A recent Education Week article said that the number of students with disabilities from ages 6 to 21 has risen to 5.83 million as of 2014. This upswing in school-age students covered under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act has brought forward a pressing need to take another look at K-12 special education programs and their allocated budgets.

It is concerning that the last census in 2011 showed a decline in special-education students, and yet, here we are facing a rapid growth in the category, especially in certain regions. The numbers are important because they have a deep impact on the share of costs for special education students.

There has been improvement in special-education programs during the last few decades, but when we see the rise in numbers like this, one is forced to wonder how effective these programs have to be.

Recently, veteran Washington Post education columnist Jay Mathews commented that we need to take another look at how special-education money is being spent. He also stressed that despite a lot of noise, we understand very little of what’s really happening here.

He drew on Christina A. Samuels’ report to share findings like a 165 percent rise in students classified as having autism. This is in opposition to disability categories like learning disabilities and speech and language impairments, which often take a front seat during budgeting.

Yet, the researchers have admitted that most of their findings seemed odd, even to themselves. Going back to the data listed above, they found that most of the increase came from New York City.

Accurate and deeper assessments of private school students in New York City are warranted. Their research also shows that some children with disabilities are now being reclassified. After once being identified as emotionally disturbed or intellectually disabled, they now fall under the autistic classification.

This means that the programs have to systematically change from academic assistance to learning disabilities. There is very little clarity on these changes, how the spending works and what isn’t being covered. Without these data, students as well as special-ed teachers remain at a distinct disadvantage.

There is also the matter of incentives, or lack thereof, which existed during the tenure of the federal No Child Left Behind Act. Schools have been under pressure to perform, and they only needed to report the test scores of special-education students if their number was high enough.

This resulted in a kind of indirect negligence that will take time to completely dissolve. However, it has been close to two decades since special education received a truly in-depth look.

The most recent report, conducted in 1999 and 2000, shows $3.7 billion spent on transportation for special-education students between the states. Whether that number has increased or has been cut back is anybody’s guess.

For example, Kentucky officials reported that ever since adopting Common Core, the achievement gap between students with disabilities and their nondisabled peers has widened. In most cases, special-ed students fail to get the correct intervention they need in order to keep up, which widens the gap.

State education officials have stated that all students are held to the same Common Core academic standards, despite their disabilities. The key focus in the past few years has been to bridge the gap between students from various social-economic backgrounds.

While that is important, it is hardly fair to expect special education students to perform at the same level without the right teaching tools. The need of the hour is to rethink budget allocations and come up with better and more effective programs that will help students with special needs learn better.