Skip to main content
Add as a preferred source on Google

Federal Funding for Students with Disabilities

  • 06/27/14

The Evolution of Federal Special Education Finance in the U.S.

In Federal Funding for Students with Disabilities: The Evolution of Federal Special Education Finance in the U.S., New America provides a history of special education financing in the U.S., and highlights the latest shift in the mission of the IDEA funding formula: a change from providing dollars directly based on the number of special education students, to ensuring the federal government provides sufficient resources for those students without encouraging the over-identification of children as requiring special education--mainly by cutting out financial incentives to do so. The report describes in detail the twists and turns of the decade-old federal IDEA formula still in use today, including several politically driven provisions that distort IDEA allocations on behalf of some states at the cost of funding for children in other states.

Furthermore, an analysis of New America’s Federal Education Budget Project data on federal special education allocations by school district revealed that the formula used to distribute federal IDEA dollars results in uneven per-child funding across school districts and states. Smaller districts, as well as districts within the smallest states, have higher median per-child spending. Similarly, districts that have seen declining enrollment since the base year of funding, which hasn’t been updated in well over a decade, receive higher average per-child IDEA allocations.

The first-of-its-kind analysis of school district-level special education grant allocations provides critical and previously unseen insights into the on-the-ground effects of lawmakers’ decisions in structuring the IDEA formula and in postponing its reconsideration. Furthermore, the report will be an important resource to policymakers, researchers, and advocates as Congress faces an upcoming debate over federal funding formulas in the IDEA reauthorization.

To read the full report, click here. For publicly available data on district-level allocations, download the file or look up your district at New America’s Federal Education Budget Project database. To view the full data files used in this analysis, download the folder.

Featured

  • Photo credit - Chuck Coates

    Florida District Modernizes Central Energy Plants at Two High Schools

    Flagler Schools, a public school district in Flagler County, Fla., recently partnered with Matern Professional Engineering to modernize the central energy plants at two of its high schools, according to a news release. The project is part of a larger, district-wide effort to reduce energy costs and operational expenses.

  • South Carolina District Starts Construction on $50M Middle School Renovation

    The Aiken County Public School District in North Augusta, S.C., recently held a groundbreaking ceremony for the $50-million renovation and expansion of North Augusta Middle School, according to a news release. The project’s funding comes from the 2024 renewal of a one-cent sales tax approved by local voters.

  • Stanford Completes Construction on Graduate School of Education Facility

    Stanford University in Stanford, Calif., recently announced the end of construction on a new home for its Graduate School of Education, according to a news release. The university partnered with McCarthy Building Companies on the 160,000-square-foot project, which involved two major renovations and one new construction effort.

  • Harvard Announces Replacement Facility for Native American Program

    Harvard University in Cambridge, Mass., recently announced that construction will begin this spring on a new home for its Native American Program, according to university news. The 6,500-square-foot, all-electric building will stand three stories and serve as the central hub for the Harvard University Native American Program (HUNAP).