This article was originally published in Washington State Standard.
The amount of money spent on special education students in Washington varies widely by district.
That’s according to a new analysis of state data from July 2022 to June 2023 of Washington districts where there are over 2,500 students. According to the data, the amount each district spends per special education student ranges from $8,708 in Goldendale School District to $33,056 in Bellevue School District.
“Historically, our tendency is to look the other way on special education spending,” said Marguerite Roza, director of Edunomics Lab at Georgetown University, which created the analysis . “It hasn’t gotten the same kind of scrutiny that other elements in the school district budget have.”
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Special education is also consuming a rising share of Washington’s public education budget, now making up over 14.5% of that spending as of the most recent fiscal year, according to the Edunomics Lab analysis. That can force cuts elsewhere, Roza said.