PROVIDENCE — Education officials approved a series of controversial changes to special-education regulations yesterday afternoon that will affect many of Rhode Island’s 32,000 students with disabilities.

After a lengthy process that included months of meetings and four public hearings this fall, the Board of Regents for Elementary and Secondary Education gave final approval to a series of changes, including lifting the state’s restriction on class size for special-education students. The changes to the regulations passed 6 to 1.

Rhode Island now limits self-contained special-education classes to 10 or fewer students, with one teacher and one teaching assistant, which is one of the strictest requirements in the country. Classes with severely disabled students are limited to six students.

Federal regulations do not limit class size. Officials at the state Department of Education said that since research does not indicate 10 students per class yields better results for students, there was no reason to stick with the limit.

“We are completely reorienting the discussion to be about appropriate student placement,” rather than class size, said Peter McWalters, the state commissioner for education.

McWalters said that next month he will issue a series of guidelines for districts to ensure that schools do not dramatically increase special-education classes as a way to save money.

The state Education Department issued similar guidance to Providence this fall, when the district was granted a waiver to increase class size for students with mild to moderate disabilities as a way to save money.

McWalters said then that it was more important to group students according to ability rather than focus narrowly on class size. The waiver permitted Providence to expand its class size to 12 students. He also ordered the district to submit a complete list of special-education teachers and teaching assistants, so the department could determine whether all met the federal “highly qualified” requirement.

The department will automatically review any district that makes significant staffing reductions — a possible indication they are abusing the new rules, McWalters said.

Other changes approved by the Regents include no longer automatically offering a 230-day extended school year to 1,100 students with severe disabilities. As of July 1, an extended school year must be included in a student’s individual education plan, in order to receive the additional school days.

Regents postponed another proposed change for a year. The change will no longer require the city or town where a student lives to pay for special-education services if parents choose to send the student to a private school in another town. It’s a temporary victory for the 400 “parentally placed” students who attend private schools. The change, which complies with federal requirements, goes into effect July 1, 2009.

Colleen Callaghan, a member of the Board of Regents and a director with a teachers union, Rhode Island Federation of Teachers, cast the lone vote against the changes, saying she “disagreed with the direction this is going.” Callaghan’s biggest concern, she said, was lifting the class restriction, echoing the concerns expressed by many teachers and parents at the public hearings.

“I have problems with this,” she said. “I think we should have imbedded some numbers in the regulations. I think it will be harder to catch the places where the kids may be falling through the cracks.”

jjordan@projo.com