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.

Votes

No votes have been recorded for this legislation yet.