IDEA Full Funding Act

Key Points

• This bill creates a 10-year plan to increase federal special education funding from current levels to 40% of the average per-pupil cost by 2035, fulfilling a promise Congress made when it first passed IDEA decades ago but has never kept.
• Funding would ramp up each year starting in fiscal year 2026 at about $6.4 billion in mandatory appropriations, growing to roughly $70 billion per year by 2035 and continuing at that level permanently afterward.
• The funding formula is tied to the number of children with disabilities aged 3 through 21 who receive special education services, multiplied by the average per-pupil spending in U.S. public schools. This means funding automatically adjusts as student counts and education costs change.
• To address budget concerns, the bill requires that all new spending follow cut-as-you-go rules, meaning the money must be offset by reductions elsewhere in the federal budget.
• The bill has bipartisan support, introduced by Democrat Huffman with Republican cosponsors including Bacon, Bost, Fitzpatrick, and Stauber, along with over 70 other House members.