Financing Free and Appropriate Public Education for Handicapped Students. Research & Resources on Special Education: Issue III.

Overview & Synopsis

This issue paper focuses on financial aspects of special education, with implications for state and local education policymakers. Background information is supplied on the mandate for free appropriate public education contained in P.L. 94-142, The Education For All Handicapped Children Act. Subsequent sections address the following topics: the cost of special education (difficulties with estimates, national estimates based on a 1981 Rand Corporation study, trends in special education finance); federal and state support of special education (factors influencing each, discrepancies between federal authorization and appropriation levels); and distribution of special education funds (incentives and disincentives of pupil-based, resource-based, and cost-based approaches). Implications of the funding formulas for policymakers are addressed in terms of decisionmaking needs, appropriate education placement, equitable treatment of districts, and efficient administrative and cost-containment practices. (CL)