This presentation seeks to explore the various complexities of racial and ethnic disproportionality in special education. We discuss the many competing and often contradictory findings in the current literature (Dever et al.,2016; Morgan et al., 2015; Sullivan, 2011; Voulgarides & Thorius, 2017). We briefly discuss the implementation of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) and follow the impact of IDEA and other legislation on racial and ethnic disproportionality in special education. We present literature which indicates that legislation has caused or encouraged manipulation by state education agencies (SEAs) in their development of risk ratios which determine "significant disproportionality" (Bollmer, Bethel, Garrison-Mogren, & Brauen, 2007) Finally, we discuss how equity in terms of socioeconomic status and gender are all but ignored when addressing disproportionality in special education (Voulgarides & Thorius, 2017).