Balance Sheet

This Balance Sheet tracks the Federal budget and appropriations process for IDEA funds for FY 2024 which covers the period of October 1, 2023 – September 30, 2024.

BUDGET & APPROPRIATIONS PROCESS: The first step in this process is the release of the President’s Budget Request, followed by activities of the Appropriations Committees in the Senate and the House of Representatives, formulations of Appropriations bills that are approved by the committees, then advance to full Senate and House, enactment of a conferenced appropriations bill that is signed into law by the President. For a more detailed explanation of the process, we recommend this piece by the National PTA: The Federal Appropriations and Budget Process

April 18, 2023: Education Secretary Miguel Cardona testifies before the Subcommittee of House Appropriations Committee at hearing on the Department of Education FY24 budget request. Watch it here.

March 9, 2023: President’s FY 2024 Budget Request includes $17.7 billion for grants to states, a 16.8% increase over FY 2023, as follows:
– $16.3 billion for IDEA Part B Sec. 611 Grants to States (a 14.6% increase over the FY 23 appropriation);
– $502.6 million for IDEA Part B Sec. 619 Grants to States (a 19.7% increase over FY 23 appropriation);
– $932.0 million for IDEA Part C Grants to States (a 72.6% increase over FY 23 appropriation).

The Budget estimates that 7.5 million children with disabilities (ages 3-21) will be served under IDEA Part B and 508,000 will be served under Part C (infants and toddlers) in 2024.

The President’s FY 2024 Budget Request details are available here.

This Balance Sheet tracks the Federal budget and appropriations process for IDEA funds for FY 2023 which covers the period of October 1, 2022 – September 30, 2023.

BUDGET & APPROPRIATIONS PROCESS: The first step in this process is the release of the President’s Budget Request, followed by activities of the Appropriations Committees in the Senate and the House of Representatives, formulations of Appropriations bills that are approved by the committees, then advance to full Senate and House, enactment of a conferenced appropriations bill that is signed into law by the President. For a more detailed explanation of the process, we recommend this piece by the National PTA: The Federal Appropriations and Budget Process

December 22, 2022: Congress passes and the President signs H.R. 2617, the Consolidated Appropriations Act to fund the federal government for the remainder of FY 2023 (Public Law No: 117-328.) The table below shows funding for IDEA grants to states compared to FY 2022.

September 30, 2022: Congress passes and the President signs H.R.6833, a Continuing Resolution to keep the federal government open until Dec 16, 2022 at FY 22 funding levels. This action was necessary because Congress has not completed work on FY 23 appropriations bills.

July 28, 2022: Senate Appropriations Committee releases bill to fund the Dept. of Education. Bill provides funding for IDEA grants to states as follows:
– $15.9 billion for Part B Sec. 611 Grants to States ($940 million less than amount requested by President),
– $445 million for Part B Sec. 619 Grants to States (a $35 million increase over FY 22, $58 million less than President’s request of $502.6 million),
– $591.3 million for Part C Grants to States (a $95 million increase over FY 23, $341 million less that President’s request of $932 million)
Committee report is available here

See table below for comparison of President’s budget request, House and Senate Appropriations committee bills.

June 30, 2022: House of Representatives Appropriations Committee passes bill to fund the Dept. of Education, including substantial increases for IDEA grants to states as follows:
– $16.3 billion for Part B Sec. 611 Grants to States (same amount requested by President),
– $439.6 million for Part B Sec. 619 Grants to States (a $30 million increase over FY 22, $63 million less than President’s request of $502.6 million),
– $621.3 million for Part C Grants to States (a $125 million increase over FY 23, $310.7 million less that President’s request of $932 million)
Committee report is available here

June 7, 2022: Education Secretary Miguel Cardona testifies before the Senate Appropriations Sub-Committee at hearing on the Department of Education FY23 budget request. Watch here.

May 26, 2022: Education Secretary Miguel Cardona testifies before the House Appropriations Full Committee at hearing on the Department of Education FY23 budget request. Watch here.

April 28, 2022: Education Secretary Miguel Cardona testifies before the Subcommittee of House Appropriations Committee at hearing on the Department of Education FY23 budget request. Watch here.

March 28, 2022: President’s FY 2023 Budget Request includes $17.7 billion for grants to states, a 14% increase over FY 2022, as follows:
– $16.3 billion for IDEA Part B Sec. 611 Grants to States (a 22% increase over regular FY 22 appropriation)
– $502.6 million for IDEA Part B Sec. 619 Grants to States (a 23% increase over regular FY 22 appropriation)
– $932.6 million for IDEA Part C Grants to States (a 89% increase over regular FY 22 appropriation)

The President’s FY 2023 Budget Request details are available here.

Also of interest:

IDEA Money Watch: Understanding IDEA Full Funding

This Balance Sheet tracks the Federal budget and appropriations process for IDEA funds for FY 2022 which covers the period of October 1, 2021 – September 30, 2022.

May 5, 2021: U.S. House of Representatives Appropriations subcommittee hearing on President’s Topline Budget Request. View the hearing archive.

May 28, 2021: President’s full budget request includes the following:

– $15.5 billion for IDEA Part B Sec. 611 Grants to States (a 20% increase over regular FY 21 appropriation of $12.937 billion)

– $502.6 million for IDEA Part B Sec. 619 Grants to States for Preschool (a 26% increase over regular FY 21 appropriation of $397.6 million)

– $732 million for IDEA Part C Grants to States (a 52% increase over regular FY 21 appropriation of 481.8 million)

Full Dept. of Education FY 2022 Budget Request is available here.

June 16, 2021: U.S. Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education, and Related Agencies holds hearing on President’s Budget Request for FY 2022. View the hearing archive.

July 29,, 2021: U.S. House passes a package of seven 2022 appropriations bills – H.R. 4502 – which includes FY 2022 funding for the Dept. of Education. Funding for Special Education is $17.2 billion which is a 22% increase over FY 2021. Funding for grants to states includes:

– $15.5 billion for IDEA Part B Sec. 611 Grants to States (a 20% increase over regular FY 21 appropriation of $12.937 billion)

– $502.6 million for IDEA Part B Sec. 619 Grants to States for Preschool (a 26% increase over regular FY 21 appropriation of $397.6 million)

– $732 million for IDEA Part C Grants to States (a 52% increase over regular FY 21 appropriation of 481.8 million)

September 30, 2021: Congress voted to extend government funding through December 3 at current levels. This delays the start of the significant IDEA funding increases for FY 2022 contained in the President’s Budget and the House Appropriations bill as noted above.

October 18, 2021: The Appropriations Committee of the U.S. Senate released its FY 22 bill to fund Labor-HHS-Education Departments. The bill provides the same funding levels for IDEA grants to states as contained in the House bill passed on July 29, 2021 (see above).

March 8, 2022: Congress passes the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2022. The FY2022 appropriations for IDEA grants to states are as follows

• $13.3 billion for IDEA Part B Sec. 611 Grants to States (a 3% increase over FY 21 appropriation of $12.937 billion)

• $409.5 million for IDEA Part B Sec. 619 Grants to States for Preschool (a 3% increase over FY 21 appropriation of $397.6 million)

• $496.3 million for IDEA Part C Grants to States (a 3% increase over FY 21 appropriation of 481.8 million)

See also:

IDEA Money Watch: Understanding IDEA Full Funding

National PTA: The Federal Appropriations and Budget Process

The U.S. Congress has passed and the President has signed the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 (P.L. 117-2) (ARPA) to provide urgent and targeted funding to defeat the COVID-19 virus and provide workers and families the resources they need to survive the pandemic while the vaccine is distributed to every American.

