Finding Efficiencies in Special Education Programs

As They Look to Identify Savings in a High-Cost Mandated Area, Officials Walk a Delicate Legal Line, but See Room for Innovation

By Christina A. Samuels

Educating students with disabilities—a federally mandated responsibility—is seen as one of the costliest services school districts must provide, and one of the last that can be cut.

The federal Individuals with Disabilities Education Act provides a set of protections for 6.6 million students—about 13 percent of total student enrollment—who have dyslexia, autism, intellectual disabilities, blindness, or other impairments that affect educational performance. Those students are entitled to a “free, appropriate public education” in the least-restrictive environment that meets their needs. Fail to provide such services, and parents can sue in federal court.

Those guidelines have led to the perception that special education is an untouchable expense, even in lean economic times. While states and school districts are encouraged to squeeze out every dime in other areas of spending, trying to save money in special education services is thought to be a third rail: Touch it,...