The goal of [IDEA] is honorable: to protect children whose disabilities for too long condemned them to low expectations. But the number of kids receiving special-ed services--for physical, cognitive, learning and other problems--has doubled since fiscal 1977, to an estimated 6.9 million (or roughly 11% of all students nationwide), and cash-strapped school districts are struggling to find funding for those children, who on average cost more than twice as much to educate as non-disabled students.

As other states create [state-level] funds for high-needs children, the cost crunch has been complicated by mixed messages from the Federal Government. Parts of the No Child Left Behind Act require schools to raise the academic performance of children with disabilities, but the Federal Government picks up less than 18% of the additional cost of educating those students. Read more …

Source: Time Magazine, Sept. 25 edition