A new school system report highlights a persistent disparity throughout the county: Black students are deemed mentally retarded or emotionally disturbed more often than their white, Hispanic and Asian-American peers.

The report, released Monday, also found that black students with disabilities are more likely than any other subgroup to be taught in separate educational settings, such as a secondary learning center, or suspended from school for 10 days or more.

The report's findings aren't unique to the Montgomery County school system, the state's largest district with some 140,000 students in 200 schools. Rather, school systems throughout the country have grappled for years with the disparities.

"This is a national issue," Deputy Superintendent Frieda K. Lacey said Tuesday. "If you talk to school districts across the country, you will see that they all are struggling with this issue."