Welcome to PowerSchool's resource page for the National Study of Special Education Spending (NSSES).
At PowerSchool, we understand the critical need for accurate and up-to-date data on special education spending: the most recent national estimates are now more than 20 years old.
The National Study of Special Education Spending aims to provide comprehensive insights into the financial resources allocated to special education services across the United States. By gathering data from a diverse national sample of districts and schools, this study will shed light on the expenditures involved in educating students with disabilities and the costs associated with operating special education programs.
Under a subcontract with the American Institutes for Research, and in collaboration with NORC at the University of Chicago, PowerSchool Allovue will lead the financial data collection for this Institute of Education Sciences (United States Department of Education) study. The findings from this study will equip federal, state, and local policymakers with the information they need to make informed decisions about special education funding. Join us as we embark on this journey to enhance our understanding of special education spending nationwide and to better support the more than seven million students served by the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA).
Allovue, a PowerSchool company, will collect financial data from district administrative files for the 2023-24 school year (fiscal year 2024). These data will come from districts’ chart of accounts, general ledger, and transaction journal files. Please refer to the "Details of Requested Data" section for further details.
Information collected for this study comes under the confidentiality and data protection requirements of the Institute of Education Sciences (The Education Sciences Reform Act of 2002, Title I, Part E, Section 183). ED and its data collection partners follow strict procedures for data storage and the protection of participants’ confidentiality. All data will be collected through secure, online systems, including secure file transfer protocols when necessary. Individual responses to survey questions will not be shared with anyone outside the study team. All the information may be used only for statistical purposes and may not be disclosed, or used, in identifiable form for any other purpose except as required by law (20 U.S.C. §9573 and 6 U.S.C. §151).
Federal research studies require approval from the Office and Management and Budget (OMB). The study’s data collection activities, including collection of special education financial data, have been approved by the Office of Management and Budget (OMB). The OMB control number is 1850-0952 v.10. The data collection window is open.
Action Items for Participating Districts
Step 1: Review the details of the data requested for this study by clicking on the "Details of Requested Data" button. Note: this scope reflects all expenditures, including non-special education expenditures.
Step 2: If you utilize an Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) system as identified in Step 1 documentation, click the "Financial Data SQL Queries" button to access and download templates of SQL queries that will help your team pull the requested data from your ERP.
Step 3: Save the 4 requested data files as a .csv or .txt file (pipe-delimited, if possible), following the formatting and naming conventions specified in Step 1's "Details of Requested Data" documentation.
The data collection window is open.
This website will continue to serve as a resource for quick links to key resources for financial data collection. Please follow the steps and links on this page – you can return here at any time. The research team is also immediately available to discuss and support your team through file preparation.
- Participating districts will receive direct correspondence from the PowerSchool Research Center Odoo case management system.
- The Details of Requested Data link directs participants to a general list of data tables in your financial data systems and corresponding data fields from those tables.
- Financial Data SQL Queries button will link participants to pre-defined SQL queries participating districts can use to quickly generate the requested data files for this study. To access any of the queries, you must be in a district currently participating in the study and have a district email address.
- The Submit Financial Data button will directly link you to the secure data repository upload site. To access the site, you must be in a district currently participating in the study and have a district email address.
OOur Project Partners
American Institutes for Research
Tammy Kolbe, Principal Investigator
NORC, at the University of Chicago
Cynthia Simko, Data Collection Project Director
PowerSchool Education Research
We partner with schools, districts, and policymakers to address critical education policy and finance questions with rigorous research methods and bridge the gap between research, policy, and practice.
Kelly Jones
Senior Director, Education Strategy
Justin Dayhoff
Director of Education Research
Lucy Caffrey-Maffei
Senior Research Scientist
Julie Siwanowicz
Principal Solution Specialist