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”