disabilities

Summary: As of 2011, nearly 112,000 students in Minnesota were receiving special education, 13.6 percent of all students in grades K-12, according to Jody Hauer, principal evaluator for the Office of the Legislative Auditor. Hauer, project manager for the Auditor's March 2013 evaluation of special education, points out that special education revenues in 2011 amounted to $1.8 billion. She discusses the four main lines of inquiry of the evaluation: funding; state and federal legal requirements for special education; legal compliance monitoring and enforcement; and characteristics of the students receiving special education. She reports that the per student costs for providing services to children in 13 different disability categories vary widely by category, from $2,583 to $47,252. Hauer also points out the rise in special education costs and the impact of that increase on local school districts. She also discusses major disincentives for school districts to implement cost-control measures for special education and recommends ways of adding cost-control incentives.

An audit of the state’s 130 in-patient services for people with mental illness, developmental disabilities and chemical dependency resulted in several recommendations by the Office of the Legislative Auditor for service improvements from the top down.