COSTS FOR SPECIAL EDUCATION PROGRAMS AS COMPARED WITH THE COSTS FOR GENERAL EDUCATION PROGRAMS IN SELECTED ARIZONA SCHOOL DISTRICTS.

Abstract

The problem of this study was to analyze special education costs relative to the total educational costs of a school district. Special education costs were examined from the perspective that specialized services for handicapped students constitute only a subset of a large variety of education offerings available to students. The purpose of this study was to identify the costs for special education and regular education in selected Arizona school districts, including costs for administration, instruction, instruction support, and operations. In addition, this study examined the cost relationships that existed among pupil-teacher ratios, teacher salary schedules, and teacher training and experience for special education programs. This type of information should allow for the development of finance formulas for special education that will provide the level of financing required to ensure that ample resources are available to provide appropriate educational services for the handicapped. This study examined the costs for 9 types of regular education programs and 10 categories of handicapped students. The school districts studied included 14 elementary districts, 4 high school districts, and 10 unified districts. This sample of school districts comprised over 50% of the total statewide special education enrollment for the 1977-78 school year. The results of this study indicated that extensive cost variations existed for both regular and special education programs. The highest cost for a regular education program was $7,532 for a high school program for industrial arts/home economics. The lowest cost for a regular education program was $818 for high school language arts. The highest cost for a special education program was $5,674 for a resource program for visually handicapped students. The lowest cost for a special education program was $235 for a resource program for speech handicapped students. The impacts of pupil-teacher ratio, teacher salary schedule, and teacher training and experience were established for resource programs for speech handicapped students and for self-contained programs for the trainable mentally handicapped. The impact of pupil-teacher ratio was the most extensive factor in causing cost variations in both of the programs studied. However, the impact of teacher salary schedule and teacher training and experience were major factors in individual cases.