LAUSD Candidate Kahllid Al-Alim on Special Education

“Too many students in BD1 are missing out on the services they deserve because of a lack of full funding from the Federal Government AND because LAUSD does not do all it must do to support students and families.”

– BD1 Candidate Kahllid Al-Alim

Kahllid Al-Alim is one of the seven candidates who qualified for the March 5, 2024, ballot in LAUSD’s Board District 1. This is the seat left open by George McKenna’s retirement.

The UTLA endorsee has participated in a past edition of the LAUSD Candidate Forum series answering questions about PROP-39 co-locations. Additional information about Al-Alim can be found on his website.

For the October edition of the Candidate Forum, candidates were asked five questions about Special Education. For the introduction to this subject along with answers from other candidates, please see the article LAUSD Candidate Forum: Special Education.

The following are Al-Alim’s responses, printed exactly how he provided them:

• Question 1: If you were on the Board, would you sponsor and work for the passage of the proposed "Improving Special Education Within the LAUSD" resolution? YES
• Question 2: Have you signed the petition supporting the proposed "Improving Special Education Within the LAUSD" resolution? YES
• Question 3: Federal funding to provide Special Education services is based on the size of the total student body, not the number of students receiving services. Therefore, charter schools benefit financially by discouraging the enrollment of these students as they receive the same amount of funding without having to pay the costs of providing the services. Not surprisingly, the data shows that charter schools as a whole enroll a smaller percentage of children with Special Education needs than their public school counterparts. As a Board Member would you look for ways to recoup the costs from charter schools that have below-average enrollment of students with Special Education needs? YES
• Question 4: Will you have a member of your staff dedicated to supporting families with Special Education needs? YES
• Question 5: As a Board member will you ensure that the Community Advisory Committee (CAC) is able to act independently of District staff so that it can provide you with feedback that is truly reflective of what the Special Education community is experiencing? YES
• Do you have any other thoughts that you would like to express about this subject?

Special Education is enormously important to me. My daughter is a teacher of students with special needs. I have many teachers of students with special needs on my campaign team. I am endorsed by UTLA’s 37,000 teachers partially because LAUSD teachers know I care about this issue.

Too many students in BD1 are missing out on the services they deserve because of a lack of full funding from the Federal Government AND because LAUSD does not do all it must do to support students and families. When I am on the School Board, this issue, and the students and families that interact with it every day will be a top priority. I’m ready to fix this in LAUSD.

Answers from the other candidates can be found in these articles:

• DeWayne Davis
• John Brasfield

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Carl Petersen is a parent advocate for public education, particularly for students with special education needs, who serves as the Education Chair for the Northridge East Neighborhood Council. As a Green Party candidate in LAUSD’s District 2 School Board race, he was endorsed by Network for Public Education (NPE) Action. Dr. Diane Ravitch has called him “a valiant fighter for public schools in Los Angeles.” For links to his blogs, please visit www.ChangeTheLAUSD.com. Opinions are his own.