Less school funding meant more inclusion, GAO finds
Summary
About 7 million children received special education services in school year 2023-24. Nationally, the number of students with disabilities spending at least 40% of their day in general education classrooms rose 25% -- from 4.6 million to 5.7 million -- between school years 2012-13 and 2023-24, faster than the 21% growth in the overall special-education population. The trend wasn't even: the share increased in 42 of 50 states plus D.C., led by the District of Columbia (+7.7 percentage points) and California (+6.4), while North Dakota (-3.2) and Nevada (-2.6) moved the other way. By school year 2023-24, state-level inclusion rates ranged from 71% to 93% -- meaning where a student with a disability lives shapes their classroom experience as much as their diagnosis does. GAO's district-level regression analysis found the strongest resource-related predictors of higher inclusion rates weren't more funding or staff: districts without a standalone special-education school had inclusion rates 5.2 percentage points higher, and a 30% drop in per-pupil revenue was associated with a 1.6 percentage point increase in inclusion -- the opposite of what more resources would predict.
Where you live decides how you're taught
The shift wasn't uniform. The share increased in 42 of 50 states plus D.C.⧉, led by the District of Columbia (+7.7 percentage points) and California (+6.4); North Dakota (-3.2) and Nevada (-2.6) moved the opposite direction. By school year 2023-24, state-level inclusion rates ranged from 71% to 93% -- the same federal disability-education law, applied to comparable student populations, producing wildly different classroom placements depending on the state.
View data as table
| SY2012-13 | 4,600,000 |
|---|---|
| SY2023-24 | 5,700,000 |
View data as table
| D.C. (increase) | 7.7 |
|---|---|
| California (increase) | 6.4 |
| North Dakota (decrease) | 3.2 |
| Nevada (decrease) | 2.6 |
The strongest predictor wasn't more resources -- it was less
's district-level regression analysis, using school year 2022-23 data, found the sharpest resource-related predictors of higher inclusion ran counter to what more funding would suggest. Districts without a standalone special-education school⧉ had inclusion rates 5.2 percentage points higher than districts with one. And a 30% drop in per-pupil revenue was associated with a 1.6 percentage point increase in inclusion -- not a decrease. Other factors barely moved the needle: 100 more students on a school counselor's caseload shifted inclusion by less than half a percentage point, and a 1-point rise in English-learner share shifted it by less than a tenth of a point.
View data as table
| No standalone special-ed school | 5.2 |
|---|---|
| 30% lower per-pupil revenue | 1.6 |
What officials say is actually driving it
Asked directly, officials at the districts and schools GAO visited⧉ commonly pointed to resource availability, parental involvement in placement decisions, and school environment -- facilities and culture -- as what shapes where a student with a disability actually ends up taught. 's statistical findings line up with a blunter version of that story: districts that can't afford a separate special-education school, or that have less money per student generally, place more students with disabilities in general classrooms -- not necessarily because they've built the supports to do it well, but because the segregated alternative isn't there to begin with.
The takeaway
- Inclusion is rising faster than the special-ed population itself. 4.6 million to 5.7 million students with disabilities spent most of their day in general classrooms over 11 years, a 25% increase against 21% overall special-ed growth.
- A student's state matters as much as their diagnosis. Inclusion rates ranged from 71% to 93% across states in SY2023-24, with D.C. and California pulling furthest ahead and North Dakota and Nevada the only states moving meaningfully backward.
- Money didn't predict more inclusion -- its absence did. 's regression found districts without a standalone special-education school and districts with 30% less per-pupil revenue both had significantly higher inclusion rates, the opposite of what a resources-driven story would predict.
All findings are from -26-107814, "Special Education: More Students with Disabilities Were Educated in General Education Settings, but State Trends Varied Widely," published and publicly released July 2, 2026 -- read directly in full (38 pages), not just the Highlights summary. National and state trends are drawn from Department of Education Section 618 data, school years 2012-13 through 2023-24 (New Mexico did not report school year 2023-24 data). The regression findings are from 's own district-level analysis of Civil Rights Data Collection data for school year 2022-23, which included state fixed effects and robust standard errors and excluded districts with fewer than 10 students with disabilities.
Sources(1) ▾
- U.S. Government Accountability Office, Special Education: More Students with Disabilities Were Educated in General Education Settings, but State Trends Varied Widely (2026-07-02) — -26-107814, published and publicly released July 2, 2026, based on 's analysis of Department of Education Section 618 data (national and state placement trends, school years 2012-13 through 2023-24) and a district-level regression analysis using Civil Rights Data Collection (CRDC) data for school year 2022-23. Read the full 38-page PDF directly (extracted with pdftotext -layout) -- the state-by-state percentage-point figures, the state range (71%-93%), and the regression coefficients on per-pupil revenue and standalone special-education schools are only in the full report, not the Highlights summary. Direct gao.gov PDF asset access intermittently returns HTTP 403 and the Wayback lookup endpoint was rate-limited (HTTP 429) at capture time; the Artemis-sealed copy of the product page serves as the one-click capture. gao.gov · original document
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About 7 million children⧉ received special education services under federal law in school year 2023-24. Nationally, the number of them spending at least 40% of their school day in general education classrooms rose 25% -- from 4.6 million to 5.7 million⧉ -- between school years 2012-13 and 2023-24, according to a analysis published July 2, 2026. That outpaced the 21% growth in the overall special-education population, meaning inclusion itself is the trend, not just enrollment.