Toni Barton
Founder and President
Spelligent Education

Toni Barton, JD, M.Ed. Toni is the Founder and President of Spelligent Education, an organization focused on building and supporting educators with designing inclusive schools. Toni founded and led the Inclusive Schools Leadership Institute, a national leadership development program focused on building in school leaders the core mindsets, knowledge, and skills that support driving outcomes for exceptional learners. In this role, Toni coached and supported leaders across 14 states. In 2019, Toni launched Relay’s inaugural Special Education Hackathon that brought together leaders from dozens of districts and charters to disrupt the status quo and rethink special education in their schools.

Prior to joining Relay, Toni served in roles such as Director of Student Support Services and school principal in Washington, D.C. charter schools. Toni started her career in education as a special education teacher in D.C. Public Schools. Toni has presented on inclusive practices at many conferences and convenings, including SXSW EDU, EdSummit, and the National Charter School Conference. Toni serves as a state coach for the Council for Chief State Schools Officers as a part of their inclusive leadership initiative and has been featured in articles in Getting Smart, Forbes magazine, ELearning Industry, and is a contributing author to the upcoming book Inclusive Leadership: From Theory to Practice.