What do We Know about the Costs of Special Education? A Selected Review

Abstract

Drawing on the recently released Expenditures Survey, on several other national-level cost studies published during the past two decades, and on annual data reported by the states, we examined conclusions that can be derived concerning special education costs. We present measures of the total, average, and excess costs of special education and suggest how they may have changed over time. Cost data are presented for a variety of disabilities and program types. We show that average total per pupil special education costs were approximately $7,800 in 1989-90 dollars, or about 2.3 times the cost of regular education, with costs ranging from under $1,000 per pupil for students with speech or language impairments to over $30,000 per pupil for those with deaf-blindness. Over the past 20 years, total costs for those receiving special education in comparison to the costs for regular education have changed little, consistently being approximately two times the costs of regular education. However, there is a need for improved data to enable more detailed cost analyses and comparisons over time.