The ARPA is the third federal law providing federal funding to assist with the impact of COVID-19. Previously, the CARES and CRRSA Acts provided funding for education as shown in the graphic below:

The ARPA provides $122.8 billion for public K-12 schools to safely reopen schools for in-person learning, address learning loss, and support students as they work to recover from the long-term impacts of the pandemic. It requires that $800 million be reserved to serve the needs of homeless students. The balance must be distributed to states There is also $2.750 billion for non-public schools and $39.6 billion for higher education.

Estimated state allocations for the ESSER, EANS and HEERF funds are available here. Announcement from the U.S. Dept. of Education is available here.

The ARPA also provides a $3.030 billion FY 2021 supplemental appropriation for IDEA grants to states as follows:

IDEA Grants to States for children with disabilities ages 3 through 21 (Part B Section 611) will receive $2.580 billion. This is a 20 percent increase to the FY 2021 appropriation of $12.937 billion.

IDEA Preschool Grants to States for children with disabilities ages 3 through 5 (Part B Section 619) will receive $200 million. This is a 50 percent increase to the FY 2021 appropriation of $398 million.

IDEA Grants for Infants and Toddlers with Disabilities (Part C) will receive $250 million. This is a 52 percent increase to the FY 2021 appropriation of $481.9 million.

Estimated FY 2021 State Grants for each program are available here.

These funds must be spent in accordance with the provisions in IDEA regarding allowable use of funds under Part B and Part C. Also see the Office of Special Education Program’s Q+A on Use of Funds in the COVID Environment for Part B and Part C.

Local districts receiving these additional funds for IDEA Part B Section 611 are allowed to reduce their local special education spending by up to 50% of the increase under certain conditions. (See maintenance of effort for more).

Learn more about the students being served under the IDEA by viewing this 10 minute video presentation.

February 10, 2021

The U.S. Dept. of Education has released new data for states on a number of aspects of children with disabilities, as required by IDEA. The new data is available here.

For the third year, the data includes a report on the number and percent of Local Educational Agencies (LEAs) – commonly known as school districts – that each state reviewed and found to be in compliance with IDEA’s MOE requirements – this time, for the 2018-2019 school year. (Data for the 2017-2018 school year is available here and for the 2016-2017 school year is here.) (More about MOE is available here.)

The data, below, show all LEAs to be compliant in almost all states.

Download this table (PDF)

Federal funding for the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) falls woefully short of the amount promised by Congress when the IDEA was first enacted. In FY 2020 the Federal government provided just $12.764 billion to states to help offset the additional costs of providing special education and related services to the 7.3 million students with disabilities (ages 3-21) nationwide.

This Federal contribution was just 13.2% of the amount promised by Congress, also known as “full funding,” resulting in a funding shortfall of $23.580 billion. This shortfall must be made up by states and local school districts. As the chart below indicates, this is the lowest percentage of Federal share since 2000.

What does this mean for states? The document below, prepared by the National Education Association, provides the IDEA funding gap by state based on a full funding estimate. Download it here (PDF). See Note below regarding these calculations.

NOTE: The full funding estimate, and, therefore, the funding gap, is based on the requirement in IDEA regarding the maximum grant amount that a state can receive in any given year.

The maximum amount that any State may receive in any single fiscal year is calculated by multiplying the number of children with disabilities ages 3 through 21 served during the 2004-2005 academic year in that State by 40 percent of the annual per pupil expenditure, adjusted by the rate of annual change in the sum of 85 percent of the children aged 3 through 21 for whom that State ensures FAPE and 15 percent of the children living in poverty. In 2004-2005 a total of 6,723,000 children ages 3-21 were served under IDEA. The full funding estimate in the table above is calculated using 6,740,000 children being served since there has been little change in student population and a decline in the poverty rate. (The data used in the calculation lags by about two years.)

Meanwhile, the growth in the number of students being served under the IDEA in the past several years has far exceeded the rate of annual change used to calculate the full funding estimate. Between 2011–12 and 2018–19, the number of students (ages 3-21) served increased from 6.4 million to 7.1 million and the percentage served increased from 13 percent of total public school enrollment to 14 percent of total public school enrollment. The most recent data shows another significant increase, with 7.3 million students being served (ages 3-21). This is an increase of 148,000 additional students between 2018 and 2019.

If the full funding estimate were to be based on the current number of students being served, the funding gap would be significantly higher.

Resources on IDEA funding:
Congressional Research Service: The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) Funding: A Primer (Updated August29, 2019)

National Council on Disability: Broken Promises: The Underfunding of IDEA, 2018 

The Coronavirus Response and Relief Supplemental Appropriations Act (CRRSA Act), 2021, Public Law 116-260, was passed by Congress and signed into law by the President in late December, 2020. It provides $81.9 billion for the Education Stabilization Fund.

Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief Fund

The largest part of these funds – $54.3 billion – is directed to the Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief Fund (ESSER II) to provide grants to states and, in turn, grants to local educational agencies.

The U.S. Dept. of Education (USED) is directed to distribute ESSER II funds to states via formula grants based on the Title I formula under the Elementary and Secondary Education Act, currently known as the Every Student Succeeds Act or ESSA.

States must distribute 90% of these funds to local educational agencies (LEAs) to meet needs of all students, including students with disabilities. (LEA is a term that refers to school districts, including charter schools that are LEAs.) This is 4 times the amount provided for the first ESSER in the CARES Act passed in March 2020 ($13.5 billion).

The ESSER II allocation for each state is available here. Funds remain available for obligation through September 30, 2023. See this USED’s ESSER II Fact Sheet for primary differences between the CARES Act and the CRRSA Act.

ESSER II funds may be used for:

• Any activity authorized by the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA)
• Providing principals and other school leaders with the resources necessary to address the needs of their individual schools
• Activities to address the unique needs of children with disabilities
• Planning for, coordinating, and implementing activities during long-term closures, including providing meals to eligible students, providing technology for online learning to all students, providing guidance for carrying out requirements under the IDEA and ensuring other educational services can continue to be provided consistent with federal, state and local requirements
• Purchasing educational technology (including hardware, software, and connectivity) for students who are served by the LEA that aids in regular and substantive educational interaction between students and their classroom instructions, including children with disabilities
• Providing mental health services and supports
• Planning and implementing activities related to summer learning and supplemental after-school programs, including providing classroom instruction or online learning during the summer months and addressing the needs of children with disabilities
• Addressing learning loss among students including children with disabilities
• Administering and using high-quality assessments that are valid and reliable, to accurately assess students’ academic progress and assist educators in meeting students’ academic needs
• Implementing evidence-based activities to meet the comprehensive needs of students
• Providing information and assistance to parents and families on how they can effectively support students, including in a distance learning environment
• Tracking student attendance and improving student engagement in distance education
• School facility repairs and improvements to enable operation of schools to reduce risk of virus transmission and exposure to environmental health hazards, and support student health needs
• Inspection, testing, maintenance, repair, replacement, and upgrade projects to improve in-door air quality in school facilities
• Other activities that are necessary to maintain the operation of and continuity of services to LEA and continuing to employ existing staff of LEAs.

