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"According to law (based on court decisions) even very severely handicapped are entitled to be educated in the public schools. I have seen students who are legally adults (ages 18-22), but are wheelchair bound and who basically are mentally toddlers - they can't speak, must be fed, have diapers changed, etc. - who are students in the public school system. Those students are very expensive for the system. They are in very small classes with lots of equipment, and some of them have teachers' aides whose only job is to care for one student.

I am not trying to sound coldhearted toward disabled children, but they do change the average "per pupil expenditures", sometimes drastically."

You are NOT KIDDING on that assessment.
I have worked in special ed. for almost 17 years.
At our school we have the program for the severely/profoundly disabled.
As you say, these are students who do not communicate (even with the most amazing of adaptive equipment)do not walk, or really have any capacity to learn. And, these students basically going to be in this same condition for the rest of their lives. (baring any not-yet-available medical intervention).
IQ's in the 20-50 range and not EVEN approaching the abilities of toddlers.
It is a very "hard to deal with" lot.
Do they deserve and education? Well, the soft hearted part of me says, "Of course they do. Every child deserves at least a chance". But are they getting a chance? When they they do not have the capacity to "learn"..even just a tiny bit?
We have between 7-9 students in our program (14-21 year olds).
There are usually 6-8 staff people working in the program at any given time. One is a teacher. The others are speech and language pathologists, occupational and physical therapists, behavior technicians, special education paraprofessionals and one-on-one aides.
The cost is STAGGERING.
We have other very expensive programs in the district as well. But, the difference is, that in the other REALLY expensive programs (the programs for severely autistic children for example) the students are making PROGRESS. Measurable progress.
And, some of the programs, (those for the mildly to moderately retarded for example) I believe SAVE tax payers money in the long run. For every lunch or dinner a student with Downs learns to make...that is one less dinner or lunch that will have to be made FOR THEM by an attendant. And that is a lifelong savings.
Also, our mild-moderate students spend massive amounts of time learning to WORK.
Those parts of special ed are worth every penny (in my opinion). And, it is the "right thing to do" with and for these students.
But the severe/profound students...
I just don't know.

But the severe/profound students... I just don't know.

Remember, their parents are being forced to pay into the system, too. Should their parents have to pay school taxes to foot the bill for all the fortunate, healthy kids to attend school, while their own kids are pushed aside?

I realize you're only expressing a thought openly - a thought I'm sure others have had. But it illustrates the logical conclusion of government funded education. As it grows and grows more and more expensive, they're going to start looking to cut it down. That's what the schools in my area are beginning to do.

I see it differently: Gov't-funded education to help with the severely and profoundly disabled is far more acceptable to me than gov't-funded education for healthy kids of highly-educated parents who should be able to foot the bill and/or educate them on their own.

But I don't want either. Schools receive more funding based on the number of kids who qualify for "special ed", and we know they jump hurdles to qualify anyone they can, including perfectly healthy kids. ;-)