A study investigated the impact of the Kentucky Education Reform Act (KERA) on special education by collected data on all 176 school districts for 1989-90 through 1993-94. Findings indicate that KERA had a significant impact on the provision of, and allocation of resources to, special education five years after implementation. (Contains two…

This document is one of a series of reports based on the Special Education Expenditure Project, a study of the nation's spending on special education and related services based on analysis of data for the 1999-2000 school year. This report focuses on general patterns of variation in total spending on special education students across districts…

Describes what is known about current funding levels and funding sources for special education, projected trends of increasing demand for special education services, concerns about the current efforts to reform funding, and movements toward census-based funding. Criteria for evaluating state special education funding formulas are proposed. (GR)

Using Ohio as a case study, this paper explores what can be learned from state data systems about spending on special education. The analyses and discussion in this paper use data sets for the 1995-96 school year provided by the Ohio Department of Education. The case study examined factors that need to be considered in measuring special education…

This booklet is divided into five sections. The first discusses the differences between education costs and education expenditures and the alternative ways that education costs can be measured. The second section shows how economic analysis can be used to isolate and measure the factors that cause differences in education costs. Section three…

This brief summarizes data from a 1994-95 survey of the states on special education expenditures in the U.S. and analyzes other extant cost data that adjust for inflation and consider rising special education enrollments. The study estimates that the 1995-96 national expenditure for special education was about $32.6 billion (compared to $19.3…

This study evaluated the relationship between Massachusetts special education expenditures and revenues and the overall allocation of school budgets between special and regular education. An introduction reviews the study's background, census-based funding in Massachusetts, education reform efforts in the state, the Foundation Budget approach…

This paper reports the results of a study of 1,300 special education students attending 81 elementary, middle, and high schools in Massachusetts that examined the patterns of variation in services delivered to students with disabilities in relation to student characteristics. Results of the study indicate that the majority of these students spent…

In four chapters this monograph examines how states and the nation have defined both an adequate education and the funding level required to provide it, and suggests an approach to the issues of educational adequacy and equity. Chapter 1 defines adequacy in terms of the provision of learning services sufficient to meet a goal and argues that the…