Here’s what you can do to ensure that students with disabilities are included in activities funded by ESSER II grants:

• Contact your State Department of Education and Special Education Agency to ensure that guidance to LEAs on the use of funds includes students with disabilities. You can also contact your state’s Special Education Advisory Panel and inquire about its involvement in formulating plans for use of ESSER II funds.
  
• Contact your LEA (school district) to work on developing plans for funds being used to benefit students with disabilities. These plans can include any of the activities listed above.

• Encourage maximum transparency on planned uses of these new federal funds by posting plans on LEA websites and the state website in languages accessible to students/families in the district.
  
• Ensure that ESSER II funds are not used to supplant local funds spent on special education. LEAs are required by the IDEA to maintain the same level of spending on special education from one year to the next – called “maintenance of effort” or “MOE.” If an LEA uses ESSER II funds to pay for activities previously funded with local funds, this would violate the MOE requirement of IDEA. Therefore, ESSER II funds spent on students with disabilities must fund activities above and beyond those funded in the previous year. More about MOE.

The CRRSA Act also provides $4.05 billion for a Governor’s Emergency Education Relief Fund (GEER II) to provide flexible funding to states to use for early childhood education, elementary and secondary education, or higher education, based on the needs of the state. Of that amount, $2.75 billion is to be used to provide Emergency Assistance to Non-Public Schools (EANS) grants. The state educational agency in each state will administer the EANS program. Funds are available for obligation through September 30, 2023. Private schools that accept federal funds through the EANS program will be subject to Section 504, possibly for the first time.

Information about GEER II and EANS is available here. Allocation for each state is available here. Allocations are based on States’ student-aged population and poverty levels.

A GEER II Fact Sheet is available here. A EANS Q+A is available here.

These funds can be used for all of the activities listed above in both K-12 and higher education.

Download this post in PDF (3 pgs).

All the wrangling is over regarding funding of the federal government for FY21 (Oct 1, 2020 – Sept 30, 2021). Funding was provided via the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2021, H.R. 133.

IDEA received an increase of $181.5 million or 1.3%, for a total of $14,070,743 billion.

GRANTS TO STATES (Parts B and C)

• IDEA Grants to States for children with disabilities ages 3-21 (Part B Section 611) will receive a $173 million increase or 1.4%, for a total of $12.937 billion.

• IDEA Preschool Grants to States for children with disabilities ages 3-5 (Part B Section 619) will receive a $3.5 million increase or 1%, for a total of $398 million.

• IDEA Grants for Infants and Toddlers with Disabilities (Part C) will receive a $4.9 million increase or 1%, for a total of $481.9 million.

NATIONAL ACTIVITIES (Part D)

IDEA National Activities will receive a $4.1 million increase or 1.6%, for a total of $254 million. (All programs are funded at FY 2020 levels unless noted):

• State Personnel Development Grants – $38.6 million
• Technical assistance and dissemination – $44.3 million
• Special Olympics education programs – $23.7 million (increase of $3.6 million or 18%)
• Personnel Preparation – $90.2 million – an increase of $500,000 or .5%
• Parent Information Centers – $27.4 million
• Education technology, media, and materials – $29.5 million

Some important points to remember regarding the increases given to IDEA Grants to states:

• LEAs – the school districts that will receive the increase in federal funds – are allowed to reduce their special education spending by up to 50% of the increase. (See maintenance of effort for more)
• The very nominal increase provided – 1.3% over FY 2020 – will not result in a “per child” increase since the number of children being served under IDEA has increased.
• The FY 2021 amount for Part B, section 611– $ 12.937 billion – remains FAR LESS than the amount authorized by IDEA and $3 billion short of the funding level requested in S. 1172, a bill to require full funding of part A of title I of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 and the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act.
• See this article about full funding.

The U.S. Congress has yet to settle on appropriations for Fiscal Year 2021 which began on October 1, 2020. Here’s what has happened so far:

• On July 31, 2020 the House of Representatives passed H.R. 7617, a bill to fund several federal agencies for the FY 2021 including the U.S. Dept. of Education. It provided a small increase ($194 million) in IDEA Grants to States. The bill was sent to the Senate for consideration. The Senate failed to act.

• On September 30, 2020 the Congress passed and the President signed HR 8337, a bill to extend fiscal 2020 funding for the U.S. Department of Education and other agencies through Dec. 11, 2020. This will keep IDEA funding at the FY 20 level until Dec. 11, 2020 or until Congress passes an appropriations bill. More here.

• On November 10, 2020 the Senate Appropriations Committee passed a bill to fund the Departments of Labor, Health and Human Services and Education which includes $12.9 billion for IDEA Part B grants to states (a $125 million increase from FY 2020) and $485 million for IDEA Part C grants to states (a $8 million increase from FY 2020).

Congress must either finalize a FY 2021 appropriations bill to fund the
Departments of Labor, Health and Human Services and Education by December 11, 2020 OR pass another continuing resolution. Either way, it looks like there will be little if any increased IDEA funding, leaving Federal funding for IDEA far below the amount promised.

The U.S. Education Department (USED) is providing states a one-year extension to spend their FFY 2018 IDEA Part B funds. In a June 8, 2020 letter to state education chiefs, Acting Ass’t Sec’y Mark Schultz advised states that they may request a waiver that will permit the state educational agency and its subgrantees (e.g. local educational agencies or school districts) to use Federal fiscal year (FFY) 2018 IDEA Part B grant award funds for an additional year beyond what is known as the Tydings period.

All states receive a federal grant under Part B of the IDEA, called a section 611 grant, to support special education and related services for children ages 3 through 21 as well as a section 619 grant, which are IDEA funds to support the education of children ages 3 through 5. (Click here for FY 2018 grants by state)

Section 421 (b) of the General Education Provisions Act (GEPA) allows state education agencies and local districts an additional 12 months (known at the Tydings Period) to obligate any funds that were not obligated at the end of the initial 15-month grant period. As a result of the Tydings Period, states have 27 months to obligate funding for each federal fiscal award. For the most part, local grant funds are spent down long before this 27 month timeline.

Under normal spending rules, FFY 2018 IDEA Part B grant funds must be spent by Sept. 30, 2020. The additional year lets districts take another 12 months to obligate those funds – until Sept. 30, 2021. All funds must be spent by Dec. 30, 2021. (In any given year, states and local districts are planning for, obligating, expending, and liquidating up to four years of IDEA grant awards.)

USED provided a template for states to use to request the waiver and promises a quick response.

UPDATE: 45 states/territories applied for and receive approval for the Part B Period of Availability waiver. Details available here.

This action, authorized by the CARES Act, is unlikely to provide much relief for school districts with regard to IDEA’s maintenance of effort requirements (MOE) since the larger problem in meeting MOE for this school year is spending local – or state and local – funds, as laid out in this Position Statement by the Council of Administrators of Special Education.

