IDEA Money Watch
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Government
Accountability Office (GAO)
Following the Money ...
- The GAO issued a new report Recovery Act report in May 2010: "Recovery Act: States' and
Localities' Uses of Funds and Actions Needed to Address Implementation
Challenges and Bolster Accountability"
A summary of the report and links to the full report are available here.
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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 IDEA Part B funds being provided to local school districts as part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA).
All IDEA ARRA funds must be obligated by September 30, 2011 ...just 437 days remain!
Thanks for your interest in this project!
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The Balance Sheet
Show Us the Waivers!
Our current Balance Sheet blog posting reports on several state requests for waivers to reduce state financial support to local school districts for special education. Such waivers are allowable under certain circumstances at the discretion of the Secretary.
Our partner, the Center for Law and Education (CLE), filed a request for all information pertaining to waiver requests from states with the U.S. Dept. of Education under the Freedom of Information Act on April 20th and again on May 6th. Despite several inquiries, CLE's request has yet to get a response from U.S.ED - surprising given the Obama administration's commitment to openness!
Thanks to helpful education reports and advocates, IDEA Money Watch has been able to obtain information on four states that have submitted requests for waivers to date: Kansas, Iowa, South Carolina and West Virginia. Kansas and Iowa received approval, while South Carolina and West Virginia await U.S.ED action.
Meanwhile, on June 14th U.S.ED released a statement detailing its procedures
in considering state requests for waivers.
As we stated in our blog, there is reason to expect more such requests in the future given the slow economic recovery coupled with the end of available Recovery Act funds.
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July 9th Spending Report :: State Update
States report vast differences on "obligated" funds
The U.S.ED's latest report on Recovery Act funds "obligated" by States goes from 7% to 85% -- some jurisdictions (IO, OK) report as much as 85% of available IDEA Recovery Act funds already obligated, while others (DC, WY) report minimal funds obligated to date.
Across the States, the average rate of obligation for IDEA Part B funds is 41%. All Recovery Act funds must be obligated by Sept. 30, 2011. That's just 437 days away!
One state's lack of spending - Colorado - caught the attention of the Denver paper which penned this story on July 12th. The Houston, Texas school district was also questioned about its lack of spending.
Find out where your state stands -- our state-by-state chart is here.
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Here Come the Layoffs
Despite the generous amount of additional education funds made available to local school districts through the Recovery Act, reports of cuts to jobs abound. Here are a few we've posted around our State Blogs recently:
According to Dr. Alexa Posny, Assistant Secretary for Special Education and Rehabilitative Services, as of May 2010, IDEA Recovery Act funds had saved or created:
- 57,470 jobs
(Part B 611, school-age students)
- 2,293 jobs (Part B 619, preschool program)
- 1,964 jobs (Part C, infants and toddlers)
While that is good news, it should be remembered that the IDEA Recovery Act funds were not intended to save or create jobs - in fact, that was the role of the State Fiscal Stabilization Fund, another part of the Recovery Act's education funding. IDEA Recovery Act funds were intended to be used for innovative activities that would improve results for students with disabilities.
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New Reports on Use of ARRA ED Funds
- Teaching Jobs Saved in 2009-10 But Teacher Layoffs Loom for Next School Year ...This new report from the Center on Education Policy describes the uses of ARRA education funding at the school district level and the progress of districts in implementing the main education components of ARRA. Data were drawn from responses to a survey of a nationally representative sample of districts in Spring 2010. Get the report here.
- Investing Wisely and Quickly ... This new report from the Council of Great City Schools
provides results from a survey of forty (40) Great City School districts
that received a total of $7.3 billion in IDEA, Title I, and State
Fiscal Stabilization Funds via the Recovery Act.
We've posted information about the report's findings to the appropriate state blog...start here to see what the report found.
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Maintenance of Effort and IDEA Part C
On May 24, 2010, the IDEA Infant & Toddler Coordinators Association (ITCA) issued a statement of concern regarding the future of the IDEA, Part C Program - the program that provides early intervention services to young children birth to three with disabilities and their families.
Of immediate concern is the maintenance of effort (MOE) crisis facing many states. According to the ITCA memo, the number of children receiving services under Part C continues to increase annually going from 284,170 children in FYY'04 to 342,544 in FFY'08.
To help protect these critical services, the ITCA suggests four strategies to provide temporary solutions to addressing the current MOE Part C crisis. Get the memorandum here. __________________________________________
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