The Education for All Handicapped Children Act (P.L.94-142) enacted in 1975 and later renamed the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act in 1990 enunciated the rights of students with disabilities to be educated with non-disabled peers. Both this law and its successors mandated that school districts provide a free and appropriate public education (FAPE) in the least restrictive environment (LRE). Yet, despite the passage of over 40 years from that initial legislation, many school districts continue to struggle with both the concept of LRE and its implementation. The United States Department of Education's Office of Special Education requires States to report on the percentage of students with disabilities enrolled in various educational settings. In New York State this data is captured through Indicator 5 of the State Performance Plan which monitors the percent of students ages 6 to 21 in three categories: inside the regular class 80 percent or more of the day, inside the regular class less than 40 percent of the day, and those in separate schools, residential facilities, or homebound/hospital placements (New York State Performance Plan, 2013). New York State has consistently lagged behind the overall national statistics in terms of the percentage of students with disabilities who spend time in general education, ranking 43rd overall in the 2014-2015 school year (NYS Bd of Regents, 2015). The purpose of this study was to examine how special education administrators in Long Island, NY, interpret the mandate of LRE and to examine their perspectives on factors that affect implementation of LRE and placement decisions for students with disabilities. This research utilized mixed methodology. Qualitative data was collected through eight semi structured interviews of special education administrators from both school districts that met and those that failed to meet New York State IDEA Part B Performance Plan Indicator 5a for LRE. The data was coded and analyzed thematically. Logistic regression was used to analyze data on district size, percentage of special education students, referral rate, percentage of low socioeconomic students, percent of English Language learners, race/ethnicity of special education students, and disability classifications to ascertain if these factors were related to a district meeting the LRE benchmark. Results of the qualitative data revealed that special education administrators have varied perspectives on least restrictive environment based on professional and personal experiences. District and building leadership, teacher receptivity and student behavior were felt to be the factors that most impacted the percentage of students with disabilities in general education classes. Budget, space, school structure and parental issues played less of a role. Results of the logistic regressions revealed the only significant finding to be percent of economically disadvantaged students. Districts with low percentages of economically disadvantaged were more likely to meet benchmark 5a.