MORE: This document explains the life cycle of IDEA grant funds. (PDF)

A group of education organizations recently sent a letter to key members of Congress asking for “flexibility” related to the local maintenance of effort requirements in the IDEA. The letter is available here and states, in part:

” Under IDEA, when a district fails to maintain fiscal effort for special education, the district must pay back any unspent special education funding to the federal government.”

This statement is totally inaccurate and is sure to lead to more misunderstanding of one of the key requirements of IDEA.

In fact, the issue of the consequences when an LEA (school district) fails to meet its MOE requirement is spelled out in OSEP’s 2015 non-regulatory guidance issued following release of MOE regulations. The pertinent Q+As are:

Question E-1: What are the consequences of an LEA’s failure to meet the MOE compliance standard?

Answer: If an LEA fails to meet the MOE compliance standard, the SEA is liable in a recovery action under section 452 of GEPA (20 U.S.C. 1234a) to return to the Department, using non-Federal funds, an amount equal to the amount by which the LEA failed to maintain its level of expenditures in that fiscal year, or the amount of the LEA’s IDEA Part B subgrant in that fiscal year, whichever is lower.

Question E-2: How do the GEPA requirements interact with LEA MOE?

Answer: Under 20 U.S.C. 1234b, a failure to comply with expenditure requirements, including the IDEA’s LEA MOE requirement, is a harm to an identifiable Federal interest. If an LEA fails to meet the MOE requirement, the SEA is liable in a recovery action for the amount that is proportionate to the extent of the harm the violation caused to the identifiable Federal interest – that is, the amount by which the LEA failed to maintain its level of expenditures for the education of children with disabilities, or the amount of the LEA’s Part B subgrant, whichever is lower. The SEA is responsible for ensuring that LEAs receiving an IDEA Part B subgrant comply with all applicable requirements of that statute and its implementing regulations, including the MOE requirement. If an LEA, in a particular fiscal year, fails to meet the MOE requirement, the Department has authority to take steps to recover the appropriate amount of funds from the SEA. The SEA, in turn, following applicable State procedures, could seek reimbursement from the LEA. See July 26, 2006, letter to Ms. Carol Ann Baglin, available at http://www2.ed.gov/policy/speced/guid/idea/letters/2006-3/baglin072606moe3q2006.pdf.

Question E-3: Why does the SEA have to pay funds when an LEA fails to meet its MOE requirement?

Answer: The SEA (acting on behalf of the State), not the LEA, is the grantee in the IDEA Part B program. As a condition of eligibility for an IDEA Part B grant, States must provide an assurance to the Department that the SEA is responsible for ensuring that, among other things, all requirements of Part B are met. IDEA § 612(a)(11)(A)(i) (20 U.S.C. 1412(a)(11)(A)(i)). SEAs may minimize LEA noncompliance by carefully reviewing the LEA’s application for an IDEA Part B subgrant to determine if the LEA meets the eligibility standard, by monitoring for compliance on a regular basis, and by providing technical assistance to LEAs. SEAs that find an LEA is failing to comply with the MOE requirement may take further enforcement action as provided in 34 CFR §300.222.

Other issued raised in the groups’ letter are accurate and we wish to acknowledge those here:

• “Unlike districts, states can receive a waiver from the U.S. Department of Education to reduce Title I and IDEA funding if they are experiencing financial distress.”

CORRECT: The IDEA provides a “one-year waiver” provision for states, which is detailed at 34 CFR section 300.163. During the Great Recession, eight states requested a waiver to reduce their state financial support to LEAs. Details are available here. Importantly, states requesting a waiver must ensure the Secretary that the state will continue to ensure that FAPE is available to all students with disabilities within the state (34 CFR section 300.164 (c)(1)).

While IDEA does not contain a similar “waiver” provision, it does provide several allowable ways that LEAs may reduce their MOE. These include

• Departure of special education personnel (voluntary or for just cause).
• Decrease in number of special education students.
• End of an exceptionally costly education program for a particular child (moves out, graduates, ages out, or no longer needs an exceptionally costly program).
• End of obligation for long‐term purchases (such as the acquisition of equipment or construction of school facilities).
• Assumption of cost by the SEA for high-need children with disabilities.

In addition, LEAs may also reduce their MOE in years when their IDEA sub-grant exceeds the previous year, as long as they meet certain conditions. This provision, known as the “50 percent rule” allows an LEA to reduce its spending level by up to half of the amount of the additional Federal funds. Should Congress provide additional one-time appropriations for IDEA, as many groups are requesting, this provision would be triggered. The result would be that up to 50 percent of the additional appropriation could be moved to other education expenditures. (More here)

• “Unfortunately, the maintenance of effort requirements in IDEA do not have a pandemic exception.”

CORRECT: None of our education laws have a “pandemic exception.” However, it is important to remember that Congress asked the U.S. Secretary of Education to submit a report with recommended waiver authority due to the pandemic. In that report, the Secretary recommended only a couple of IDEA waivers to IDEA, with none having to do with LEA maintenance of effort.

Let’s keep working together to figure out how best to serve the nation’s 7 million school-age students with disabilities, appreciate the unparalleled situation we are currently experiencing, and stick to the facts.

More: We’ve teamed up with Stride Policy Solutions to produce issue briefs on IDEA State and LEA MOE Requirements and the LEA MOE 50% Reduction Provision.

May 28, 2020

The Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act or the ‘‘CARES Act’’ was passed by Congress and signed into law by the President on March 27, 2020. It provides over $2 trillion of assistance measures, including $30.75 billion for an Education Stabilization Fund.

While the CARES Act did not include any funds earmarked specifically for the IDEA, the education funding made available can, in fact, be used to serve students with disabilities.

The Education Stabilization Fund includes the following grant programs for K-12 education:

Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief Fund (ESSERF)

$13.2 billion available for formula grants (distributed based on the Title I formula under the Elementary and Secondary Education Act, also known as the Every Student Succeeds Act) to states, which will then distribute 90% of funds to local educational agencies (LEAs) to meet needs of all students, including students with disabilities. LEA is a term that generally refers to your local school district.

ESSERF state allocations are available here.
(More on ESSERF)

Governor’s Emergency Education Relief Fund (GEERF)

Governors in each state will receive a share of $3 billion to allocate at their discretion for emergency support grants to LEAs that the state educational agency deems have been most significantly impacted by coronavirus. As opposed to the formula grants (above), these funds are at the discretion of the Governor to support the LEAs to continue to provide educational services to their students and to support the on-going operations of the LEA.

GEERF state allocations are available here.
(More on GEERF)

CARES makes clear that funds from both the Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief Fund and the Governor’s Emergency Education Relief Fund can be used for activities authorized by the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) as well as other education laws. Specifically, listed are activities to address the unique needs of low-income children, children with disabilities, English learners, racial and ethnic minorities, students experiencing homelessness, and foster care youth.

In fact, the application for the Governor’s relief fund asks states to describe how, with respect to LEAs, the state intends to use the funds to help students and teachers adopt or improve remote learning that serves all students, including students with disabilities. The application also asks states to describe the strategies used to serve disadvantaged populations, including students with disabilities, with respect to technological capacity and access.

