Minnesota Rep. John Kline writes in the Minneapolis Star Tribune that Congress should not create costly new programs until it fully funds the programs for students with disabilities that were authorized under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act.

Even with this year’s one-time boost in stimulus funding, Kline says, Congress has not come close to fulfilling its 1975 promise to fund 40 percent of the excess cost of special education and related services. An excerpt:

While fully funding the federal share of IDEA will not provide an endless pot of gold, it will free up hundreds of thousands of dollars that could be dedicated to the most pressing needs in individual schools.

Kline is the senior Republican member of the House Education and Labor Committee.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, September 30th, 2009 at 8:49 pm and is filed under IDEA, funding, politics. 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.