CEC Policy Insider

Action Alert: The Louder Our Voice, The Stronger Our Impact

Last week, CEC members wrote to Congress seeking a one-time infusion of emergency funds for the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) to directly target and support the needs of states, school districts, and educators.

Despite the many pressing stressors, educators across the country are committed to serving all students during the COVID-19 crisis, including students with disabilities. It is imperative that Congress provide more resources to support school personnel in providing remote, online, and/or tele-education to students with exceptionalities.

CEC members joined together, writing roughly 2,600 letters to Congress.

Action Alert

The louder our voice, the stronger our impact. If you wrote to Congress using our action alert platform last week, thank you. If not, we hope you will join us in making some noise! It is a simple and impactful way to influence the field.

Please follow the simple prompts on CEC’s online platform to contact your Members of Congress today and add your voice in support of IDEA funding, go here.

CEC encourages you to share this alert with your friends and on social media. You do not need to be a CEC member to join us in action.

Coronavirus Stimulus Package Includes $30 Billion in Emergency Education Funding

On Friday night, President Trump signed the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act into law. This is the third bill providing emergency response funding for states due to the COVID-19 pandemic and is the largest to date. The CARES Act includes funding for the healthcare sector, certain business industries, help for small business and non-profit organizations, unemployment protections, and individual checks to every eligible household.

The $2 trillion relief package includes $30 billion in education funding, in the form of an Education Stabilization Fund. The funding is flexible and will be made quickly available. It is designed to go directly to states, local school districts, and institutions of higher education to help schools, students, teachers, and families with immediate needs related to coronavirus.

The breakdown of these funds is as follows:

Elementary and Secondary Education: $13.5 billion through the existing Title I formula, to go directly to states. The flexible funding can be used to:

• Help schools respond to coronavirus and related school closures
• Meet the immediate needs of students and teachers
• Improve the use of education technology and support distance education
• Plan and implement activities related to summer learning and supplemental after-school programs, including providing classroom instruction or online learning during the summer months
• Address the needs of low-income students, students with disabilities, English learners, migrant students, students experiencing homelessness, and children in foster care
• Provide mental health services and support
• Purchase technology
• Other activities necessary to maintain the operation of and continuity of services and continuing to employ existing staff of the local educational agency

All schools, including charter schools will receive any allocation of funds through their normal Title I allocation method. Non-public schools, including their students and teachers, per the Elementary and Secondary Education Act’s existing requirements, receive equitable services as determined in consultation with representatives of non-public schools. Although funds can be used to serve students with exceptionalities, there is no funding specifically dedicated to doing so.

Governor’s Emergency Education Relief Fund: $3 billion in flexible formula funding to be allocated by states based on the needs of a state’s elementary and secondary schools and institutions of higher education. The funds are to be used for emergency support for LEAs or institutions of higher education most impacted by coronavirus.

Institutions of higher education: $14.250 billion in flexible funding to defray lost revenue, technology costs associated with a transition to distance education and grants to students for food, housing, course materials, technology, healthcare, and childcare. 

Loan Forgiveness: The bill includes a number of provisions to relax or clarify current regulations on for student borrowers.

• Pell Grant recipients are not required to repay the federal government if they had to leave school because it closed due to the crisis and disrupted academic terms do not count toward the lifetime limit on receiving Pell. Canceled classes also do not count against a student’s satisfactory academic progress calculation.
• Direct Loan program recipients are provided with a six-month moratorium on payments, interest accrual, and collection action.
• Teacher Loan Forgiveness requirements would be waived for the duration of interrupted services during the emergency if borrowers resume their teaching service and complete 5 years of consecutive qualifying teaching service.

Report for Additional Waiver Authority Required: The Secretary of Education is directed to report to Congress in 30 days with any recommendations on additional waiver authority for ‘limited flexibility’ determined to be necessary under IDEA, the Rehabilitation Act (Section 504), ESEA, and the Carl D. Perkins Act.

While the ink has yet to fully dry on the CARES Act, Congress is already discussing a potential fourth COVID-19 bill. Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) has stated that the next response bill must include funding to support human services and infrastructure, including broadband. That bill could be negotiated in the coming weeks.

To view the CARES Act, go here.

Action Alert: Support Emergency IDEA Funding

CEC invites you to write to your Members of Congress to provide a one-time infusion of emergency funds for the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) in a stimulus bill in order to directly target and support the need of states, school districts, and educators.

Despite the many pressing stressors, educators across the country are committed to serving all students during the COVID-19 crisis, including students with disabilities. It is imperative that Congress provide more resources to support school personnel in providing remote, online, and/or tele-education to students with exceptionalities.

Please follow the prompts on CEC’s Legislative Action Center to contact your Members of Congress today.

To add your voice in support of IDEA funding, go here.

As this crisis develops, we will continue to engage and keep you updated.

Department of Education Releases Annual IDEA Report to Congress

On Tuesday, the U.S. Department of Education issued the 41st Annual Report to Congress on the Implementation of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA).

Since its enactment, IDEA has required an annual report to inform Congress and the public about implementation of the law in four main domains:

1. providing a free and appropriate public education (FAPE) for students with disabilities and early intervention for infants and toddlers,
2. ensuring that the rights of students with disabilities and their parents are upheld,
3. assisting states and localities to provide IDEA services to all students with disabilities, and
4. assessing the effectiveness of efforts to provide IDEA services.

Key findings [from 2017 state-reported data] include:

• 2 percent of special education teachers providing special education and related services for students aged 3 through 5 were highly qualified.
• 9 percent of special education teachers providing special education and related services for students aged 6 through 21 under IDEA Part B were highly qualified.
• 9 percent of students ages 6 through 21 served under IDEA Part B were educated in the regular classroom for at least some portion of the school day.

To view the report, go here.

Analysis Shows Federal Share of IDEA Costs Will Decline in FY 2020

Despite the $400 million increase in Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) Part B grants to states provided by Congress for Fiscal Year 2020, a comparison of the cost of educating students with disabilities shows the federal share of the cost of IDEA services went down this fiscal year.

According to the Congressional Research Services (CRS), a non-partisan arm of the Library of Congress which provides information to Congress, the federal share of expenditures for IDEA services in FY 2019 was 14.3 percent. A U.S. Department of Education estimate for expenditures for FY 2020, sent to the Committee for Education Funding, of which CEC is a member, shows that the federal share has decreased to 13 percent.

The change can be attributed to the number of students in need of special education services and the intensity of those services. Those respective rises, coupled with Congress failing to keep pace, will result in schools turning to their state and local budgets to make up for the difference. The analysis underscores the importance of advocating for increased funding for IDEA.

To view the CRS report, go here.