Here’s what you can do to ensure that students with disabilities are included in the use of CARES funds:

• Contact: Your State Department of Education and Special Education Agency to ensure guidance to LEAs that the use of funds includes students with disabilities and to ensure technical assistance to help LEAs implement best practices for remote learning that meets individualized educational programs for students, to provide teachers with professional development, and to inform parents about their rights.
  
  
• Contact: Your LEA to work on developing plans for funds being used to benefit students with disabilities. These plans could include assistance to help implement best practices for remote learning that meets individualized educational programs for students, to provide teachers with professional development, to inform parents about their rights.

Also, be sure to encourage maximum transparency on planned uses of these new federal funds by posting plans on LEA websites and the state website in languages accessible to students/families in the district.

Details on all of the CARES Act’s Education Stabilization Fund programs are available here.

Download this in PDF.

February 2020

The U.S. Dept. of Education has released new data for states on a number of aspects of children with disabilities, as required by IDEA. The new data is available here.

For the second year in a row, the data includes a report on the number and percentage of Local Educational Agencies (LEAs) – commonly known as school districts – that each state reviewed and found to be in compliance with IDEA’s MOE requirements – this time, for the 2017-2018 school year. (Data for the 2016-2017 school year is here.) (More about MOE is available here.)

The data, below, show all LEAs to be compliant in almost all states.

Download this table (PDF)

Source: https://www2.ed.gov/programs/osepidea/618-data/static-tables/2017-2018/part-b/ceis-and-moe/1718-bmaintenancedistrict-6.xlsx

The administration released its proposed budget for Fiscal Year (FY) 2021 on February 10, 2020. While advocates for education funding were not surprised to see a proposed reduction in funding for the U.S. Dept. of Education ($6.1 billion or 8%), most were surprised to see a proposal to do away with almost all programs authorized under the ESEA and replace them with a new block grant known as the Elementary and Secondary Education for the disadvantaged block grant. The block grant would replace 29 programs while cutting $4.7 billion, or nearly 20 percent, of the funding those formula-based and competitively awarded programs received in fiscal year 2020.

While funding for Special Education is not part of the block grant proposal, such a significant reduction to programs serving other vulnerable populations would certainly have an impact on students with disabilities. Local districts would certainly need to look for savings in all areas, including special education, to offset the reduction in Federal funds. And, students with disabilities are disproportionately represented among low income students, English learners, neglected and delinquent, and homeless students – the students who will feel the brunt of the proposed reductions and elimination of use of funds. (To see how much your state would lose, check out this table put together by the Center for American Progress.)

Special Education. The FY 2021 budget proposes a $100 million increase for IDEA Part B grants to states – from FY2020 funding of $12,764 billion to $12,864 billion. But this increase is absorbed by the anticipated increase in the number of students to be served by special education (ages 3-21), resulting in no increase in “per child” funding. Click here for a history of Federal appropriations.

All other Special Education programs are funded at the FY2020 level:
Preschool grants (IDEA B-619) at $394.1 million
Grants for infants and families (IDEA Part C) at $477.0 million
National activities (IDEA Part D) at $229.6 million.
Special Olympics gets level funding ( $20.1 million) after receiving a hefty increase in FY2020.
Detailed information on the proposed budget for Special education is available here. (PDF, 93 pgs.)

Over in the Institute of Education Sciences (IES), Special education research is level funded at $56.5 million and Special education studies and evaluations also receives level funding at $10.8 million.

!Remember that the administration’s proposed budget is just that – a proposal to Congress. In the coming months, Congress will begin work on annual appropriations bills and hold hearings to explore the proposals. First up: Education secretary DeVos will testify before the House Appropriations Committee on Thursday, Feb. 27, 2020 at 10 AM ET. The hearing can be viewed here.

The U.S. Congress passed and the President signed an appropriations bill (called the Further Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2020) to fund several federal agencies through FY 2020, which ends September 30, 2020.

Programs funded under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) are funded as follows:

Grants to States:

• Grants to states for children with disabilities ages 3-21 (Part B, Section 611) $12.764 billion – an increase of $400 million over FY 2019 or 3.2%.
• Grants to states for children with disabilities ages 3-5 (Part B, Section 619) $394 million – an ncrease of $3 million over FY 2019 or .8%.
• Grants for infants and families (Part C) $477 million – an increase of $7 million over FY 2019 or 1.5%

Part D Support Programs: (All programs are funded at FY 2019 level unless noted)

• State Personnel Development Grants – $39 million
• Technical assistance and dissemination – $44 million
• Special Olympics education programs – $20 million (increase of $2 million or 14%
• Personnel Preparation – $89.7 million – an increase of $2.5 million or 2.9%
• Parent Information Centers – $27 million
• Education technology, media, and materials – $29.5 million – an increase of $1.5 million or 5.3%

TOTAL $13.885 billion – an increase of $417 million or 3.1% over FY 2019.

Some important points to remember regarding the increase given to Grants to states:

• LEAs – the school districts that will receive the increase in federal funds – are allowed to reduce their special education spending by up to 50% of the increase. (See maintenance of effort for more)

• The very nominal increase provided – 3.2% over FY 2019 – will not result in a “per child” increase since the number of children being served under IDEA has increased.

• The FY 2020 amount – $12.764 billion – remains FAR LESS than the amount authorized by IDEA. See this article about full funding and this article about how much every state is owed.
• According to data from the NEA, the IDEA funding shortfall cost states $23 billion in FY 2019. See table below.

See also: National Council on Disability report “Broken Promises: The Underfunding of IDEA”

The President’s budget proposal for FY2020 (Oct. 1, 2019-Sept. 30, 2020) released March 11, 2019 recommends a 10 percent reduction to overall funding for the U.S. Dept. of Education (ED), from $71 billion to $64 billion.

However, the ED budget proposal recommends holding funding for special education at the amounts appropriated by Congress in FY2019.

Specifically, the budget proposal requests:

• $12,364.4 million for Grants to states
  (To help states pay the additional costs of providing special education and related services to children with disabilities aged 3 through 21 years. While the dollar amount holds level, the per-child amount goes from $1,770 to $1,758 due to an increase in the number of students (ages 3-21) being served under the IDEA, or about 13 percent of the national average per pupil expenditure (APPE). The IDEA authorizes an amount equal to 40 percent of the APPE, an amount known as “full funding”. See how much your state is losing.)
• $391.1 million for Preschool Grants to states
  (An estimated $506 per child for the approximately 773,600 children with disabilities ages 3 through 5)
• $470 million for Grants for Infants and Toddlers (to provide high-quality early intervention services to approximately 389,000 infants and toddlers with disabilities and their families.)
• $225.6 million for National Activities (funds State Personnel Development, Technical Assistance & Dissemination, Personnel Preparation, Parent Information Centers, Educational Technology, Media, and Materials).
  Note: As in the previous year, the budget recommends the elimination of $17.6 million for Special Olympics, which Congress reinstated. This is one of 29 programs recommended for elimination.

The Dept. of Education FY2020 budget is available here.

Watch U.S. Dept. of Ed Secy Betsy DeVos testify in Congress on the proposed budget:

• March 26, 2019: Hearing of the House Appropriations Committee. Watch it here at 10:15 AM EDT.
• March 28, 2019: Hearing of the Senate Appropriations Committee.Watch it here at 10:00 AM EDT.

