As part of a series of school visits across Minnesota, Education Commissioner Brenda Cassellius will host a roundtable on special education today in Duluth. The commissioner will join Duluth Superintendent Bill Gronseth and nearly two dozen teachers and administrators to talk about the current state of special education in Duluth.

Just today, the Office of the Legislative Auditor released a report that affirms the need for increased funding and special education reform, two substantial components of Governor Mark Dayton’s budget. The Governor’s proposal would invest $125 million in special education, providing the equivalent of an additional $180 per student per year to address some of the state’s unfunded special education costs and taking important steps to fix the state’s broken special education funding formula and contain rising costs.

The Duluth Special Education Roundtable begins at 3:30 p.m. at Lincoln Park Middle School, Room 3520.