IDEA
The Short Version....
Why does this matter?
Federal funding of special education programs is lacking, through only partial funding of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, or IDEA, program. Currently there is a ten year plan to make IDEA fully funded and in the meantime public schools will struggle with their budgets. All students benefit from fully funded programs in our schools - not just the one group the funds are marked for. Ten years is too long to wait for fair funding.
Want to help make positive change?
Copy and paste this message, or edit with your own ideas, address it appropriately (i.e. to The Honorable insert Senator's name), sign your name, and email to our representatives in government:
I am a resident of Little Silver, NJ. Our public school district serves students in grades Kindergarten through 8th grade, and for the 2021-22 school year just over 16% of our budget will service special education needs.
The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) was signed into law in 1975 in order to guarantee a free and appropriate education for all students. To achieve this, supports and services are required to allow children with disabilities to have the same opportunities in education as their non disabled peers. The federal government promised to fully fund IDEA at 40% of district costs with the rest of the funds required to meet the needs of disabled children to come from the state. Currently, after almost 50 years of being signed into law, IDEA is only funded at around 13% by the federal government.
Special education costs are rising. Public schools face financial challenges with regards to aging infrastructure, rising transportation costs, increasing costs of benefits and salary needs, and unfunded state mandates. When special education budgets are not fully funded, every area of a budget must flex to meet the needs of those students. This is a very stressful situation for a public school, and unfair to every single student it services.
I ask you to support full funding of IDEA, faster than the ten year schedule the task has been put on. Public schools and their special education students need your support now. Your support of full funding of IDEA will provide schools with the funds they need for their students requiring the most specialized education and services, so they may focus the rest of their funds where needed to be successful.
Thank you for your time and consideration.
Sign your name here.
Email to The Honorable Declan O'Scanlon: senoscanlon@njleg.org
Email to The Honorable Cory Booker: https://www.booker.senate.gov/contact/write-to-cory
Email to The Honorable Bob Menendez: https://www.menendez.senate.gov/contact/email
All the Information:
The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), formerly known as the Education for All Handicapped Children Act, was signed into law on November 29, 1975. This law states that children with disabilities are guaranteed a free and appropriate education (FAPE). In order to give children access to FAPE, supports and services are required to allow children with disabilities to have the same opportunities in education as their non-disabled peers. The federal government promised to fully fund IDEA at 40% of district costs with the rest of the funds required to meet the needs of disabled children to come from the state. Currently, after almost 50 years of being signed into law, IDEA is only funded at around 13% by the federal government. The full funding of IDEA by the federal government needs to happen now and we need to advocate for change.
Our goal is to advocate on all levels for our schools to be fairly funded. Advocating for the full funding of IDEA is one way we can get the needs of all of the children in Little Silver Schools met at the high level we have come expect. If you want to learn more about IDEA, click the links below.
The latest...
In a bipartisan agreement, Murphy and state legislators agreed to raise the state's share of "extraordinary" special-education costs to 90%, from 55%. Supporters say the goal is to raise that to 100% in the coming years. The total state bill is expected to be $400 million for the fiscal year that started July 1. Little Silver realized an increase in funds!