February 2019

The U.S. Dept. of Education has released new data for states on a number of aspects of children with disabilities, as required by IDEA. The new data is available here.

New this year is a report on the number and percentage of Local Educational Agencies (LEAs) – commonly known to as school districts – that each state reviewed and found to be in compliance with IDEA’s MOE requirements. More about MOE is available here.

The data show all LEAs to be compliant in almost all states.

Download this table (PDF)

Source: https://www2.ed.gov/programs/osepidea/618-data/static-tables/2016-2017/part-b/ceis-and-moe/1617-bmaintenancedistrict-6.xlsx

The U.S. Congress has finalized a bill to fund the Defense and Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education departments for Fiscal Year 2019 which begins October 1, 2018.

The bill provides $71.5 billion in funding for the Education Department. Of that, $13.4 billion (18 percent) is designated for IDEA.

IDEA funding breaks down as follows:

• IDEA Grants to States: $12.4 billion (an increase of $86.5 million over FY18)
• IDEA Preschool Grants: $391.1 million (an increase of $10 million over FY18)
• Grants for Infants and Toddlers: $470.0 million (same as FY19)
• National Activities: $215.2 million (an increase of $6 million, 2.5 million for Technical Assistance &Dissemination and an increase of $3.5 million for Personnel Preparation)

While an increase to IDEA funds for state grants is appreciated, it doesn’t come close to the authorized amount – aka “full funding” – that we reported on recently. View your state’s IDEA funding gap using this interactive map.

MAY 1, 2017

Federal funding for the IDEA gains little in the budget agreement reached by Congress in late April. The deal should be voted on in early May and will fund the federal government for the balance of FY 2017 (until October 1, 2017).

IDEA funds for Part B Sec. 611 (ages 3-21) goes from $11.9 billion in FY 2016 to $12.0 billion in FY 2017 – an increase of .7 percent.

Meanwhile, the number of students served under this program is increasing steadily – growing from 6,697,938 in 2014-2015 to 6,814,410 in 2015-2016, an increase of 1.7 percent. And keep in mind that IDEA allows local school districts to use up to 50 percent of any increase in IDEA funds to offset local spending, so students could see only half of the increase used for special education services.

IDEA funds for Part B Sec. 619 (ages 3-5) stays constant at $368.2 million.

IDEA funds for Part C (infants and families) also stays constant at $458.6 million. The children served under Part C increased from 350,581 in 2014-2015 to 357,715 in 2015-2016, an increase of 2 percent.

Add’t special education appropriations details are here.

Now we wait for the administration to release its budget request for FY 2018, due sometime in May. The “skinny” budget released in March indicated that IDEA funding would be maintained at its current rate, while the U.S. Dept. of Education faces a substantial overall decrease.

This report focuses on local school districts (referred to as local educational agencies or LEAs) that have been found to have significant disproportionality in one or more categories of students receiving special education.

Disproportionality is the overrepresentation of minority or ethnic students in special education in the following categories:

• Identification, including identification with a particular disability category (SLI, SLD, OHI, ID, AU, ED);
• Placement in particular educational settings, or
• Disciplinary actions (incidence, duration, and type), including suspension and expulsions.

If found to have significant disproportionality in one or more of the above categories, the local district must reserve 15 percent of its IDEA Part B federal funds for Coordinated Early Intervening Services (CEIS).

Districts must use all of the CEIS funds and must devote most but not all of the CEIS funds to serve children in the over-identified category or categories. LEAs  required to use 15 percent of their IDEA Part B federal funds on CEIS due to significant disproportionality may not reduce their local expenditures by any amount.

This is a complete listing of the LEAs that were required to spend 15% of Part B funds in the 2012-2013 school year due to having significant disproportionality.

The report provides:

– LEAs identified as having significant disproportionality during the referenced school year

– the category or categories of significant disproportionality;

– the amount of Part B funds reserved for Coordinated Early Intervening Services (CEIS).

A RECAP OF LEAs FOUND TO HAVE SIGNIFICANT DISPROPORTIONALITY:

A total of 489 LEAs in 28 states were required to use 15% of Part B funds for CEIS due to significant disproportionality.  The reserved funds to be spent totaled $239.6 million.

The 28 states and the number of LEAs within each state are as follows:

AL (3), AZ (1), AR (3), CA (50), CT (2), DE (4), FL (5), GA (16), IL (2), IN (58), IA (8), KY (8), LA (77), MD (3), MI (22), MN (8), MS (17), NJ (12), NM (2), NY (78), NC (12) OH (56), RI (28), SC (1), VA (6), WI (6), WY (2).

The following 23 states had no LEAs identified as having significant disproportionality: AK, CO, HI, ID, KS, ME, MA, MO, MT, NE, NV, NH, ND, OK, OR, PA, SD, TN, TX, UT, VT, WA, WV.

See table below for additional details.

The number of LEAs identified as having significant disproportionality and required to use 15 percent of IDEA Part B funds on CEIS in 2012-2013 was substantially higher than in the previous year. In 2011-2012, 247 LEAs were identified as having significant disproportionality. Those LEAs were required to spend $107.2 million in IDEA Part B funds on CEIS.

The uneven pattern of LEAs identified as having significant disproportionality reflects the varied definitions states have been allowed to develop to identify significant disproportionality. This inconsistent methodology is addressed in the proposed new federal regulation published in the Federal Register on March 2, 2016 (Vol. 81, No. 41, pgs. 10968-10998). Comments on the proposed rule can be submitted on or before May 16, 2016.

An analysis accompanying the proposed rule, A Multi-Year Disproportionality Analysis by State, Analysis Category, and Race/Ethnicity, found that 8,148 LEAs would have a finding of significant disproportionality when the methodology (risk ration threshold, minimum cell size and occurrence over multiple years) used in the analysis was applied or 16 times the number identified in 2012-2013.

An example of the dramatic increase in LEAs identified with significant disproportionality using the methodology in the analysis is the state of Florida. Using its current methodology, Florida identified 2 LEAs for significant disproportionality in disciplinary removals while 26 LEAs would be identified using the methodology in the analysis – all for disciplinary removals of Black/African American students. Based on data collected by the Office for Civil Rights, Florida has the highest rate of out-of-school suspensions of students with disabilities in the country (see report here).

 Total LEAs and Number of LEAs identified with significant disproportionality

(This table is also included in the last page of the report.)

Rep. Tim Walberg, R-Mich., has intro­duced the Building on Local District Flexibility in IDEA Act, H.R. 2965. The bill makes substantial changes to current maintenance of effort rules governing local educational agencies (or school districts).  Below is the text of the bill.

114th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 2965

  To amend the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act to provide 
 certain exceptions to the maintenance of effort requirement for local 
             educational agencies, and for other purposes.

_______________________________________________________________________

                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                              July 8, 2015

Mr. Walberg (for himself, Mr. Moolenaar, Mr. Ribble, Mr. Benishek, and 
   Mr. Bishop of Michigan) introduced the following bill; which was 
        referred to the Committee on Education and the Workforce

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL

  To amend the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act to provide 
 certain exceptions to the maintenance of effort requirement for local 
             educational agencies, and for other purposes.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Building on Local District 
Flexibility in IDEA Act''.

