Manchester, NH: 26% of students receive SPED services; ASD increased from 408 to 533 in one year
- The end of childhood
- Oct 29
- 3 min read
Oct 27, 2025, New Hampshire Union Leader: Number of special ed students in Manchester continues to rise
Approximately 26% (3,065) of the 11,583 students in Manchester were receiving special education services through Individualized Education Programs (IEPs) as of Oct. 1, a number well above the 20% of the student population across New Hampshire that receive such services.
Members of the Manchester Board of School Committee gathered at the school district offices last week for a special meeting devoted specifically to a presentation on the state of special education in the city by Ryan Roth, assistant superintendent of middle school and student services, and Aisha Weaver, executive director of student services and wellness for Manchester schools. . . .
According to Roth, nationally the percentage of students receiving special education services has grown from roughly 13% in 2018-2019 to over 15-18% in 2023-2024.
“Nationally, there have also been sharp increases in the Autism Spectrum Disorder or ASD, which is up by 30 to 40%, other health impairment, or OHI, some of us would know that as ADHD, or anxiety related disorders, it’s up by 20% and speech and language, or SLI, has also increased by 25%.”
In the Manchester School District, autism spectrum disorder numbers rose from 408 students last year to 533 students this year, a 31% increase. Other health impairment identification increased from 520 students last year to 868 students this year — an increase of 67%.
Speech and language impairment decreased by 10% from 523 last year to 470 students this year. . . .
For elementary schools, Highland-Goffe’s Falls School had the highest percentage of students, with 108 special education students out of 344 total students, or 31.39%. McDonough Elementary had the highest number of students, with 155 of 526 enrolled students (29.46%).
For middle schools, Parkside has the highest percentage of special education students, with 27.72% (216 students) out of 779 enrollees.
For high schools, West High (which, aside from Manchester School of Technology, has the lowest enrollment with 752 students) has the highest percentage of special education students with 26.86% (202 students).
According to the NH School Funding Fairness Project (NH SFFP), the costs of special education are rising at more than three times the rate of general education expenses.
The average additional cost to educate one student with an IEP in New Hampshire was $31,093 in 2024, up 5.2% from 2023. The average cost to educate one student without an IEP in New Hampshire in 2024 was $18,719, a 1.6% increase from 2023.
In 2024, 70 (or 40%) of New Hampshire public school districts spent over 25% of their total school expenditures on IEP expenses, an increase of 10 districts from 2023.
According to SFFP, New Hampshire taxpayers contributed nearly $3.88 billion to public education in the 2023-24 school year. Of that amount, $978 million, or 25.23%, went to disability services, a 6.91% increase over the previous year.
School board Vice Chair Jim O’Connell pointed out Manchester has “no choice as a district about whether we give services to these students or not.”
“Those students have to get those services, and if the money’s not there, then the lemon gets squeezed, or the sausage gets squeezed, or whatever it is, and it has to go someplace else,” O’Connell said. “So it’s either less science, less math, less sports, less music, less art, less teachers, less something across the district.
“We have federal and state mandates insisting that we deliver these services to the degree that are needed and deemed necessary by these students and then we’re left to our own devices to spread out the remainder of the budget between all the other categories.”
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