Educators Say Ruling Could Drain Budgets

By Mark Walsh

Washington

Some school administrators fear a dramatic increase in special education costs in the wake of a U.S. Supreme Court ruling last week that districts must pay for individual nursing help needed by students with severe medical disabilities to attend school.

"The potential impact of this is going to be tremendous," said Lewis Finch, the superintendent of the Cedar Rapids, Iowa, school district, which had fought requests to pay for a nursing aide for a paralyzed boy who is dependent on a ventilator and other assistance to attend school.

Anne L. Bryant, the executive director of the National School Boards Association, estimated that as many as 17,000 children nationwide have severe disabilities that could...