Behavioral Observation of Students in Schools (BOSS)
Category: Student Learning
Using a 13-year panel of school districts in Michigan, this paper estimates the average expenditures associated with different disability category labels. Increasing the number of students with disabilities by 1 student in the average school district is associated with an increase in expenditures between $1,998 for students with specific learning disabilities to more than a $23,000 increase in expenditures for students with low-incidence and severe disabilities. I find evidence that these expenditures may be driven by a higher identification of high-status disabilities and differential expenditure patterns in wealthier school districts.
Keywords
Special Education, School Finance
Education level
Document Object Identifier (DOI)
10.26300/e372-gz08
