The Influence of Educational Expenditure on the Scale of Special Education

With the growing demand for special education in society, the impact of educational funding on the scale of special education has become a key focus of research. As an essential part of the education system, the development of special education is not only related to the protection of educational rights for special groups but also reflects social equity and progress. This paper, based on data from 31 provinces in China from 2007 to 2021, explores the impact of national fiscal education funding, overall education expenditure, and local fiscal education spending on various scale indicators such as the number of enrollments, students, graduates, schools, and full-time teachers in special education. The research results show that overall education expenditure has a significant positive effect on the scale of special education, particularly in the areas of enrollments, students, graduates, and schools. However, national fiscal education funding shows negative or insignificant effects on some indicators, indicating limitations in centralized fiscal investment for the distribution of regional special education resources. In contrast, local fiscal education spending has a significant effect on increasing the number of graduates, schools, and teachers in special education, highlighting the critical role of local governments in resource allocation.