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Special ed is the great spangled elephant in the education parade. Each year, it grows larger and more lumbering, drawing more and more boys into the procession. Since the publication of Sommers’s book, it has grown tenfold. Special ed now is the single largest budget item, outside of basic operations, in most school districts across the country.

Special ed is profitable. If viewed as the profit center of the public school system, this makes more sense. Just as with the old welfare programs, you get more of what you pay for.

Schools in my state can get up to $14,000 a year for BD students. That's in addition to the 8K-11K they get in state aid and property taxes in the rural areas, a bit less in populated areas. We're now approaching (or just passing) 15% of all students in the state being designated as special ed. And this is one of the most conservative states overall.

Follow the money.

What amazes me is that people actually let their boys be neglected this way.

I don't know for sure if schools make money on special ed.

I can tell you as a parent of a child with a real special need (lots of brain damage as evidenced in an MRI) that my daughter and many others like her are shortchanged.

It seems the only way to really get the correct services for our children is to sue the school districts.

I think special ed needs to be totally retooled. For example, when a kid needs speech therapy. Well, the speech therapist works for the district. It kind of sets up a conflict of interest. The kid needs lots of therapy, and the district doesn't want to pay for the therapy.

I wouldn't even mind paying for some services on my own if they could be offered at school so that I don't have to drive my daughter all around after school to different therapies. Why not have a reading specialist at a school sight that a parent could hire. Why not have a speech therapist that the parent could pay for one on one therapy for.

There is so much wasted money on lawyer fees. I would much rather that money go to the kids.