Charter LEAs enroll a lower proportion of students with disabilities than traditional LEAs and serve smaller proportions in higher-cost disability categories¶

Claim · All claims
Evidence · 1 study · associational r2 · q2
Currency · newest study 2020 · not yet checked against its sources · not reviewed by a person · overdue for a recheck since 2025: baselines and conditions change

Subclaims¶

q2 i? Charter schools that are LEAs for special education purposes enroll fewer students with disabilities on average than traditional LEAs (9.4 percent versus 10.7 percent of enrollment) and serve smaller proportions of students in autism, intellectual disability, and multiple disabilities. → Jason Willis 2020

Evidence¶

Jason Willis 2020¶

Jason Willis, Sara Menlove Doutre, Kelsey Krausen, Tyson Barrett, Tye Ripma, and Ruthie Caparas. (2020). Study of California's Special Education Funding System: Phase I Report — A Descriptive Analysis of Special Education Funding in California. WestEd. https://eric.ed.gov/?id=ED616102

q2 · i? · associational · r2

Descriptive analysis of DataQuest 2018/19 data (Figure E-4, Table 2) reports charter LEAs serve similar proportions in specific learning disability, speech and language impairment, emotional disturbance, and other health impairment, but smaller proportions in "other, higher-cost disability categories."

"charter schools that are LEAs for special education purposes enroll fewer students with disabilities on average than traditional LEAs — 9.4 percent of total enrollment versus 10.7 percent, respectively."

Discussion¶

Related Claims¶

• California serves more than 725,000 K-12 students with disabilities and invests roughly $12 billion annually in special education, with LEA unrestricted funds covering the majority of spending — related
• South Carolina charter schools enroll larger shares of white students and smaller shares of students in poverty, ELLs, and special education students than TPS — a broader claim this one bears on
• Additional special education costs vary substantially by primary disability category — related
• As total enrollment shrinks, the shares of English Learners, students with disabilities, and low-income students are growing, concentrating higher-need populations in districts with less funding — related
• Special education enrollment rose from 6.4 to 7.0 million students (12.9 to 13.7 percent of public enrollment) between 2011–12 and 2017–18 — related