Special Education Report Roundup

Study Points to Savings In Special Ed. Staff Cuts

By Nirvi Shah — September 11, 2012 | Corrected: February 21, 2019 1 min read
  • Save to favorites
  • Print

Corrected: An earlier version of this story misstated the ratio of special educators to students for the median school district. It is 7.6 special education teachers for every 1,000 students.

A new analysis of the cost of special education concludes that by cutting the number of special education personnel in high-spending districts to the national median, the nation could save up to $10 billion a year and improve educational outcomes for students with disabilities.

Author Nathan Levenson, a former superintendent of the Arlington, Mass., schools, analyzed spending and staffing patterns in 43 percent of all school districts with at least 3,000 students, looking closely at how they spend money on students with disabilities.

Mr. Levenson found that the median district has 7.6 special education teachers for every 1,000 students. Based on the national average teacher’s salary of $54,800 plus 32 percent of salary for benefits, he calculates that districts could save $5.1 billion a year by reducing special education teaching staffs to the median. He came to a similar conclusion about paraprofessionals, estimating an annual savings of $2.3 billion.

In addition, Mr. Levenson, a managing director at the District Management Council, a school system consulting group based in Boston, used pairs of demographically similar districts in Florida, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Ohio, and Texas to suggest that districts that spend less on special education often produce better academic outcomes for special-needs students than their higher-spending counterparts.

In nine of the 10 pairs, while one set of districts spent up to 57 percent more on special education, the other set had up to 110 percent more students reach proficiency on state assessments. The pairs were picked to show their relationship, however.

The report was supported by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, in Seattle, which also provides grant support for Education Week, and by the Washington-based Thomas B. Fordham Foundation.

Related Tags:

A version of this article appeared in the September 12, 2012 edition of Education Week as Study Points to Savings in Special Ed. Staff Cuts

Events

English-Language Learners Webinar AI and English Learners: What Teachers Need to Know
Explore the role of AI in multilingual education and its potential limitations.
This content is provided by our sponsor. It is not written by and does not necessarily reflect the views of Education Week's editorial staff.
Sponsor
Mathematics Webinar
Pave the Path to Excellence in Math
Empower your students' math journey with Sue O'Connell, author of “Math in Practice” and “Navigating Numeracy.”
Content provided by hand2mind
This content is provided by our sponsor. It is not written by and does not necessarily reflect the views of Education Week's editorial staff.
Sponsor
Recruitment & Retention Webinar
Combatting Teacher Shortages: Strategies for Classroom Balance and Learning Success
Learn from leaders in education as they share insights and strategies to support teachers and students.
Content provided by DreamBox Learning

EdWeek Top School Jobs

Teacher Jobs
Search over ten thousand teaching jobs nationwide — elementary, middle, high school and more.
View Jobs
Principal Jobs
Find hundreds of jobs for principals, assistant principals, and other school leadership roles.
View Jobs
Administrator Jobs
Over a thousand district-level jobs: superintendents, directors, more.
View Jobs
Support Staff Jobs
Search thousands of jobs, from paraprofessionals to counselors and more.
View Jobs

Read Next

Special Education Opinion 'I Dread Being at This Table.' How to Improve the IEP Process
IEP meetings take an emotional toll on families. But they can be turned into a forum where hope for the possibilities of schooling prevail.
8 min read
Images shows colorful speech bubbles that say "Q," "&," and "A."
iStock/Getty
Special Education Letter to the Editor Schools Must Do Better to Meet IDEA Requirements
More states must follow through on this law.
1 min read
Education Week opinion letters submissions
Gwen Keraval for Education Week
Special Education Test Your Knowledge: How Does Universal Screening for Dyslexia in Schools Work?
Take our quiz to gauge your knowledge of the language processing disorder—and find links to further reading.
1 min read
 Conceptual image of wooden alphabet tiles scattered across blue metallic surface.
iStock/Getty
Special Education Letter to the Editor Reevaluating My Language Around Disability
A recent opinion essay encouraged this teacher to unpack her approach to labeling students with specific disability classifications.
1 min read
Education Week opinion letters submissions
Gwen Keraval for Education Week