Regular special education revenue provides districts with 68% of the salaries of special education teachers, related services and support services staff providing direct services to students in a base year adjusted for total enrollment change in the school district, adjusted so that combined district revenues do not exceed the state total special education revenue, $529.2 million in 2005-06, the amount set in statute.

Additional Special Education Aid Categories

• Excess cost aid. If a district’s unfunded special education cost per pupil unit is greater than 4.36% of their general education revenue (which for this purpose includes general education revenue plus two thirds of referendum revenue per pupil unit minus operating capital and transportation sparsity revenue), the district receives excess cost aid.
  
  Excess cost aid is capped at $103.6 million for 2005-06. If the statewide district entitlement for excess cost aid is greater than the cap amount, the amount each district would receive is adjusted in proportion to the ratio of the entitlement to the cap. The amount which the district is entitled to is based on the uncapped formula (or the statewide total entitlement) and is called initial excess cost aid. For 2005-06, 320 districts receive some excess cost aid, with the highest amount being $363 per pupil.
  
  
• Home based travel aid. Aid is provided to reimburse 50% of the travel costs of personnel providing home-based travel services to children under age five with a disability.
  
  
• Special pupil aid. Districts are reimbursed for the special education costs not covered by other special education funding or the general education formula for students with a disability residing in public or private residential facilities in the district and for whom there is no school district of residence because parental rights have been terminated or the parents cannot be located.

General education revenues used by school districts to provide legally mandated Special Education services are called Cross Subsidies.

Prior to 1995, state special education funding was based on a cost-reimbursement approach which more accurately reflected the real costs of delivering required special education services to children (November 2006, P.S. Minnesota Funding Framework, page 2).

For more information, see Special Education Funding Trends.