American Rescue Plan Act delivers Billions for Education, including $3 Billion for IDEA Grants to States

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.

American Rescue Plan Act Education Funding

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.

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