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# Long-term viability
- URL: https://www.smdp.com/long-term-viability-editor/
- Published: 2008-04-05T15:00:00.000Z
- Updated: 2026-10-24T19:09:14.000Z
- Author: Guest Author
- Tags: Opinion, Santa Monica, #archive-import

*By Paul Bergman Santa Monica*

Parkinson’s Law live again! One of Cyril Parkinson’s famous “laws” satirizing government bureaucracies can be paraphrased as, “The less work there is to do, the more people it takes to do it.” So it is with Special Ed in Santa Monica. A recently-completed analysis reported in the April 3 edition (“Special Ed costs are on the rise,” page 1) concluded that though the special ed population has declined from 2001 to 2008, special ed expenditures have increased by about $6 million during that time. We have to seriously wonder whether the district can afford a continued reduction of special ed students.

*Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on April 5, 2008.* [Read the original PDF.](https://s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/smdp%5Fbackissues/040508.pdf?ref=smdp.com)