Full time ABA can cost $100,000 a year. It can be a good choice for some kids. In CA lawyers abound who sponge off the school districts and get them to pay for these treatments. But note that no district or state has that much money and one kid in 88 has autism. If a gourmet restaurant is ordered to keep giving away their steak dinners for free, you do realize the quality of the meat will go down. Right?
Your cost estimate is based on having a licensed psychologist or certified behavior analyst provide all the services. One of my wife’s doctoral students showed in her dissertation that discrete trial training for autistic children (the particular form of ABA relevant here), once the regimen is chosen by a relevantly trained professional, can be effectively carried out by school paraprofessional aids. (The paper based on the dissertation is still in preparation for submission to a peer reviewed journal, but . . .)