SEC. 2. EXCEPTIONS TO THE MAINTENANCE OF EFFORT REQUIREMENT FOR LOCAL 
              EDUCATIONAL AGENCIES.

    Section 613(a)(2) of the Individuals with Disabilities Education 
Act (20 U.S.C. 1413(a)(2)) is amended--
            (1) in subparagraph (A)(iii), by striking ``subparagraphs 
        (B) and (C)'' and inserting ``subparagraphs (B), (C), and 
        (E)'';
            (2) in subparagraph (B)--
                    (A) in clause (iii)(III), by striking ``or'' at the 
                end;
                    (B) in clause (iv), by striking the period at the 
                end and inserting a semicolon; and
                    (C) by adding at the end the following:
                            ``(v) improved efficiencies that do not 
                        result in a reduction in special education 
                        services; or
                            ``(vi) the reduction of expenditures for 
                        employment related benefits provided to special 
                        education personnel (such as pay, retirement 
                        contributions, annual and sick leave, and 
                        health and life insurance) provided that such 
                        reduction of expenditures does not result in a 
                        reduction in special education services.''; and
            (3) by adding at the end the following:
                    ``(E) Waivers for exceptional or uncontrollable 
                circumstances.--The State educational agency may waive 
                the requirements of subparagraph (A)(iii) for a local 
                educational agency, for 1 fiscal year at a time, if--
                            ``(i) the State educational agency 
                        determines that the local educational agency 
                        has not reduced the level of expenditures for 
                        the education of children with disabilities for 
                        such fiscal year disproportionately to other 
                        expenditures; and
                            ``(ii)(I) the State educational agency 
                        determines that granting a waiver would be 
                        equitable due to exceptional or uncontrollable 
                        circumstances such as a natural disaster or a 
                        precipitous and unforeseen decline in the 
                        financial resources of the local educational 
                        agency; or
                            ``(II) the local educational agency 
                        provides clear and convincing evidence to the 
                        State educational agency that all children with 
                        disabilities have available to them a free 
                        appropriate public education and the State 
                        educational agency concurs with the evidence 
                        provided by the local educational agency.''.

Today, some 18 months after proposed, the U.S. Dept. of Education issued the final federal regulations amending Part B of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) governing the requirement that local educational agencies maintain fiscal effort, or maintenance of effort (MOE). The new regulations are effective July 1, 2015.

The final MOE regulations provide clarification on the following:

• the Subsequent Years rule,
• the eligibility and compliance standards,
• the four methods available to LEAs to meet the eligibility and compliance standards, and
• the existing exceptions and adjustment in §§ 300.204 and 300.205.

Subsequent Years rule

This amendment expands the LEA (aka school district) eligibility standard by clearly establishing that if an LEA fails to meet its MOE requirement for any fiscal year, the level of funding required for any subsequent year (beginning or or after July 1, 2015) is the amount that would have been required in the absence of that failure – not the LEA’s reduced level of expenditures.

Now known as the “Subsequent Years Rule” (§300.203 (c)), this clarification codifies the OSEP April 2012 Letter to Boundy which challenged an earlier OSEP interpretation in its Letter to East. IDEA Money Watch supporters worked hard to bring about this reversal, including language in the federal Appropriations Acts of 2014 and 2015 pending new regulations. Now, with the release of these final regulations, this matter is put to rest.

The regulations include a number of tables to assist States and LEAs in establishing a thorough understanding of how an LEA may comply with the Subsequent Years rule.

Four methods available to LEAs to meet the eligibility and compliance standards 

The regulations now makes clear that the an LEA may meet the compliance standard using one of four methods and that SEAs must permit LEAs to do so. The four methods are:

(1) Local funds only, (2) the combination of State and local funds, (3) local funds only on a per capita basis, or (4) the combination of State and local funds on a per capita basis.

It is also established that an LEA may change methods to establish compliance from one year to the next. LEAs may meet the compliance standard using alternate methods from year to year. The regulations include a number of tables that provide examples of how an LEA may meet the compliance standard using alternate methods.

Existing exceptions and adjustment in §§ 300.204 and 300.205 

The regulations establish that LEAs may include any allowable MOE reductions (as laid out in §§ 300.204 and 300.205) that it is eligible to take preparing a budget for the upcoming year. It had previously been unclear if this was allowable.

What, exactly, is “full funding” of IDEA?

The term is misleading, and, therefore, the funding “promise” made by Congress in IDEA is often misrepresented.

Back in 1975 when Congress enacted the original special education law – then called the Education of All Handicapped Children Act, later renamed the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) – Congress set a maximum target for the federal contribution to special education spending at equal to 40 percent of the estimated excess cost of educating children with disabilities.

At the time, Congress estimated that educating children with disabilities would cost approximately twice as much as the cost to educate non-disabled children. So, Congress authorized a funding level equal to 40% of the excess cost of providing special education (not 100% as is often reported). The metric used to determine the “excess cost” was the national average per pupil expenditure (APPE). Thus, the authorized amount was set at 40% of the national average per pupil expenditure or APPE. (Note: One nationwide study showed that special education costs are 1.9 times that expended on general education students.)

If IDEA were “fully funded,” the annual federal appropriation for Section 611 would be 40% of the national average per pupil expenditure (APPE) for elementary and secondary education adjusted for each state’s annual changes in child population and poverty rate. This chart provides the appropriations history from 1987 to 2021. As the chart shows, the percentage of APPE has never exceeded 18 percent (except in 2009 when the Recovery Act provided a one-time doubling of the appropriated funds).

To be clear, when IDEA federal funds are sent off to states and then to local school districts (LEAs) around the country, that amount would not be 40% of the excess cost in every district. The percent would vary depending on how much each local district spends on education. The amount states and districts spend “per pupil” varies significantly across the nation. For example, in the 2019-2020 school year, while the average was $13,489 per pupil, that amount ranged from a low of $8,287 in Utah to a high of $25,273 in New York. (see spending for all states here).

When considering increases in federal funding for IDEA, it is important to keep in mind that Congress added a “maximum” allowable grant award provision in the 2004 re-authorization of the Act. Beginning in 2006, the maximum grant is 40% of APPE times the number of children with disabilities the state served in school year 2004-2005 adjusted by the annual rates of change in the state’s population in the age range comparable to ages for which the state provides FAPE for children with disabilities (85% of the adjustment) and in the state’s children living in poverty in the same age range (15% of the adjustment). In other words, the number of children being served under IDEA in the state has not played a role in calculating the maximum grant award since 2004-2005. Congress made this change in 2004 for the express purpose of removing any fiscal incentive to over identify students as disabled. The maximum grant level allows for the possibility that some funds would be unallocated in years in which IDEA funding rises enough that every state can receive its maximum grant.

See also:

National Council on Disability, Broken Promises: The Underfunding of IDEA, 2018.

Congressional Research Service, The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) Funding: A Primer, Updated August 29, 2019.

Information on the reductions to maintenance of effort (MOE), determinations of IDEA compliance and use of IDEA Part B funds for Coordinated Early Intervening Services* for the 2011-2012 school year for every local educational agency (LEA) or school district was released to the public in February 2015.

