West Virginia Special Education Funding
This Science & Technology Note explains how special education services are funded at the federal, state, and local levels, with emphasis on West Virginia’s special education funding mechanism.
Research Highlights
West Virginia uses a combination of funding mechanisms and relies on a high proportion of local funds to provide special education services.
State funding for special education in West Virginia has remained relatively stable over the past 5 years.
Over the past decade, the number of students eligible to receive special education services has increased. West Virginia has a higher rate of students eligible for special education services than the national average. In order to serve these students, West Virginia funds special education through a combination of federal programs, state allocations, and local contributions. This Science & Technology Note explains state and federal mechanisms for funding special education, with an emphasis on West Virginia’s special education funding system.
Special Education Services
In the 2022-2023 school year, 19% of West Virginia’s students, or 47,000 students, were eligible for special education services. This is the 6th highest percentage of students in the country, with the national average of eligible students around 15%. Notably, the number of students eligible for special education services in West Virginia’s public schools continues to rise even as public school enrollment drops. Special education services are designed to provide a free appropriate public education in the least restrictive environment possible for disabled students. There are 13 disability categories that fall under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA). These include autism, specific learning disabilities like dyslexia, intellectual disabilities, vision or hearing impairments, and health conditions like diabetes and epilepsy. To qualify for services, a student’s disability must impact their education. Students then receive an individualized education plan (IEP). IEPs can include a variety of accommodations such as extra time on assignments or tests, speech therapy, instructions read out loud, preferential seating, adjusted assignments, a sign language interpreter, or increased font size.
Federal Funding for Special Education
In 2020, the federal government contributed about 12% of all special education expenditures nationally. This funding comes from IDEA grants. To be eligible for IDEA grants, states must sustain their funding rates year over year and meet programmatic and administrative requirements. There are 3 grant programs housed under IDEA: Part B grants, the primary mechanism for preK-12 special education federal funds; Part C grants, which provide funding for children ages 0-3 to access early intervention services; and Part D grants, which coordinate national activities to improve the education of children with disabilities. 92% of IDEA funding provides Part B grants. These grants are distributed through a federal formula that provides a base payment to each state. The remaining Part B funds are allocated based on the population and poverty rate of states. States then disburse their funds to local school districts, but can retain some money to cover administrative costs and establish a fund for high-cost services. The West Virginia Department of Education received about $147.5 million in Part B funds in fiscal year 2024 to distribute to districts.
State Funding for Special Education
States contribute about 26% of the total costs for special education. West Virginia spends significantly less, contributing about 2% of the cost. Nearly all states provide funding in addition to their typical school funding formulas for students with disabilities. 17 states, including West Virginia, provide additional funding for students that require high-cost services, like an individual aide. There are 6 major structures for special education funding that states utilize, in addition to hybrid mechanisms that combine approaches.
| Funding Mechanism | Description |
|---|---|
| Single Student Weight | Provides the same amount of funding for each student with a disability. Does not differentiate funding based on disability or service type. |
| Multiple Student Weights | Provide multiple levels of funding based on student categories. Primarily based on disability type or services required. Is more complex to implement than single student weight. |
| Resource-Based | Distributes resources, such as number of staff positions, based on district requirements and enrollment. |
| Census-Based | Assumes that there is the same percentage of students receiving special education services in each district and allocates funding based on district enrollment totals. Does not account for differences in student needs. Can underfund districts with high populations of disabled students. |
| Partial Reimbursement | Districts pay for special education services up-front, then the state reimburses them for expenses. Reimbursement rates range from 28%-100%. Has a high administrative burden. |
| Block Grant | Provides one amount of money that schools can use flexibly for special education based on their specific needs. Can be highly vulnerable to underfunding. |
States use a variety of special education funding mechanisms. Adapted from FundEd.
West Virginia’s Special Education Funding
West Virginia uses a combination of single student weight and partial reimbursement mechanism to provide districts with funds for special education services, in addition to the base funding for West Virginia schools. Schools are provided a flat amount of $74 for each student with disabilities in addition to the base funding, and if districts have students with high-cost needs, reimbursement is available. Districts must apply to access the state High-Cost/High-Acuity Needs Fund. The cost to educate the student must have exceeded 3 times the state average, or the student must have been placed in an out-of-state facility by the courts. In 2024, schools who accessed this fund were reimbursed at 27%.
West Virginia school districts spend a larger-than-typical amount of local and federal money on educating students with disabilities. Local funding is typically reliant on property taxes, and can be extremely variable between districts. In West Virginia, districts are required to provide at least 40% of special education costs from local funds, although the amount provided locally is typically much higher, potentially exacerbating property tax differences. Inadequate funding for special education can force schools to use larger portions of local funding and to cut other programs in order to meet their legal educational responsibilities to students with disabilities. The state has not significantly increased special education funding over the last 5 years, providing approximately $11.7 million in the fiscal year 2026 budget and $11.1 million in the fiscal year 2021 budget (the equivalent of $13.27 million today).
West Virginia receives more federal special education funding than the national average, contributes less state funding to special education than the national averages, and relies more heavily on local funding for special education than the national average. Adapted from Who Pays for Special Education?
This Science and Technology Note was prepared by Madison Flory, PhD, West Virginia Science & Technology Policy Fellow on behalf of the West Virginia Science and Technology Policy (WV STeP) Initiative. The WV STeP Initiative provides nonpartisan research and information to members of the West Virginia Legislature. This Note is intended for informational purposes only and does not indicate support or opposition to a particular bill or policy approach. Please contact info@wvstep.org for more information.