[tater]

Originally Posted by Takeda Shingen

The disparity you see is at the district level. The state allots certain funding with the expectation that it be used on special education, but it is largely up to the individual boards and administrators as to where that money actually goes. It isn't too far different than a guy from the state walking in the door and dropping a sack of money (with a dollar symbol on it, of course) in front of the school board, who then divide it up and spend it on what they really want.

I worked in two different districts, and I can tell you that this money goes to things that you can see in plain sight; mostly at Friday night home games. Artificial turf fields, state-of-the-art practice facilities, fancy team helmets and logos and large coaching staffs are now the norm in public ed. Meanwhile, the people who the money is meant for struggle with antiquated facilities, understaffed classrooms and a lack of truly qualified personnel. The last of those is a result of the first two; finding special ed teachers, specifically good ones, is a struggle because very few people want to work in the field. Frankly, the job sucks, and they know it.

When it comes down to it, school districts waste a lot of money. If the funding was actually spent on what it was intended for, you'd see improvement.

So they (a district) make a claim to the State that they have XXXX students that qualify for SpecEd, then receive the money that might be 17% of their total budget...

then blow it on sports crap, and other non-special ed needs? (assuming I understand correctly)

Wow. That sucks.