The feds don't pay much of the cost of special ed, but they do fund Title 1 for poor kids (most of whom are illegal in California).
I am so thankful that kids that are not legally here can get all sorts of help when my daughter whose parents are legally in this country and have paid thousands and thousands of dollars to fund education cannot get the help she needs.
It's not even like she needs a whole lot of help. At the private school, the reading program is going to cost $1400 for the whole year.
She doesn't need a one on one aid. She is not severely retarded. She merely needs a multi-sensory reading program.
If it is more, that might explain the push for getting kids out of sped and into some of that NCLB $$.