In this paper, the authors looked at the effectiveness of special education schools for mathematics learning. Mathematics education is a key to increasing the later professional and citizenship opportunities of students and mathematical understanding influences decision making in all areas of life. Additionally, math failure correlates highly with referral to special education, grade retention, and school dropout and are cumulative and worsen with time, therefore, early identification and intervention is important. Empirical data from Flanders, the Dutch-speaking part of Belgium, was used, which makes an interesting case study as it has a strong tradition of separate special education. Study results indicated that students with special educational needs are better off in mainstream education than in a special education school, at least as far as mathematics goes. Also, practical implications suggest that transferring students to special schools is, on average, not beneficial. One figure and one table are appended.