Costs of Inclusion 1

2. Costs of Inclusion 1 • Ebb and Flow of Public Dollars. About 56 percent of special education costs are in excess of the cost of regular education. State and local entities must allocate funds to implement mandated special education services, but when sufficient resources are lacking, school district management may shift priorities and resources in a manner that is idiosyncratic and reactive rather than strategic and anticipatory. • Issue #10. Costs of Inclusion. Federal and state agencies during the 1990s have learned to save costs by shifting clients, when possible, to other programs for which they may be eligible. It has recently become common practice, for example, for children with disabilities to be enrolled in federal disability programs to reduce fiscal pressures on states. Inclusion is a policy that contradicts this trend by bringing individuals, programs, and budgets together; by emphasizing collaboration; and by blurring agency boundaries and jurisdictions. This collaboration requires the documentation of cross-categorical, real-time, and associated (e.g., transportation, training) costs of inclusion. • From: Early Childhood Research Working Group - Fall 1996: Ten Policy Issues Influencing Preschool Inclusion • http://www.ed.gov/offices/OERI/ECI/newsletters/96fall/early1.html

3. Costs of Inclusion 2 • Physical plant modifications play an important role in bringing about an inclusive school. This is particularly true when students have mobility impairments. Directors pointed out that most schools that had been built to code are not truly accessible, since most accessibility codes are for adults rather than children. This has required additional renovations to make the buildings “functionally accessible” for individual students. • In general, most older school buildings are not accessible for students with mobility impairments, and school districts face significant costs in renovating those buildings. The degree to which a district commits to expensive renovations seems related to the general wealth and commitment of the district, with less affluent districts opting for interim solutions of moving classrooms to the ground level of a building. Ultimately, however, most of those interviewed believe that buildings will have to become accessible in order to comply with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). • Resource Implications of Inclusion: Impressions of Special Education Administrators at Selected Sites Center for Special Education Finance Policy Paper Number 1, June 1994

4. Cost of Inclusion 3 • All districts are expending more dollars on professional development to prepare staff for inclusion. (I)n order for inclusion to work, teachers will consistently need an opportunity to talk with one another, problem solve, share strategies, and jointly plan instruction for individual students. This will require time that will need to be structured both through the use of more flexible schedules during the school day, and perhaps through periodic release time that may require substitutes or other external assistance. • Resource Implications of Inclusion: Impressions of Special Education Administrators at Selected Sites Center for Special Education Finance Policy Paper Number 1, June 1994 • There is a clear conflict between providing resources for a child in the “local school” and providing resources in one school to serve a community. Given limited resources, the former, in practice, leads to a denial of equality of opportunity across a number of children in different schools, while one or two may benefit. The latter is more cost effective, arguable more efficient, but is a restriction of “meaningful choice.” • Inclusive education: a critical perspective, Geoff Lindsay, The Guilford Lecture, 2002