IDEA Funding for Students with Disabilities Up $2.6 Billion in Biden Budget Proposal

April 19, 2021

President Biden’s 2022 federal budget proposal would increase Individuals with Disabilities Act (IDEA) funding for students with disabilities in pre-K through 12^th grade by 19% — or $2.6 billion — marking the first such increase in eight years. The IDEA requires states to provide children with special education services as a condition of receiving federal funds. It also outlines parent and student educational rights, including the right to request an IEP, be informed whenever the school wants to evaluate your child, and be kept informed of your child’s progress.

President Biden’s proposal would grow the Education Department’s budget by 41% to $103 billion and would increase by $250 million intervention services for infants and toddlers with disabilities.

Shalanda Young, director of the Office of Management and Budget, explained that the budget also invests in the Title I grant program, which would aide school districts in delivering high-quality education to students from low-income families: “This additional funding, the single largest year-over-year increase since the inception of the Title I program, would address long-standing funding disparities between under-resourced school districts and their wealthier counterparts, providing critical new support to both students and teachers.”

The proposal also includes a $1.5 billion increase for the Child Care and Development Block Grant and a $1.2 billion increase in Head Start – two programs that assist low-income families in affording early education and child care. $1 billion would be allotted to helping schools hire more counselors, nurses, and mental health professionals to ease the transition back to in-person learning.

A summary of the Discretionary Budget Request is available here; the full budget will go before Congress’s annual appropriations and budget process soon.

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