States are required to report this information annually to the U.S. Dept. of Education as part of a larger data submission required under Section 618 of the IDEA. The data files are available from this website.

Using the data reported under Maintenance of Effort Reduction and Coordinated Early Intervening Services for 2011-2012, IDEA Money Watch has compiled three separate reports. (Information on how to access the data file appears at the end of this report.)

Report One: MAINTENANCE OF EFFORT (MOE) REDUCTIONS

This is a complete listing of the LEAs that reduced MOE in the 2011-2012 school year. Under certain conditions, LEAs are allowed to reduce the amount spent on special education by up to 50% of an increase in federal or state and federal funds from one year to the next. The freed-up funds must be used for activities authorized under the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA).

The report provides:
– the LEA/ESA allocation amounts for IDEA Part B 611 (school age) and 619 (3-5 year olds) for the reference Federal fiscal year and the previous Federal fiscal year

– the LEA/ESA determination under 34 CFR § 300.600(a)(2)

– the Amount of the MOE Reduction the LEA/ESA took under Section 613(a)(2)(C) for the reference school year.

A RECAP OF MOE REDUCTIONS:

Across all states and territories, 304 LEAs took MOE reductions totaling $10.1 million. States with one or more LEAs taking an MOE reduction include:

AL (9), CA (25), IN (13), KY (13), LA (4), MA (15), MO (10), NE (50), NM (56), OH (8), OK (48), PA (35), TX (12), UT (3) and WI (3).

Not all of these LEAs were eligible to take a reduction in MOE. To be eligible to reduce MOE, an LEA must have:

– received an increase in the Part B allocation between 2010 and 2011 AND
– received a “meets requirements” determination.

LEAs that took an MOE reduction and DID NOT have a “meets requirements” determination are highlighted in yellow on the listing. The vast majority of these LEA are in the state of New Mexico, where 24 LEAs reduced MOE unlawfully.

Some LEAs took an MOE reduction without the requisite increase in annual allocation, indicated by a (-) sign in the far right column on the listing. In Nebraska, 36 LEAs reduced MOE without having received an increase in funding.

Report Two: MANDATORY PROVISION OF COORDINATED EARLY INTERVENING SERVICES (CEIS)

This is a complete listing of the LEAs that were required to spend 15% of Part B funds in the 2011-2012 school year due to having significant disproportionality.  Disproportionality is the overrepresentation of minority or ethnic students in special education identification, placement, or disciplinary actions. In such cases, the local district must use all of the CEIS funds and must devote most but not all of the CEIS funds to serve children in the over identified group or groups. LEAs  required to use 15 percent of their IDEA Part B federal funds on CEIS due to significant disproportionality may not reduce their local expenditures by any amount.

The report provides:

– LEAs identified as having significant disproportionality during the reference school year

– the amount required  to be reserved for Coordinated Early Intervening Services (CEIS)(15 percent of Part B funds)

– the amount of Part B funds spent on Coordinated Early Intervening Services (CEIS)

– the number of students who received CEIS during the reference school year and the number of children who received CEIS at any time during the reference school year and the two preceding school years and received special education and related services during the reference school year.

A RECAP OF MANDATORY CEIS USE:

A total of 347 LEAs were required to use 15% of Part B funds for CEIS due to significant disproportionality. These LEAs were in 25 states. The amount spent totaled $107.2 million. The states and number of LEAs within each state are as follows:

AK (1), AR (6), AZ (1), DC (5), DE (7), FL (11), GA (31), IA (7), IL (5), IN (1), KY (10), LA (104), MD (1), MI (36), MS (25), NC (3), NJ (12), NM (2), NY (36), OH (2), OR (1), RI (24), UT (1), VA (9), WI (5)

The following states had no LEAs identified as having significant disproportionality: AL, CA, CO, CT, HI, ID, KS, ME, MA, MN, MO, MT, NE, NV, NH, ND, OK, PA, SC, SD, TN, TX, VT, WA, WV, WY.

The number of LEAs required to provide CEIS in 2011-2012 was very similar to the number required in the previous school year (2010-2011). In that year 356 LEAs were required to provide CEIS.

The uneven pattern of LEAs identified as having significant disproportionality is reflective of the varied definitions states have been allowed to develop. This issue was explored in great detail in a 2013 report from the Government Accountability Office entitled “IDEA: Standards Needed to Improve Identification of Racial and Ethnic Overrepresentation in Special Education.”  A new report from The Civil Rights Project, Are We Closing the School Discipline Gap?, provides extensive data that underscores the need for federal oversight and the comments submitted by the Civil Rights Project in 2014 articulate specific recommendations.

Report Three: VOLUNTARY USE OF PART B FUNDS TO PROVIDE COORDINATED EARLY INTERVENING SERVICES (CEIS)

This is a complete listing of the LEAs that elected to voluntarily use up to 15% of their Part B funds in the 2011-2012 school year to provide Coordinated Early Intervening Services (CEIS).

The report provides:

– LEAs that voluntarily used Part B funds to provide CEIS during the reference school year

– the amount of Part B funds the LEA voluntarily spent on Coordinated Early Intervening Services (CEIS)

– the percent of Part B funds the LEA voluntarily spent on Coordinated Early Intervening Services (CEIS)(may not exceed 15 percent of Part B funds)

– the number of students who received CEIS during the reference school year.

A RECAP OF VOLUNTARY CEIS USE:

A total of 44 states and territories had LEAs that voluntarily used Part B funds for CEIS. Across these 1243 LEAs, the amount spent totaled $109.3 million. The amount an LEA may reduce its MOE (Report One) is reduced by any amount the LEA voluntarily uses for CEIS (not to exceed 15%).

The states and number of LEAs within each state that voluntarily used Part B funds for CEIS are as follows:

AL (3), AR (33), AZ (20), BIA (71), CA (11), CT (16), DE (3), FL (16), GA (5), HI (1), IA (12), IL (198), IN (18), KS (1), LA (21), ME (22), MI (19), MN (133), MS (46), MO (7), NE (34), NV (35), NH (10), NJ (8), NM (11), NY (30), NC (9), ND (8), OH (77), OK (18), OR (14), PA (10), RI (6), SC (31), SD (13), TN (7), TX (148), UT (16), VA (8), VI (1), VT (9), WA (8), WI (86), WY (24).

The number of LEAs voluntarily using Part B funds for CEIS in 2011-2012 is similar to the number in the previous year when 1265 LEAs provided CEIS voluntarily.

“““““““““““““““““`

*Coordinated Early Intervening Services are services provided to students in kindergarten through grade 12 (with a particular emphasis on students in kindergarten through grade three) who are not currently identified as needing special education or related services, but who need additional academic and behavioral supports to succeed in a general education environment. The IDEA (20 U.S.C. §1413(f)(2)) and its regulations (34 CFR §300.226(b)) identify the activities that may be included as: (1) professional development for teachers and other school staff to enable such personnel to deliver scientifically based academic and behavioral interventions, including scientifically based literacy instruction, and, where appropriate, instruction on the use of adaptive and instructional software; and (2) providing educational and behavioral evaluations, services, and supports, including scientifically based literacy instruction.

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Additional information about this data collection is available in this documentation (WORD).