# Methodology: New York City special education due process spending tracker

Last updated Oct. 7, 2026.

## What this tracks

Annual New York City spending charged to the Department of Education's (DOE) special education due process budget line. The line was labeled "Carter cases" for years and was relabeled "Due Process Cases" during FY2025 (both labels appear on FY2025 payments in Checkbook NYC). Starting with the FY2027 budget it has its own unit of appropriation, 476 ([City Council, March 2026](https://council.nyc.gov/budget/wp-content/uploads/sites/54/2026/03/Department-of-Education-1.pdf), p. 23). Fiscal years (FY) run July 1 to June 30.

The City Council Finance Division describes the line this way: it "includes the cost of tuition payments to schools for Carter and Connor cases, direct services for students with IEPs, legal fees for due process cases, and student transportation" ([March 2026](https://council.nyc.gov/budget/wp-content/uploads/sites/54/2026/03/Department-of-Education-1.pdf), p. 20). It also pays for services to private school students with Individualized Education Services Programs (IESPs), whose parents enrolled them in private schools for reasons other than a dispute over a free appropriate public education (FAPE). That right comes from a 2007 state law, not from the federal Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) ([Comptroller, Course Correction](https://comptroller.nyc.gov/reports/course-correction/), p. 10). The Council reports that IESP cases were 21 to 22 percent of due process costs in FY2025 and FY2026 to date ([June 2026](https://council.nyc.gov/budget/wp-content/uploads/sites/54/2026/06/Department-of-Education.pdf), p. 17).

Payment types inside the line that DOE cannot separate in its data:

- **Carter**: the family places the child privately, pays and seeks reimbursement after showing DOE did not offer FAPE. From [Florence County School District Four v. Carter, 510 U.S. 7 (1993)](https://www.courtlistener.com/opinion/112910/florence-county-school-district-four-v-carter-ex-rel-carter/).
- **Connors**: DOE pays the private school directly for a family that cannot pay up front. From [Connors v. Mills, 34 F. Supp. 2d 795 (N.D.N.Y. 1998)](https://www.courtlistener.com/opinion/2462659/connors-v-mills/); see also [Mr. and Mrs. A. v. New York City Department of Education, 769 F. Supp. 2d 403 (S.D.N.Y. Feb. 1, 2011)](https://www.courtlistener.com/opinion/2468196/mr-and-mrs-a-v-ny-city-department-of-educ/), which held that a court may order retroactive direct payment to a private school when parents lack the means to pay.
- **Pendency ("stay-put")**: under [20 U.S.C. 1415(j)](https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/20/1415), a child stays in the current placement while a dispute is pending. DOE told the Council in March 2025 that it pays schools directly for pendency in Carter cases after a family's first win, which is why direct payments cannot be used to identify Connors cases ([citymeetings.nyc transcript](https://citymeetings.nyc/meetings/new-york-city-council/2025-03-13-1000-am-committee-on-education/chapter/challenges-in-separating-spending-between-carter-and-connors-cases/)).

The line also includes related services paid to private providers, legal fees and transportation.

