The kind of students we are describing are a tiny percentage of the population of special education students.
I guess this is one thing that bothers me about spending on special education. The non-mainstreamed students may only be a relative handful of students, but the spending on them starts at "high" and goes to "astronomical."
Many people here have said that they don't want to take things away from special ed. students, especially given how they were treated before the 1970s. I see that point, but I also see that overspending on special education takes funding away from everyone else. Why is that okay? (I don't think it is; I think that people are just used to the idea.)
Do I think these students should be denied an appropriate education? Of course not. They have a right to an education. Do I think that programs targeting them should get as much funding as they do? No, I don't. Gifted and talented students have a right to an appropriate education too.
