Funding Special Education by Total District Enrollment: Advantages, Disadvantages, and Policy Considerations

Elizabeth Dhuey and Stephen Lipscomb ()
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Stephen Lipscomb: Mathematica Policy Research, Cambridge, MA

Education Finance and Policy, 2013, vol. 8, issue 3, 316-331

Abstract: Several states and the federal government distribute aid for special education programs based primarily on total district enrollment and a fixed aid amount per student, a method called census funding. In this policy brief, we address three questions to help policy makers, educators, and researchers better understand census-funding models and special education finance policies in general. The first question is, what are the key advantages and disadvantages of census-funding models? The second and third questions relate to aspects of policy implementation, in the event a state legislature should choose to adopt the approach. First, we examine what options are available to mitigate concerns about the equity of funding under a census funding model. Second, we examine what other options exist for helping states and districts to contain special education costs while maintaining a high level of quality. © 2013 Association for Education Finance and Policy

Keywords: special education funding; school district enrollment; census funding model (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I21 I22 I28 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2013
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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