## Data sources

| Source | What it provides |
|---|---|
| City Council Finance Division, [Report on the Fiscal 2027 Executive Plan, DOE](https://council.nyc.gov/budget/wp-content/uploads/sites/54/2026/06/Department-of-Education.pdf) (June 2026) | FY2020–FY2025 actuals (Chart 2, data labels in thousands); FY2025 accounting change and the $278 million estimate; FY2026 spending through April 2026; service costs; cost per IEP and IESP case |
| City Council Finance Division, [Report on the Fiscal 2027 Preliminary Plan, DOE](https://council.nyc.gov/budget/wp-content/uploads/sites/54/2026/03/Department-of-Education-1.pdf) (March 2026) | Budgets vs. actuals chart, FY2015–FY2026; accounting change; demographics of settled or closed cases |
| City Council Finance Division, [FY2026 Preliminary Plan report](https://council.nyc.gov/budget/wp-content/uploads/sites/54/2025/03/Department-of-Education.pdf) (March 2025) | FY2019 ($499 million) and FY2024 ($1.19 billion) actuals; object-code chart FY2015–FY2024 |
| City Council Finance Division, [FY2024 Preliminary Plan report](https://council.nyc.gov/budget/wp-content/uploads/sites/54/2023/03/DOE-Expense.pdf) (March 2023) | FY2016 actual ($312.3 million, Figure 2) |
| City Council Finance Division, [FY2021 Preliminary Budget report](https://council.nyc.gov/budget/wp-content/uploads/sites/54/2020/04/040-DOE.pdf) (March 19, 2020) | Table 25: FY2018 as booked ($393,337,000) and FY2019 ($499,255,000) |
| City Council Finance Division, [FY2020 Preliminary Plan report](https://council.nyc.gov/budget/wp-content/uploads/sites/54/2019/03/040-DOE-Expense-2020.pdf) (March 20, 2019) | Table 27 and note 18: FY2017 ($416,892,000) and FY2018 adjusted ($463,337,000) |
| City Council Finance Division, [FY2017 Preliminary Budget report](https://council.nyc.gov/budget/wp-content/uploads/sites/54/2016/05/040-Department-of-Education.pdf) (March 16, 2016) | Chart 18: FY2014 ($222,213,000) and FY2015 ($234,445,000) |
| City Council Finance Division, [FY2016 Preliminary Budget report](https://council.nyc.gov/budget/wp-content/uploads/sites/54/2015/06/fy2016-doe.pdf) (March 25, 2015) | Table 15: FY2013 ($199,013,000) and FY2014 |
| NYC Comptroller, [Comments on the FY2027 Adopted Budget](https://comptroller.nyc.gov/reports/comments-on-new-york-citys-fiscal-year-2027-adopted-budget/) (Aug. 12, 2026) | FY2027 budget ($1.41 billion), FY2026 budget ($1.55 billion), $149 million in planned savings |
| NYS Comptroller (OSC), [Review of the Financial Plan of the City of New York, Report 8-2027](https://www.osc.ny.gov/files/reports/osdc/pdf/fy27-nyc-adopted-plan-report-final.pdf) (August 2026) | Risk that the city will need to add $277 million in FY2027 |
| OSC, [Issue Brief: New York City Department of Education](https://www.osc.ny.gov/files/reports/osdc/pdf/nyc-doe-issue-brief.pdf) (November 2023) | FY2023 spending of $1.07 billion |
| NYC Comptroller, [Course Correction](https://comptroller.nyc.gov/reports/course-correction/) (Aug. 23, 2023) | FY2012 and FY2022 totals and service shares; national filing comparison |
| Independent Budget Office (IBO), ["Carter Case" Spending for Students With Special Needs Continues to Grow Rapidly](https://web.archive.org/web/2024/https://ibo.nyc.ny.us/iboreports/carter-case-spending-for-students-with-special-needs-continues-to-grow-rapidly-march-2021.pdf) (March 2021, archived) | FY2020 actual and category split; FY2021 budget of $653 million; the September 2014 changes; student counts |
| IBO, ["Carter Case" Spending for Students with Disabilities Continues to Climb](https://web.archive.org/web/2024/https://ibo.nyc.ny.us/iboreports/carter-case-spending-for-students-with-disabilities-continues-to-climb-nycbtn-september2022.pdf) (September 2022, archived) | FY2022 actual ($918 million) vs. initial budget ($666 million); FY2019 ($499 million) |
| IBO, [An Analysis of the Mayor's Preliminary Budget for 2011](https://web.archive.org/web/2015/http://www.ibo.nyc.ny.us/iboreports/march2010final.pdf) (March 2010, archived) | FY2005 ($47 million) |
| Mayor's Office of Operations, [Fiscal 2026 Mayor's Management Report, DOE chapter](https://www.nyc.gov/assets/operations/downloads/pdf/mmr2026/doe.pdf) (September 2026) | New indicators: complaints and Ten-Day Notices filed and settled; average settlement cost |
| [Checkbook NYC](https://www.checkbooknyc.com/) (NYC Comptroller) | Payee-level DOE payments under budget code 2127 |
| DOE reports to the Council under budget terms and conditions: [Biannual City Council Report, May 2025](https://council.nyc.gov/budget/wp-content/uploads/sites/54/2025/06/Carter-Cases-TC-Biannual-City-Council-Report-May2025.pdf); [Due Process Cases report 2 of 2](https://council.nyc.gov/budget/wp-content/uploads/sites/54/2026/08/Department-of-Education-Due-Process-Cases-Report-2-of-2.xlsx) (August 2026); index at [council.nyc.gov/budget/fy2026](https://council.nyc.gov/budget/fy2026/) | Settlement averages, case-level payments, student demographics and ZIP codes |
| Council Committee on Education hearing, March 13, 2025 ([citymeetings.nyc machine transcript and video](https://citymeetings.nyc/meetings/new-york-city-council/2025-03-13-1000-am-committee-on-education/chapter/challenges-in-separating-spending-between-carter-and-connors-cases/)) | DOE testimony on why Carter and Connors spending cannot be separated |
| Office of the Mayor, [June 24, 2014, press release](https://web.archive.org/web/2015/http://www1.nyc.gov/office-of-the-mayor/news/306-14/mayor-de-blasio-speaker-silver-new-steps-help-families-students-disabilities) (archived) | The 2014 settlement policy |
| CADRE, [national data summary 2010–11 to 2020–21](https://cadreworks.org/sites/default/files/resources/2022%20National%20IDEA%20Dispute%20Resolution%20Data%20Summary%20FINAL_accessible.pdf) and [New York summary](https://cadreworks.org/media/5704/download) | Due process complaints by state |
| NYS Education Department, [Board of Regents P-12 item](https://www.regents.nysed.gov/sites/regents/files/1121p12d2.pdf) (Nov. 4, 2021) | New York City's share of state complaints |
| Manhattan Institute, Jennifer Weber, [Reassessing "Carter-Case" Spending](https://manhattan.institute/article/reassessing-carter-case-spending-for-students-with-disabilities-in-new-york-city-schools) (February 2026) | Argument about the 2014 policy; used for that argument only, not for figures |

