[luckystarmom]

I would like to know how much is spent on regular education and then on special education services.

I’d like to know how much those have grown over the years.

Then you could also compare the results to private schools who do not need to provide special education services.

I’d also like to know how much is spent on special education based on different services and on different disabilities. Are we really getting a good bang for the buck on those services? My daughter received special ed services. I think they spent more on administering it than on actually providing the services. I do think the occupational therapy helped her a lot. I think the district should have contracted out the speech therapy to a private therapist. We got a lot more bang for our buck (time wise) with private therapy.

[bawhora]

I work in Special Ed in San Jose CA schools. I can tell you first hand that the cost to tax payers to educate Special Ed students can, and often does, triple the cost of educating main stream students. Parents are often the cause of such high cost. Parents who know the legal system, and how to abuse it, get programs that do not necessarily help their child, but add cost to the over all budget. Legal cost, special programs, pull out programs, learning devices, and on and on...... Some work others do not. Bottom line, someone has to pay for it all, that someone is you and me. Bottom of the bottom our schools need to be reformed.
I am actually surprised you had your kids in public school for as long as you did. As one tax payer to another, thank you for taking them out. You sound much more happy with/in the private sector. How does Texas handle Special Ed in their public schools? Maybe Texas is a better fit for your family.