The misdiagnosis of special education costs: district practices have no bearing, but medical and social factors accelerate spending

School Administrator, March, 2003 by Sheldon H. Berman, David K. Urion

Adding to the impact of poverty is the increase in families experiencing social and economic stress. Many communities and school districts in Massachusetts have seen increases in such indicators as child abuse and neglect, alcoholism and drug use, and dysfunctional family environments that lead to increases in children requiring special education services.

According to the Massachusetts Department of Social Services, reports of child maltreatment were more than 2 1/2 times higher in 1999 than in 1983, as was the number of cases of confirmed maltreatment through supported investigations.

A Long-Term Solution

Policymakers need to be realistic about the rising costs of special education. The increases in the severity of disabilities in the population in general and the increase in the number of young children with moderate and severe disabilities will require greater expenditures in special education in the future.

Even though school districts are making their best efforts to provide regular education programs and services as an alternative to substantially separate special-needs programs, these regular education programs and services require additional resources. Learning disabilities do not disappear just because a child is not classified as a special education student. These are realities policymakers need to face.

Our nation faces a dilemma. Children are entering school systems with significantly greater special needs and these needs are often identified at an early age. The increased cost for special education services is seriously compromising regular education programs and the goals of school reform.

We need a solution that addresses the financial crisis emerging in many districts while at the same time meeting the real and substantial needs of these children. In addition, we need a solution that does not blame the children or those working with these children and does not pit regular education against special education.

For the majority of school districts in Massachusetts and elsewhere, increases in special education spending have meant that little of the new funding allocated to education have been available for improving regular education. The long-term interest of children with disabilities will not be served by pulling resources from regular education classrooms.

The long-term solution lies in addressing the underlying causes of the special needs increases--the medical, social and economic issues that cause children to require special education. We need to invest in medical research directed toward the prevention of disabilities in premature infants and children with other severe neurological disorders. We need to invest in reweaving the social and economic support systems for families. These are difficult problems, but we need to work toward long-term solutions rather than seeking the simple solution of financial disincentives. In the interim, additional federal and state aid is necessary to ensure education reform moves forward.

Sheldon Berman is superintendent of the Hudson Public Schools, 155 Apsley St., Hudson, MA 01749. E-mail: shelley@concord.org. He chaired the Massachusetts Association of School Superintendents' Special Education Task Force. David Urion, a clinical child neurologist, is director of the learning Disabilities Program at Children's Hospital in Boston.