## Figures used and how they reconcile

All amounts are millions of nominal dollars.

| FY | Amount | Status | Source | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| FY2005 | $47 | Actual | IBO, March 2010 | Shown in text only; not charted because pre-2013 sources disagree (see below) |
| FY2013 | $199.0 | Actual | Council, March 2015, Table 15 | |
| FY2014 | $222.2 | Actual | Council, March 2015 and March 2016 | Same figure in both reports |
| FY2015 | $234.4 | Actual | Council, March 2016, Chart 18 | First year under the 2014 policy |
| FY2016 | $312.3 | Actual | Council, March 2023, Figure 2 | Matches IBO (2022) and Comptroller (2023) charts |
| FY2017 | $416.9 | Actual | Council, March 2019, Table 27 | |
| FY2018 | $463.3 | Actual, adjusted | Council, March 2019, Table 27, note 18 | About $70 million of due process spending was booked to schools for the blind and deaf. City books (Council, March 2020, Table 25) show $393.3 million, as do later DOE and Comptroller charts. IBO's 2022 chart shows roughly $465 million. The tracker uses the adjusted figure |
| FY2019 | $499.3 | Actual | Council, March 2020, Table 25; IBO 2022 | |
| FY2020 | $710.0 | Actual | Council, June 2026, Chart 2 ($710,042,000); IBO 2021 | |
| FY2021 | $807.4 | Actual | Council, June 2026 | IBO's March 2021 figure of $653 million was the FY2021 budget after a $220 million mid-year addition, not spending |
| FY2022 | $918.0 | Actual | Council, June 2026; IBO 2022; Comptroller 2023 | Initially budgeted at $666 million |
| FY2023 | $1,070.2 | Actual | Council, June 2026; OSC, November 2023 | |
| FY2024 | $1,193.1 | Actual | Council, June 2026; Council, March 2025 | |
| FY2025 | $1,138.7 | Actual, new accounting | Council, June 2026 (Comptroller closeout) | Starting in FY2025, costs are booked to the year of decision or settlement rather than charged back to the year a case began. The Council estimates $278 million would have been charged back under the old practice, for about $1,416.7 million. The March 2026 report gave $1.13 billion |
| FY2026 | $1,318.6 | Partial year | Council, June 2026 | Spending through April 2026. Budget: $1.55 billion (Comptroller, August 2026). Full-year actual expected with the Comptroller's FY2026 Annual Comprehensive Financial Report, usually released at the end of October |
| FY2027 | $1,410 | Adopted budget | Comptroller, August 2026 | Unit of appropriation 476 was $1,405.7 million in the Executive Plan (Council, June 2026). OSC estimates about $277 million more will be needed |

