New York City’s Education Department is creating a new division to support students with disabilities and children learning English as a second language, announced Mayor Eric Adams in a Daily News op-ed.
The Division of Inclusive and Accessible Learning, or DIAL, will be led by Christina Foti, who is being promoted from her role as chief of special education—where she has earned accolades from advocates and families—to deputy chancellor for inclusive and accessible learning.
The new division will have a $750 million budget and 1,300 staffers, pulling staff and funding that were already directed toward students with disabilities and English learners but were housed in a different part of the Education Department bureaucracy. The city’s Special Education Advisory Council, composed of parents, students, educators, and advocates, will help support the new division.
“We’re going to give it our all,” Adams said at Samara Community School in the Bronx. “We’ve heard it over and over and over again about this population of achievers who are not given the opportunity that they deserve.”
The move represents the latest reshuffling for administrative staff who oversee special education and multilingual learners. The Education Department previously had a deputy chancellor position responsible for special education and multilingual learners, though that role was eliminated in 2018.
More recently, special education and multilingual learners fell under the division of teaching and learning overseen by deputy chancellor Carolyne Quintana. In March, schools chancellor David Banks disbanded that unit, and Quintana left the department. The staff then reported to Danika Rux, the deputy chancellor of school leadership.
Advocates largely praised the move to give students with disabilities and multilingual learners their own division and deputy chancellor, as city officials have historically struggled to serve those students, who represent a significant chunk of the school system.
Roughly 21% of students in New York City are classified as having disabilities and requiring special education services through Individualized Education Programs, or IEPs, according to data from the 2022–23 school year. About 14% of students across the five boroughs are learning English as a new language.
