IDEA Money Watch
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Stimulating Reads
The American Enterprise Institute - a conservative leaning D.C. think-tank - has launched Education Stimulus Watch - a quarterly series of special reports on the
K-12 education implications of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. The first in the series posits that "enthusiastic predictions about the ARRA's contributions to K-12 education reform should be approached with skepticism." Along the way to laying out the reasons for skepticism, the report points out that "Although it is possible that some reform-minded state and local
leaders will use these funds to support valuable initiatives, tens of
billions of dollars have flowed through these programs over decades,
and history suggests that they have not always been engines of
innovations and improvement." The full report is available here. |
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Government
Accountability Office (GAO)
Following the Money ...
The GAO's bimonthly reviews, Following the Money, examine how Recovery Act funds are being spent and whether they are achieving the act's goals. Reviews focus on 16 states and the District of Columbia, which contain about 65 percent of the U.S. population and will receive about two-thirds of the grants funds available through the Recovery Act. More... |
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Greetings!
IDEA Money Watch, a project of The Advocacy Institute, is keeping track of the use of $11.3 billion in federal funds being provided to local school districts as part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA). Special education advocates across the nation are keeping watch on the use of these funds and how the academic achievement of students with disabilities is improving as a result.
The ARRA was signed into law just 5 months ago! In that short time, we have built a website, created resources and recruited state watchdogs. And, with this newsletter, we keep you up to date about what's going on with IDEA ARRA funds. The U.S. Department of Education has released the first half of IDEA Part B funds to states, so visit your state's IDEA Money Watch blog to learn about your state and share your comments.
Thanks for your interest in this project!
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The Balance Sheet
OSEP's Responsible Request
Things are looking up! This week the Office of Special Education Programs (OSEP) at the U.S. Department of
Education (USEd) requested Office of Management and Budget (OMB)
approval to add new information collection requirements to the annual
information all states must submit in order to receive their federal
funds to support state and local implementation of the IDEA.
The new information will provide critical data about how local school districts are treating the federal increase prompted by the ARRA - including data on the all-important MOE reduction allowed when federal funding increases as well as use of IDEA Part B funds for Early Intervening Services (CEIS).
IDEA Money Watch asks that you support this request by submitting comments to both OMB and USEd. Get all the details plus how and where to send your comments in the Balance Sheet.
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State Determinations Released
Some things just don't add up ...
On
June 3, 2009, the U.S. Department of Education released its
determinations for all jurisdictions on the implementation of the Individuals with
Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) for Part B and Part C for fiscal year
2007. The announcement is available here. Each state SPP and APR letters and tables are available here. The ratings for both 2006 and 2007 also appear in our State IDEA Facts look-up page. And we are in the process of adding the rating info to every state blog.
These letters and tables make for interesting reading. The reading gets even more interesting when you compare a state's rating to the ratings the state gave its LEAs...Take, for example, Indiana. The state has received three consecutive years of "Needs Intervention" ratings (OSEP has yet to use the lowest possible rating, "Needs Substantial Intervention" - though its unclear as to why). Yet Indiana has not given one single school district in the state a Needs Intervention rating... Hard to figure just how this happens! We're noting similar inconsistencies on other state blogs. |
State LEA Ratings
Half way there...
As we wrote in last month's Balance Sheet blog, What's in a Rating, the "rating" (one of four) that a state gives to each local school district became real important when the ARRA dumped a ton of extra money into IDEA.
Then we discovered that the USEd had informed states that it wasn't necessary for them to provide the rating to the public, only to the LEA...so much for transparency ...
But hey, we like a challenge! So, we set out to collect and make public the LEA ratings for every state. With the tremendous help of summer interns at the Center for Law and Education in Boston, we sent a request for public records (FOIA) to every state, asking for the ratings for its LEAs. To date, we have received and posted the LEA ratings for 25 states and the District of Columbia... so, we're about half way there. Many states have informed us that the LEA ratings are not yet complete. OK, we're waiting...
Meanwhile, a current listing of state LEA ratings is always available on the Blog Bytes section of the IDEA Money Watch homepage, so you can quickly check to see if your state is available.
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IDEA Money Watch relies on the support of dedicated parents and advocates across the country.
Please forward this message to friends and colleagues by using the "Forward email" link below. And please contact us if you would like to become part of our nationwide network!
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