GAO Recommends Additional Federal IDEA Data Collection

At the end of July, the General Accounting Office (GAO) released a report to Congress, Education Needs School and District-Level Data to Fully Assess Resources Available to Students with Disabilities. The report identifies obstacles to providing special education and inequities in distributing resources across states and school districts. It highlights that personnel shortages are a key challenge, consistent with nationwide special educator shortages. Additionally, insufficient time for professional development, communication challenges with parents, and lack of collaboration between general and special education staff are significant impediments to improving outcomes for students with disabilities. As a result, some students do not receive the full services they need, experience delays, or receive no services.

Regarding resource availability, the report finds that in the 2021–22 school year, only 20% of students with disabilities attended schools with a full complement of key personnel, such as social workers, school psychologists, school nurses, and counselors. There is also significant variation in student-to-staff ratios across states, ranging from 9:1 to 30:1. The GAO identified data gaps, particularly the lack of detailed data at the school level on special education staff, which hinders the Department of Education (ED)’s ability to assess resource distribution and compliance with the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA). As a result, the report recommends granting ED the authority to collect school- and district-level data to assess better and address resource distribution disparities. Doing so would enable ED to understand better and mitigate the disparities in special education resource distribution.

Read the full report here.