New Data Highlights Continuing Challenges for Students with Disabilities in NYC Schools
A new report from the New York City Independent Budget Office provides an important snapshot of students with disabilities in New York City public schools, and some of the numbers are striking.
During the 2024-2025 school year, 234,580 students, or 23.3% of all K-12 students in traditional public and charter schools, were classified as students with disabilities. More than 80% of those students fell within just three classifications: speech or language impairment, learning disability, and autism.
The data also show how dramatically the population has changed over the past decade, including a significant increase in the percentage of students classified with autism.
Disproportionate Suspension Rates
What is particularly concerning, however, is what happens to these students once they are in school.
Students with disabilities were suspended at nearly twice the rate of students without disabilities, 3.4% compared with 1.9%. For students classified with an emotional disability, the disparity is even more dramatic: 13.1% were suspended at least once during the school year.
The report also identifies significant racial and economic disparities within the special education population, including that 85% of students with disabilities come from lower-income families and that Black students are substantially overrepresented among students classified with an emotional disability.
Troubling Graduation Outcomes
The graduation data are equally troubling.
Although more than 60% of students with disabilities in the cohort studied earned a Regents diploma, only 5.9% received an Advanced Regents diploma, compared with 35.7% of students without disabilities.
Students with disabilities also dropped out at approximately twice the rate of their nondisabled peers, 16.0% compared with 7.9%, and 9.2% were still enrolled after six years of high school.
Outcomes varied considerably by disability classification, with students classified with autism, emotional disabilities, and certain other disabilities experiencing particularly low Regents graduation rates.
Identification Is Only the Beginning
For parents of students with disabilities, these numbers reinforce something many families already understand firsthand: identifying a child as needing special education is only the beginning.
An IEP and a disability classification do not, by themselves, guarantee that a student is receiving an appropriate program, meaningful services, or the support necessary to make progress.
The real measure of a special education system is what happens after a child is identified. These data show that New York City still has significant work to do to ensure that students with disabilities are not merely classified and placed, but are actually provided the individualized programs and services they need to succeed.
The complete report can be found here: Students with Disabilities in New York City Public Schools: Disability Classifications, School Placements, and Outcomes (November 2026).
