Gainesville Sun
By Cathi Carr
Funding viewed as factor in special ed
Funding for special education programs in 33 states, including Florida, has actually promoted student enrollment in such programs over the past decade, according to a new study from the Manhattan Institute for Policy Research.According to estimations by Jay P. Greene and Greg Forster, researchers from the conservative think tank, nearly 400,000 additional children have been placed in special education nationwide because of the way states fund the programs, resulting in more than $2 billion a year in additional spending.
In Florida, overdiagnosis of disabilities has resulted in an additional 29,000 students being placed in special education since 1991, costing the state more than $171 million a year, the researchers estimated.
"What we find is there is a very important relationship between how you fund special education and enrollment," Greene said. "Funding systems that provide funding benefits to school districts that enroll students in special education in fact enroll more students."
But Cathy Costello, principal at the Sidney Lanier Center, which serves Alachua County's most profoundly disabled students, said special education services have continued to be severely underfunded.
"Based on the true costs and increases of serving those students, funding has gone down" since the 1970s, when the federal funding initiative began, Costello said. "That's the reason there is such a strong coalition of parents and others that really work to advocate for funding."
Greene said the states use a "bounty" system which pays school districts more for each additional student in special education.
That in turn creates financial incentives for schools to increase the identification of students with special needs, the researchers said.
Kathy Dixon, principal at Williams Elementary School, said funding is not a factor at her school. "We just look at the children and their needs," Dixon said. "You try everything you can to keep from placing them in special ed because it costs too much to educate them."
