Special Education

ACT 16 OF 2000

Act 16 of 2000 (Act 16), in part, amended section 1372 of the Publc School Code of 1949 and requires the Pennsylvania Department of Education (PDE) to annually compile information listing the number of students with disabilities for which expenditures are between $27,303.08 and $54,606.16 (Category 2), between $54,606.17 and $81,909.25 (Category 3A), and over $81,909.25 (Category 3B) for the prior school year.

Act 55 of 2022 (Act 55) further amended section 1372 to require PDE include in the February 2023 report the number of students with disabilities for which expenditures are under $5,000 (Category 1A) and between $5,000 and $27,303.07 (Category 1B) for the prior school year.

Data submitted by charter school via the Pennsylvania Information Management System (PIMS) was used to generate the Legislative Report.

The data reported by the school districts and charter schools are each entiity's assessment of the individual cost of the delivery of special education services to each child in each category.

All 500 school districts and 176 charter schools submitted expenditure data for fiscal year 2021-2022.

In fiscal year (FY) 2021-2022, a total of 313,446 students received special education. The table below includes comparsion FY 2020-2021 and FY 2021-2022 data for students with disabilities.

Category	Cost Range	FY 2020-21 # of Eligible Children	FY 2021-22 # of Eligible Children	Change
1A	$1.00 - $4,999.99	Not Reported	74,844	74,844
1B	$5,000 - $27,303.07	Not Reported	255,759	255,759
2	$27,303.08 - $54,606.16	23,207	24,401	1,194
3A	$54,606.17 - $81,909.25	6,673	7,257	584
3B	Over $81,909.25	2,776	3,333	557

100% of charter schools reported in 2021-2022.

The table below shows the total number of charter school students in each expenditure category. The School District of Pittsburgh paid charter schools $42,569.95 for each special education student in 2021-2022. This table exemplifies the vast disparity between the monies charter schools receive to educate these students and the amount charter schools actually spend educating these students.

Charter School	Total # Special Education Students	Under $5,000	$5,000 - $27,303	$27,303 - $54,606	$54,606 - $81,909	OVER $81,909
Catalyst Academy	19	*	*	*	*	*
City Charter	114	*	120	11	*	*
Environmental	153	*	171	13	11	*
Manchester Academic	50	25	29	*	*	*
Passport Academy	30	*	54	*	*	*
Propel – Hazelwood	43	13	31	21	*	*
Propel – Northside	82	*	60	30	*	*
Provident	212	*	38	192	*	*
The New Academy	34	*	47	*	*	*
Urban Academy	43	*	60	*	*	*
Urban Pathways 6-12	82	23	64	*	*	*
Urban Pathways K-5	66	70	*	*	*	*

* - 10 or Less Students Reported