2022 Midterm Election

Why Won’t This Congressman Support Special Education Funding?

HR 5984 would finally give promised support to our most vulnerable students and has 135 co-sponsors. Mike Garcia (CA-27) is not one of them.

“This bill provides permanent, mandatory funding for the grant program that assists states and outlying areas in providing special education and related services to children with disabilities.”

- IDEA Full Funding Act

The federal government has short-changed special education for decades. When legislation was passed in 1975, our most vulnerable students were finally guaranteed the right to a free appropriate public education. Since the newly required services would increase costs to local school districts, the new law also permitted 40% of the costs associated with special education to be covered by federal grants. Unfortunately, this funding level was never achieved. In 2019 the shortfall amounted to $3.2 billion annually just for the state of California.

The failure of the feds to uphold their commitment creates an antagonistic relationship between school districts and those representing nearly 7 million students with disabilities. Instead of collaborating with parents, school officials are forced…