During 15 years as a special education teacher in Maryland, some things have stayed frustratingly consistent for Stephanie Gawlinski.

“We are always understaffed,” she said. “We are always under-resourced.”

In her classroom at Sandy Spring’s Sherwood High School, Gawlinski teaches algebra to 20 students with a complex array of needs. Some have autism. Others have learning disabilities that make math a challenge. Ideally, she said, her roster would have no more than 10 kids.

“That way they could really get that small group, one-on-one attention that they need in order to learn the topic,” she said.

Data backs up Gawlinski’s feeling. Studies have determined that chronic underfunding is impeding students with disabilities. And each year school districts across Maryland collectively spend more than $1 billion on special education above what they get from state and federal coffers, according to the Public School Superintendents’ Association of Maryland.

But that could change.

Maryland’s education department awarded a major contract to the American Institutes for Research, asking the Virginia-based nonprofit to recommend a model that would adequately fund special education. They’ll answer a multipronged question: What is the true cost of teaching children with disabilities in Maryland? And how should that money be parceled out, considering the vastly different needs of each student?

The state’s funding formula allocates a set amount of dollars for each student with disabilities — no matter the nature of their needs. Some people argue this model doesn’t distribute the money fairly.

“Listen, a kid who has a feeding tube and a one-on-one aide is much different than a kid who has speech pathology needs,” said Mary Pat Fannon, director of the superintendents association.

The study, mandated by the legislature, will consider an alternative formula that sets up different levels of funding. Dollars could be distributed depending on the specifics of a student’s disability or the services they need.

This model is a more common approach to funding special education across the country.

“Assuming it’s done right, it’s got to cost more money. How will the governor and General Assembly deal with it? It’s hard to say,” longtime Maryland education advocate Kalman Hettleman said.

Realities

While they wait for answers, district leaders are trying to meet students’ needs as they stare down a tight budget season.

In Montgomery County, enrollment is shrinking, which translates into less money from the state. At the same time, the number of kids requiring special education services — and the complexity of those kids’ needs — is an increasingly large chunk of the district’s population.

In 2025, more than 14% of Montgomery County students had a disability, up from 11.8% in 2021, according to state data. This rise coincided with schools reopening after the pandemic.

On average, children with disabilities score well below their peers on state standardized tests.

Gawlinski said more funding — to cover additional support staff, adaptive technology and other accommodations — would help close that gap.

She wants researchers to consider the complicated realities when drafting their funding recommendations. Some children with disabilities go to school in special education classrooms, but most learn in general education, where they are legally entitled to specific services and accommodations.

Even kids with the same diagnosis, such as autism, can require vastly different kinds of support at school, with distinct price tags.

“Every kid with a disability is capable of learning. They might not be capable of learning all the same things, but they are all capable of learning,” she said. “If we don’t invest in that, we’re not going to see the progress that these children are so capable of making.”

Next steps

School funding in general is in the midst of a radical reimagining.

The Blueprint for Maryland’s Future, the state’s multibillion-dollar plan to improve public education, calls for higher teacher salaries, expanded mental health support and stronger pre-K programs.

Special education reform wasn’t a cornerstone of that plan, at least at first. Instead, the state assembled a separate work group and mandated the funding study.

“The reason why special education has taken this long to get attention is because it’s really, really hard, and emotional,” Fannon said.

The work group concluded that differentiated funding for students with disabilities makes sense.

“Basing funding on the ‘average’ needs of all students with disabilities fails to address the higher costs for those requiring more extensive supports and services,” members wrote in a report. “This issue is compounded by the uneven distribution of students with varying levels of need across different schools within each [district].”

By mid-December, the state education department is expected to report the study’s findings and recommendations to the General Assembly.

Education department officials did not respond when The Banner asked for a copy of the contract and how much the group is getting paid.

After the recommendations are made, lawmakers will have to figure out what they can afford to implement.

Complicating that question is uncertainty surrounding federal funding.

Fifty years ago, the federal government made a promise to schools that it hasn’t lived up to.

It pledged, through what is now the Individuals With Disabilities Education Act, to cover 40% of the average cost to educate a child with disabilities. Since then, it has consistently fallen far short of that number.

That leaves states to contend with how to pay the true price of educating children with disabilities.

“The only thing I will say in defense of Maryland,” Hettleman said, “is that no state has funded special education adequately.”