**Earlier years do not line up across sources.** For FY2012 the Comptroller reports $161 million in due process claim spending, while the Council's [March 2014 report](https://council.nyc.gov/budget/wp-content/uploads/sites/54/2014/07/fy2015-040-Department-of-Education.pdf) (Table 15) lists $263.3 million for the Carter cases line, and IBO's 2021 chart is lower than both. IBO's March 2010 figure of $143 million for FY2010 was a mid-year estimate, not an actual. For those reasons the chart starts at FY2013, where the Council's own tables are consistent from report to report. Even FY2013 and FY2014 differ from the Comptroller's chart (about $180 million and $215 million, read from the chart), so treat them as approximate.

**Budgets vs. actuals.** The adopted budget has been below actual spending every year from FY2015 through FY2025 (Council, March 2026 chart). Example: FY2022 was budgeted at $666 million and came in at $918 million (IBO, 2022).

## Split between services and tuition

| FY | Related services | Tuition, legal fees and transportation | Total | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| FY2012 | $33 (21%) | $128 (tuition 74%) | $161 | Comptroller, Course Correction, pp. 10–11 |
| FY2020 | $179 | $531.3 (tuition $503, legal $23, transportation $5.3) | $710.3 | IBO, March 2021, p. 3 |
| FY2022 | $372 (41%) | $546 | $918 | Comptroller, Course Correction, p. 11 |
| FY2024 | $535.1 (45%) | $658.0 | $1,193.1 | Council, June 2026, p. 19 |
| FY2025 | $375.9 | $762.8 | $1,138.7 | Council, June 2026, p. 19 (new accounting basis; $435.5 million in services adding the estimated $59.6 million charge-back) |

The Comptroller reported in August 2023 that services were 58 percent of FY2023 payments made to that point. Full-year data do not show services overtaking tuition: the OMB object-code chart in the Council's March 2025 report shows tuition above direct education services in every year from FY2015 to FY2024, and IBO (2022) said tuition "continue[s] to comprise the largest share of costs." The "tuition and other" column is computed as total minus services.

## Payments to schools (Checkbook NYC)

Query: Checkbook NYC API, Spending domain, agency code 040 (DOE), expense category 6700 ("PMTS CONTRACT/CORPORAT SCHOOL"), fiscal years 2025 and 2026, all records (55,671 and 50,302 transactions), filtered to budget code 2127 ("CARTER CASES" or "DUE PROCESS CASES"), summed by payee name. Retrieved Oct. 7, 2026.

Results: FY2025, $491.3 million to 155 payees; FY2026, $513.2 million to 161 payees (one is a payee redacted as "N/A (PRIVACY/SECURITY)"). The 10 largest FY2026 payees received 42.2 percent.

Limits:

- Checkbook assigns payments to the fiscal year in which they were issued. A payment can cover tuition owed for earlier years.
- Reimbursements to parents and their lawyers are in a separate expense category (6701), and many payees are redacted. Payments to service providers are in other categories (6850, 6851). None of these are attributed to a school, so school totals understate the full cost of students placed there.
- The category name is Checkbook's. The page lists payees by name only and does not characterize them.
- A payment shows that a school received money under the due process budget code. It says nothing about the merits of any case.

The earlier version of this page listed 10 schools by reputation, with published tuition from school websites and aggregator sites. All 10 appear in Checkbook with FY2026 payments under budget code 2127: Cooke School and Institute ($27.4 million), Rebecca School ($28.6 million), the IDEAL School of Manhattan ($8.7 million), the Churchill School and Center ($8.0 million), Aaron School ($7.5 million), Mary McDowell Friends School ($6.1 million), the Windward School ($2.9 million), Stephen Gaynor School ($2.7 million), the Gateway School ($1.5 million) and the Parkside School ($0.06 million). Their tuition figures were not re-verified and have been removed.

