The amount of money spent on special education students in Washington state varies widely by school district.
That’s according to a new analysis of state data from July 2022 to June 2023 for Washington districts with more than 2,500 students. According to the data, districts spend per special education student, ranging from $8,708 in the Goldendale School District to $33,056 in the Bellevue School District.
“Historically, our tendency has been to turn a blind eye to special education spending,” said Marguerite Rosa, director of Georgetown University’s Institute for Educationnomics, which produced the analysis. “It doesn’t get as much scrutiny as other elements of the school district’s budget.”
Special education is also increasing as a share of Washington’s public education budget, accounting for more than 14.5% of spending as of the most recent fiscal year, according to an analysis by the Edunomics Lab. Rosa said that could force cuts elsewhere as well.
Washington state has steadily raised the cap on the percentage of a school district’s population that can receive special education funding. Some lawmakers and advocates are calling on Congress to remove the cap entirely, as many school districts have been found to have more special education students than they receive aid.
Both candidates running for public education superintendent are also calling for increased special education spending.
But there are concerns about how lifting the cap would increase spending across the state. Lawmakers resisting the idea say it would require downsizing in other areas.
Rosa said that increasing spending on special education does not necessarily improve student academic performance. This is based on a state-by-state comparison by the Ednomics Lab, which found that increasing the number of students with disabilities or special education staff were not associated with improved reading outcomes. .
This is noteworthy because the most common special education diagnosis, specific learning disabilities, includes children with dyslexia and other neurological differences that interfere with language processing abilities.
Increases in special education spending per student also have no direct correlation to the number of special education students in a district. Rather, increases in special education spending are often proportional to school district size, perhaps because larger districts take standardized approaches to serving special education students. said Rosa.
A district’s spending on special education is not related to the number of special education students enrolled in the district. (Edunomics Laboratory)
The Edunomics Lab analysis shows that reading outcomes for students with disabilities improve by spending more on reading instruction for all students, regardless of disabilities, rather than spending extra on special education. It turned out to be a waste of money.
To help districts make the most of their funds, institute researchers recommend that districts scrutinize their special education budgets and compare their costs and outcomes with other districts.
Special education spending compared to English language arts scores for fourth graders with disabilities. (Edunomics Laboratory)
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