week.

At the committee meeting, board member Carlos Luis Zervigon said he spoke with a 40-year veteran teacher who specialized instructing students with total blindness. He suggested the new agency could hire the teacher to serve students across the district, rather than just at one school.

Zervigon acknowledged that there are “significant questions” about how the agency would fit into the Orleans Parish School Board framework. Because the school board authorizes charter schools — and can decline to renew a contract for major failures —  schools may be less likely to ask for help.

Jennifer Coco, senior director of strategy and impact at the Center for Learner Equity, said the new centralized model would strike the balance between allowing schools to keep their autonomy while scaling up special-education services so every student’s needs are met.

“We think this is a moment to demonstrate the spirit of innovation and creative thinking that has made New Orleans such a unique national example for public education,” Coco said.