## Other figures

- **Average settlement cost**: $109,859 in FY2026 and $101,424 in FY2025, both filing types combined, Mayor's Management Report (new indicator). DOE's May 2025 report to the Council gave $101,757.56 for settlements completed in FY2025 through May; its November 2024 report gave $93,396.53 for FY2024. These are averages per settlement, not per student.
- **Cost per case**: about $105,000 a year per IEP case, about $144,000 for students with autism and about $28,000 per IESP student (DOE, as reported by the Council, June 2026, p. 17).
- **Filings**: due process complaints filed fell from 26,221 in FY2024 to 19,511 in FY2025 and 15,767 in FY2026 (MMR). The MMR counts complaints, not students. DOE's [November 2024 report to the Council](https://council.nyc.gov/budget/wp-content/uploads/sites/54/2025/02/Biannual-City-Council-Report-Nov-2024.pdf) counted 24,428 distinct students who filed a complaint or Ten-Day Notice in FY2024, when 26,221 complaints and 17,317 Ten-Day Notices were filed.
- **National comparison**: in the 2020–21 school year, 22,759 due process complaints were filed in the 50 states (CADRE national summary), 14,618 in New York State (CADRE New York summary) and 14,141 in New York City (NYSED, Nov. 4, 2021). New York City's share of the 50-state total is 62 percent. The Comptroller reported "more than 60%." CADRE's rates are per 10,000 children in the IDEA child count, not per 10,000 students: New York was 274.3 in 2020–21, against 32.2 for the 50 states.
- **Demographics**: of 20,051 due process cases settled or closed in FY2025, 64.9 percent involved white students, against 16.1 percent of public school enrollment; 18.7 percent were of unknown ethnicity (Council, March 2026, pp. 22–23).
- **Inflation**: using the consumer price index for all urban consumers ([BLS series CUUR0000SA0](https://data.bls.gov/timeseries/CUUR0000SA0)), annual averages of 237.017 (2015) and 313.689 (2024), FY2015's $234.4 million is about $310 million in 2024 dollars. Growth to FY2024 is about 5.1 times in nominal terms and about 3.8 times adjusted for inflation. Calendar-year averages stand in for fiscal years.

## Policy markers

- **2014 settlement policy**: announced June 24, 2014, to take effect by Sept. 1, 2014 (start of FY2015). DOE would seek to settle within 15 days of a parent's notice of intent to place a child privately where settlement was appropriate; would not re-litigate settled or decided cases unless the IEP placement recommendation changed; would avoid litigation when it could not offer a placement or the child was entering a school's final grade; would require full paperwork every three years instead of annually; and would pay tuition monthly when a school required it (press release). IBO (March 2021) describes the same changes as implemented in September 2014.
- **Move to OATH**: [Executive Order 91](https://www.nyc.gov/assets/home/downloads/pdf/executive-orders/2021/eo-91.pdf) of Dec. 27, 2021 (FY2022), gave the Office of Administrative Trials and Hearings (OATH) concurrent jurisdiction over impartial hearings then run through DOE's Impartial Hearing Office, "until such time as a full transfer is effectuated."
- **2026**: on Jan. 28, 2026, Mayor Zohran Mamdani [cited special education](https://www.nyc.gov/mayors-office/news/2026/01/mayor-mamdani-details--adams-budget-crisis-) among underbudgeted services in announcing a $12 billion shortfall over FY2026 and FY2027. The release does not mention due process cases by name. The Council (March 2026) wrote that due process spending was "highlighted by the Mamdani Administration as one of the areas mismanaged by the previous Administration."

## What we cannot show

- **Carter vs. Connors.** DOE testified on March 13, 2025, that it does not have the data organized to separate them.
- **Full school-level totals.** Checkbook shows direct payments to schools but not reimbursements to parents.
- **Family income.** DOE's reports to the Council give the median household income of the student's ZIP code, not family income.
- **Outcomes.** We found no public data on academic progress, graduation or later outcomes for students placed in private schools through due process.

## Assumptions and limitations

- All figures are nominal unless stated.
- Year-to-year comparisons across FY2025 are affected by the accounting change; use the Council's adjusted estimate for trend comparisons.
- Payments in a fiscal year can include costs for earlier school years, especially before FY2025.

## Update cadence

- City Council Finance Division reports on the Preliminary Plan (March) and Executive Plan (May or June).
- Comptroller's Annual Comprehensive Financial Report (closeout actuals, late October) and Comments on the Adopted Budget (July or August).
- Mayor's Management Report (September) and Preliminary Mayor's Management Report (January or February).
- Checkbook NYC updates continuously.