Staying Ahead of Rising Special Education Costs

Before Frontline’s Special Education Report	After Using Frontline’s Special Education Report
Unexplained rising costs: Budget conversations felt reactive, with no clear way to show why spending was increasing.	Clear funding visuals: Reports made it easy to show gaps between costs and revenue, supporting smarter decisions.
Unclear staffing demand: No easy and consistent way to show where or when more staff were needed.	Analytics-backed staffing: Data confirmed student growth had outpaced staffing, helping justify new roles and rebalance support across buildings.
Siloed planning: Special education and business departments worked from separate reports, limiting collaboration to budget season.	Unified strategy: Teams now plan together year-round, using shared tools and data.

Summary

Canon-McMillan School District, a fast-growing district in southwestern Pennsylvania, saw special education needs rise faster than overall enrollment, putting pressure on staffing, budgets, and planning. Led by Dr. Joni Mansmann, the team used Frontline’s Special Education Report, powered by data from Comparative and Financial Planning Analytics, to connect enrollment to real costs, uncover funding gaps, and plan strategically across departments. With shared tools and clear visuals, the district built a stronger, more collaborative approach to budgeting and decision-making.   

A Growing District, A Rising Responsibility

Canon-McMillan School District in southwestern Pennsylvania is expanding, both in enrollment and in its community footprint. With over 5,500 students across nine buildings and additional housing developments underway, growth is the norm. While the district is growing overall, special education enrollment is increasing at a significantly faster rate, posing unique challenges in budgeting, staffing, and service delivery. 

What makes this growth especially challenging is how it intersects with special education. Students receiving special education services not only require additional support, they often represent some of the most complex and resource-intensive educational needs. These needs lead to higher costs, stricter compliance requirements, and increased pressure on already stretched district budgets. 

At the same time, state and federal funding streams are not keeping pace with the rising costs. Districts are expected to do more, with more accountability, but often without corresponding increases in revenue. Canon-McMillan’s leaders recognized the risk of making assumptions or relying on disconnected reports. They needed a clearer, shared understanding of the full financial picture and a way to communicate that story to internal teams, the board, and the community.   

This is where Frontline’s Comparative Analytics and Financial Planning Analytics tools have become essential.  

Special Education Enrollment & Cost Impact

Using a report that merges data from Frontline Comparative Analytics and Financial Planning Analytics, Joni and her team were able to track a significant upward trend: a 10% increase in special education enrollment, compared to a less than 1% increase in general student enrollment. 

The district can now break down enrollment counts and cost data, originally compiled for the Act 16 report, within a broader financial context to help inform both program design and per-student cost expectations. 

This makes it easier to connect compliance reporting to budget strategy and gives decision-makers a clear picture of how shifts in student needs translate to real financial impact. 

Staffing Ratios & Strategic Planning

Staffing is one of the most complex (and costly) pieces of special education. Comparative Analytics helped Canon-McMillan monitor changes in both headcount and student-to-staff ratios over a ten-year period. 

Through a collaborative, solution-focused approach to budget planning, the district identified the need to increase special education staffing. That determination was later validated by analytics visuals that confirmed student growth had outpaced staff growth. 

“We kind of did it in reverse,” Joni said. “We had the five-year plan, then we saw the community report and it confirmed everything we had projected.”   

The data also helped inform decisions about contracting versus hiring. For example, the district brought some services previously handled by their Intermediate Unit back in-house, using Frontline tools to support the reason behind the shift. 

Revenue vs. Expense: The Gap That Keeps Growing

Perhaps the most impactful visual came from the revenue-versus-expense view in Comparative Analytics. In a single graphic, Joni could show board members and stakeholders how state funding has failed to keep pace with actual special education costs. 

“It’s my favorite analytic,” she said. “It takes two seconds to pull this report, but it speaks volumes when you show it to somebody. It shows the line of special ed funding, and then it shows what we actually spend. It’s not even half. It’s immediate. You don’t need to explain it.”      

This clear comparison of incoming revenue and rising expenses made it easier to explain why certain budget decisions were necessary and why more investment might be required. 

“Even though the state has funneled a lot of additional money into special education, it is not nearly keeping pace with the increased cost,” said Joni. “So the net cost has been increasing exponentially.”   

The district is also seeing downstream impacts in related expenses like transportation, which may become a focus of future planning. 

Forecasting and Flexibility for the Future

With Financial Planning Analytics, Canon-McMillan now projects special education and general fund costs across a five-year horizon. One chart compares the annual growth of each, helping leaders assess whether special education spending is accelerating faster than the rest of the budget. 

“Our special ed costs have increased 39% over the last five years,” Joni explained. “Our other general fund expenses have only increased by 27%. That’s huge.”   

The ability to forecast expenses tied to student need, such as staffing, outside placements, and facilities, has helped the district adapt proactively. It’s also allowed them to evaluate internal programming alternatives, like starting their own cyber academy and expanding ESL services on-site to avoid costly external placements. 

A Stronger, Shared Planning Culture

One of the biggest transformations, driven by Frontline’s Analytics tools, has been in how different departments work together.  

“We used to report in silos,” said Joni. “Now we’re pulling everyone in – business, special ed, facilities – and we’re all using the same tools. That’s made a big difference.”    

Instead of one-off conversations during budget season, Canon-McMillan now engages in continuous, data-informed planning throughout the year. 

“If you’re not using data to drive decisions, you’re just throwing spaghetti at the wall,” Joni said. “This helps us make thoughtful, transparent decisions and explain them.”     

The Bottom Line

As special education grows more complex, and as federal funding remains uncertain, Canon-McMillan is staying ahead by using Frontline’s Analytics tools to: 

• Connect enrollment and cost data to show real financial impact 
• Evaluate staffing levels and allocation across the district 
• Compare revenue versus expenses to communicate funding gaps 
• Forecast multi-year spending trajectories to guide long-term planning 

“These tools let us connect the dots,” said Joni. “And that’s what lets us lead with confidence.”