Fully Fund IDEA & Title I
It’s time to fulfill America’s promise of equal opportunity for all students.
During the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris signed into law the American Rescue Plan, an unprecedented package of emergency assistance measures. Beyond equipping our hospitals and first responders to continue saving lives, the measure also provided America’s public schools with a nearly $200 billion lifeline that infused our most under-resourced schools with the opportunity to be the safe, welcoming and thriving places that our students deserve.
Regrettably, these desperately needed funds expire on September 30th, and once they do, so will all the good things they afforded our students. In cities across America, our students will face the potential loss of their school nurses, librarians, guidance counselors, after-school programs and, in some cases, their schools altogether. The consequences of this loss are dire, and we need your support to prevent it.
The funding our students and their families need should not be subjected to the whims of Congress. Now is the time to fully fund Title I and IDEA and invest in our nation’s public schools.
The federal government has never paid its share of funding for public schools, and now is the time for them to step up and do that. In 1965, Congress established Title I with the goal of providing school districts an additional 40% of funding for each child from a low-income family. In 1975, IDEA was passed, which required schools to identify and evaluate students thought to have disabilities, and provide them with support, and Congress intended to fund up to 40% of the additional cost per student. To this day, the federal government has funded IDEA and Title 1 at only about 13% - far below the intended amount.
Additionally, many of our states have consistently cut funding for public schools, such that school funding in many states is still at levels lower than in 2008, after adjusting for inflation.
The Keep Our Pact Act (S. 1202/H.R. 2715) and the IDEA Full Funding Act (S. 2217/ H.R. 4519) would create a mandatory 10-year path to fully funding the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) and Title I of the Every Student Succeeds Act, critical programs for the students most in need.
