There are many reasons behind the escalating costs in special education. It’s easy to blame the federal government for failing to fund its promised share under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), but that’s only part of the story. There are serious, fixable issues at the local level that are driving costs through the roof — and taxpayers deserve to know what they are.
Special education can be extremely expensive. Some students are placed in specialized private schools at district expense, and tuition for those placements can reach $100,000+ per year for a single child. While many of these costs are necessary to serve children with genuine and significant disabilities, there’s a growing portion of spending that stems from problems within our own classrooms.
Parents and teachers know about Individualized Education Programs (IEPs) and 504 Plans. These are essential tools when used correctly. IEPs are designed for students who qualify for special education services under IDEA, while 504 Plans provide accommodations for students with disabilities that interfere with a major life activity. But not every struggling student needs to be on one of these plans.
In fact, some families have shared stories of children who were on an IEP or 504 Plan in public school — yet when they transferred to private school, those same students no longer needed the accommodations. What changed? The child didn’t magically outgrow the learning challenge. The difference is in the instruction.
Public schools are still using Common Core–based math and English programs that have lowered academic standards. They’ve also relied on reading programs that fail to teach children how to read proficiently. When students fall behind, parents are understandably desperate for help. The fastest route to extra instruction often comes through special education referrals. In some cases, it’s not that a child has a disability — it’s that the school’s curriculum isn’t doing its job.
Faulty curriculum leads to confusion, anxiety, and frustration in students. Rather than fixing the curriculum, schools often label children and expand special education services — an expensive mistake. The growing number of paraprofessionals and aides in schools is a symptom of this larger problem. Taxpayers are essentially funding tutoring services that wouldn’t be necessary if students were taught effectively the first time.
Compounding the issue are failed teaching philosophies that have taken root in classrooms. Constructivism — the idea that teachers should act as “facilitators” while students discover knowledge on their own — has been widely debunked as an effective teaching model. Yet it continues to shape instruction in many districts. Students are told to figure out how to solve problems in groups, while teachers are sidelined as mere guides. The result? Confusion, chaos, and more students falling behind.
Combine a weak curriculum with ineffective teaching methods, and you have a recipe for academic failure. That failure drives up the need for additional services, specialists, and aides — all of which come at great cost to local districts.
The solution isn’t complicated. Schools must return to quality, content-rich curricula and restore the teacher’s role as an instructor, not a facilitator. Classical education models, which emphasize mastery of foundational skills and direct instruction, have consistently produced better results at a fraction of the cost.
If you want to understand what this issue costs your district, take a look at your special education budget over the past decade. Yes, part of that spending goes to students who truly need and deserve expert care. But a significant portion stems from poor decisions about curriculum and instruction — decisions that are draining resources, overwhelming teachers, and shortchanging students.
It’s time to stop labeling children to compensate for the system’s own failures. Fix the curriculum, empower teachers, and the savings — both financial and educational — will follow.
ADDITIONAL RESOURCE: Education Reimagined (page 10- Teachers are replaced with facilitators)
