Special education, a state- and federally mandated program with a hefty price tag, is squeezing school budgets like never before

GARY HIGGINS/The Patriot Ledger

Speech and language pathologist Pat Rigo works with Daniel Sheehan and Dylan Gallagher at Vinal Elementary School in Norwell, where a continuing education program for special education students is held during the summer.

First of a three-part series

By JENNIFER MANN
The Patriot Ledger

Randolph eliminated school buses. Scituate delayed opening a much-needed elementary school. Fees could not save Milton from slashing 20 teachers and aides.

Yet none of these communities touched special education spending. They can’t. It’s the law.

Special education, a state- and federally mandated program with a hefty price tag, is squeezing school budgets like never before.

• Massachusetts spent $1.8 billion on 163,396 special needs students last year. It costs twice as much to educate a special ed student in the state, which is seventh-highest in the nation for special ed enrollment.
• More public school money is being used to pay for fewer students to attend costly private and specialty schools. Massachusetts is sixth-highest in the nation for the percentage of special ed spending on private and specialty schools at local schools’ expense.
• Last year, one-third of public school spending on special ed was used to pay private and specialty schools. In some South Shore communities, it accounted for up to half of special ed spending.

A Patriot Ledger review of public school spending shows those that spend the most for private and specialty schools placement often spend a disproportionate share of the school budget on special ed.

The high costs are creating worry for school officials and, in some towns, friction between special ed parents and those who say general education is being shortchanged.

How we
got here

1950s, 1960s

Civil rights advocates and parents of disabled children form groups to lobby federal lawmakers and courts to pay for educating disabled children.

1972

Massachusetts lawmakers pass the Bartley-Daly Act, more commonly known as Chapter 766. It was the first comprehensive special education reform law in the country, calling for every child with special needs between the ages of 3 and 21 to receive a free public education appropriate to the child’s individual needs.

1973

Congress passes a law affirming the principle that disabled children should be educated in regular classrooms.

1975

The federal Education of All Handicapped Children Act requires public schools to give all handicapped children a free, appropriate education suited to the student's individual needs, and offered in the least restrictive setting. States are given until 1978 - later extended to 1981- to fully implement the law.

2000

Massachusetts lawmakers change a state law that requires special education to be of “maximum feasible benefit'' to the child to one that is “free and appropriate,” a standard used in all other states. Lawmakers hope the change will reduce or stem the growth of special education enrollment.

“It’s regular ed parents against special ed parents,” said Marynell Henry, co-chairwoman of a Scituate foundation that supports special ed programs. “It’s real easy for them to say it’s special ed costs, and it may very well be, but ...we’re all a community and we’re here to educate and support all our children.”

School superintendents fear that spending more money on fewer high need special ed students leaves less for in-house programs that would help all special and regular ed students achieve, said Tom Scott, president of the Massachusetts Association of School Superintendents.

“You’re not going to hear that as a vocal debate; you’re going to hear that as a subtle debate,” he said.

There is evidence that their concerns are justified.

In 2005, more than half of Massachusetts school districts failed to meet state standards for special ed students on the English portion of MCAS. More than 60 percent did not measure up in math, even though advocates say with assistance most special ed students can succeed.

Special ed students in the state also have higher drop-out and in-school violence rates than their peers.

“I understand completely the horrendous financial pressures that are on our districts,” said Ellen Chambers, founder of SpEdWatch, an advocacy group. “But the answer to that problem cannot be to deny the proper education to these students.”

30 years of changes

Until the early 1970s, students with severe mental or physical handicaps were placed in private institutions, at a parent’s expense or in a state-run school.

All that changed in 1975 when Congress passed the Education of All Handicapped Children Act, which required a free and appropriate public education for all handicapped students in the least restrictive environment.

Suddenly, teachers had to teach students who used to be in segregated classrooms, and public schools were flooded with severely disabled students as institutions closed or changed their focus.

Today, one in six children in Massachusetts receives at least some special education, and a growing number are diagnosed with disabilities rarely seen 30 years ago.

Public schools must teach them or pay to send them elsewhere.

“Given that rise - and given that we identify these children at age 3 and generally have to provide services to that child in a very significant way - it puts a large strain on the school district,” said Dover Sherborn Superintendent Perry Davis, co-author of a 2001 report by the Massachusetts Association of School Superintendents on why special ed spending has gone up.

When a public school must pay to place a child in a private school, the yearly toll can be upwards of $100,000 for one child. This can lead to finger pointing.

“I’ve heard it said: We have a new family in town and now we have to find $50,000 - as if that child isn’t a human being, but a $50,000 problem,” said Earl Fay, the father of two autistic children in Milton public schools.

GARY HIGGINS/The Patriot Ledger

Michael Garzon works on a science project involving whales at the Vinal Elementary School in Norwell, which has a continuing education program for special education students during the summer.

Who pays?

In 1975, Congress set a goal of contributing 40 percent to the cost of educating special needs children, but today the federal contribution is closer to 17 percent, varying by state.

Massachusetts Sen. Edward Kennedy, a co-sponsor of the law, said the federal government has failed to live up to its commitment to special ed funding.

The $1.8 billion cost in Massachusetts is largely paid by cities and towns, which are limited by state law in their ability to raise new taxes. The state kicks in about 35 percent - not far from the share it pays for regular ed. The federal government kicks in about $400 million for specific grant programs for special ed students.

Barbara Anderson, executive director of Citizens for Limited Taxation, said state or federal human services agencies should be picking up more of the tab.

“There’s no reason that property taxes should be paying for a human services problem,” she said.

The state’s contribution is based on estimates of how much it costs to educate a special ed student, but superintendents say this guess is chronically too low.

Further, they say, an emergency state fund to help public schools cope with extraordinary spending for a high needs child falls short because it does not cover transportation costs.

The federal No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 holds special ed students to the same standards as general population, but advocates say the mandate has been under-funded.

This all leads to a squeeze on the local level.

In Weymouth and Sharon, special ed accounts for nearly a fourth of school budgets, up from 18 percent a decade ago. More than a fourth of Holbrook’s school budget goes to special ed, and in Halifax, it is a third.

In Randolph this year, special ed consumed one-third of the district’s spending, with a $2 million increase resulting in cuts in other services including sports.

“We’re required by law to provide those special education services; we’re not required by law to provide (busing and sports),” Randolph Superintendent Richard Silverman said.

Solutions in sight?

Superintendents say the goal is for public schools to create in-house or collaborative programs so they spend less on private and specialty schools.

The savings would allow schools to devote more resources to early intervention and classroom support so that special and regular ed kids could be taught side by side - what educators call mainstreaming or inclusion.

Advocates say only about a third of the state’s 365 public school districts have successfully implemented inclusion.

“A lot of school systems say they’re doing inclusion, but what they’re really doing is just putting kids in the regular classroom without the support, and that’s just disastrous,” said Kevin Lenane, a special ed administrator in Newton, a district known for its mainstreaming program.

The result can be battles between special ed parents and administrators over out-of-district placement.

“The only time (administrators) start talking about out-of-district is after the kids are falling flat on their face,” said Suzanne Gervais, president of the Massachusetts Association of Special Education Parent Advisory Councils.

Jennifer Mann may be reached at .