Once again, the whipping boy

 Once Again, the Whipping Boy

The Maryland State Department of Education has enlisted the services of the American Institutes for Research (AIRS), Afton Partners, and UPD Consulting to investigate the “true” cost of special education to the local school districts.  At issue is the question of whether State funding for special education should increase.  The kick off to the research is an online questionnaire that takes about 15-20 minutes to complete.  The intro information states that the input of non-public special ed administrators is welcome and encouraged.  Which is odd since none of the questions is designed for non-public input.

The questionnaire is obviously slanted to welcome concerns about the high cost of non-public tuition to the local districts.  This point is particularly interesting since the State reimburses the local districts up to 50% of the cost of the non-public tuition.  The reimbursement level often means it actually costs less for the school district to send a child to a non-public school than it does to serve the child in the public setting.

The requirement of the Blueprint for Maryland’s Future that all children have pre-K at no cost to the family also raises the stakes.   State and federal law has required special ed services for kids with disabilities from birth through the age of 20, but those early childhood services have often been some speech or OT.  Full pre-k for kids with disabilities that are identified at a very early age means that the disabilities will be more severe.  

The biggest cost in education is staff salaries.  Once again, the Blueprint is increasing costs. Starting teacher salaries are scheduled to be $60,000 beginning on July 1, 2026.  School districts are struggling to meet that requirement.  Since special ed classes are required to be smaller in size personnel costs will go up.  As will the cost of the co-teaching model that puts a special ed teacher and a general ed teacher in the same classroom.

The results of the study will be interesting.  My bet is the results will show that educating all children regardless of ability level will, once again, be a reason to put the blame on special education.