Funding for special needs in the Netherlands is mainly provided by the central government. The municipalities are responsible for the costs of transporting pupils with special needs to schools and for making school buildings accessible for these pupils.

The system for funding special education is fairly straightforward. The number of teachers provided is based upon the number of pupils a school has on a particular date. There are ten types of special schools, ranging from those for the speech impaired to those for the multiple disabled. Each school type is allocated so many teacher minutes per number of pupils. As an example: each deaf pupil equals 426 teacher minutes a week. Based on a yearly overview of the total number of pupils, their type of special needs, age, and other characteristics (ethnic minority, level of schooling of parents) the government calculates funding for staffing (formation budget) and all other working expenses (LONDO budget), including housing, heating, teaching materials, insurance, etc. Budgets are made directly available to the school board. The LONDO budget is forwarded to the school as a lump-sum. The school board is free to decide on the spending of these funds.

Based on the annual overview, the government also provides the special; school with an additional formation budget and a budget for travel, administration and teaching materials for peripatetic teaching. The term peripatetic teaching refers to the support provided by the special school for mainstream schools educating pupils with special needs. For exceptional situations that fall outside existing regulations special schools can apply for additional resources. The government decides on the funds schools apply for, but, other than the aforementioned funding procedures, this is not open-ended funding. The budget is limited and requests have been turned down simply because of a lack of funds.

Funding special needs education in mainstream schools has long been restricted. Under current regulations, however, more SEN funding is becoming available to mainstream schools. The ongoing implementation of the ‘Together to School Again’ policy (see: development of integration/inclusion) allows regular schools a growing flexibility in realising various special needs provisions. These provisions are mainly used to meet the needs of pupils with learning difficulties and/or mild mental retardation.

Next to the funding available under the ‘Together to School Again’ policy, mainstream schools can receive an additional budget for pupils with sensory, mental and/or physical impairments that falls under peripatetic teaching provision.  Also without peripatetic teaching there are certain financial possibilities for mainstream school placement. However, these are neither permanent nor formalised. A school has to apply annually for a budget and the amount granted depends on the number of applications submitted. Mainstream schools can for instance apply for additional funding for placing children with Down's syndrome. In that case, the following regulations apply in mainstream schools: a four or five year-old results in an extra 0.1 teacher, while in higher primary school classes this doubles (0.2 teacher, i.e. a teacher for one day a week).

As well as the regulations and sources for funding special needs education by the Ministry of Education described above, there are other sources such as the Ministry of Social Affairs and social insurance organisations that occasionally cater for specific equipment in schools and/or adjustments to buildings for special needs pupils.

The funding of special needs education for pupils with sensory, mental and/or physical impairments and/or behaviour problems will be soon modified. It is expected that from 2003 onwards the system will change from supply-oriented financing to a system in which the means are forwarded to the person requiring the services: demand-oriented financing. The policy is known as the ‘back-pack’ policy: pupils take the funding with them to the school of their choice (see development of integration/inclusion).