IDEA Money Watch
Vol. 3, Number 4           June 2011
In This Issue
State-by-State Spending Update
MOE Reduction Data
ED Denies Waivers to South Carolina
Response to AEI Paper on Special Ed Spending
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      Funding Cliff stories

from around the country:

 
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Office of Inspector General

State Audit   Reports     

 

 

The Office of Inspector General (OIG) at the U.S. Department of Education is charged with the responsibility of monitoring use of federal education funds provided by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA).    

 

The OIG has issued these reports on use of ARRA funds during 2010-2011:   

 

Resources

EdMoney - website developed by the Education Writers Association - provides district-level Recovery Act funding information, links to local news coverage and more. Check it out.


LearningPort  - a website developed by the Office of Special Education Programs at U.S.ED - builds on OSEP's guidance document, American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009: Using ARRA Funds Provided Through Part B of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) to Drive School Reform and Improvement, by providing easy access to a wealth of professional development resources.   

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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 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 98 days remain!

 Thanks for your interest in this project!

The Advocacy Institute
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June Spending Report :: State-by-State Update

The U.S.ED's latest report on IDEA Part B Recovery Act funds "obligated" by states ranges from a low of 55% in Utah to a high of 100% in Iowa and Kansas as of June 17, 2011. Other slow spending states include Wyoming at 57% and Nebraska at 59%. 

 

Across all states, the average rate of obligation for IDEA Part B funds now stands at 81%. All Recovery Act funds must be obligated by Sept. 30, 2011. That's just 4 months away! 

Find out where your state stands >> Go to our state-by-state chart.
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Maintenance of Effort data submission

 

We've been working on obtaining the data that all states were required to submit to the Office of Special Education Programs (OSEP) at the U.S. Dept. of Education regarding  school district (LEA) Maintenance of Effort (MOE) reductions and use of IDEA federal funds for Coordinated Early Intervening Services (CEIS) in the 2009 fiscal year. Details of the information to be submitted to OSEP are available here.

This data collection was requested because of the significant increase in federal IDEA funds that districts received as a result of the Recovery Act. As we have reported, the increase in IDEA federal funds in 2009 gave eligible LEAs an opportunity to significantly reduce their local spending on special education. This reduction, if exercised, would result in little if any real increase to special education spending over time, as we have demonstrated in this short presentation.  


We have been informed by OSEP that it will release state data on a rolling basis as soon as the verification process is completed. We hope to begin receiving data within the month.  

 

Meanwhile, we have obtained data directly from seven states and made it available on IDEA Money Watch. The states are AZ, CT, FL, IA, MA, MN, VA.  

 

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ED Denies MOE Waivers to South Carolina


After a lengthy process, the US ED this month responded to the request made by South Carolina for a waiver to reduce its state financial aid to local school districts for special education for three consecutive years: 2009, 2010, and 2011.

ED granted a waiver for 2009 but denied waivers for 2010 and 2011. As a consequence, ED may withhold federal funds to SC in the amount equal to the reduction in state aid for each year - amounting to $111 million.

Read the details and ED's response letter here.  

 

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IDEA Money Watch responds to Special Education Spending Report 

Earlier this month the American Enterprise Institute (AIE) released "Something Has Got to Change: Rethinking Special Education -- a paper that examines special education spending through the lens of a former district superintendent, Nathan Levenson.

While Levenson makes some good points, his report is replete with misinformation. We've provided a lengthy response to help inform readers. Read it here...
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