From the [Manchester, NH] Union Leader:

Five school districts in New Hampshire have submitted invoices to the U.S. Department of Education seeking payment for more than $23 million in unfunded special education expenses since 1999.

When the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) was passed in 1975, it included a pledge by Congress to shoulder 40 percent of the cost of educating children with disabilities. Yet the federal contribution remains at about 17 percent of the cost, according to a recent memo from the American Association of School Administrators.

… A letter to U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan from the Deerfield School Board reads, “The long and well-documented history of the unpaid federal share to fund special education has strapped districts across the country, and has forced school communities everywhere to reallocate monies from regular education to fund programs and staff in special education.”

Earlier post here.

This entry was posted on Thursday, May 21st, 2009 at 10:51 am and is filed under IDEA, NOT2BEMISSED, advocacy, budget, education, special education. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.