Mark Dayton: “this amendment would meet a 27-year-old promise made by the Federal Government to the States and to the school districts…”

“this amendment would meet a 27-year-old promise made by the Federal Government to the States and to the school districts when IDEA was established. The promise was that the Federal Government would provide for 40 percent of the costs, the additional costs of providing special education services to every eligible schoolchild. It is one of the most important commitments the Federal Government has made for public education, especially at the elementary and secondary levels, and the money could not be better spent on behalf of leaving no child behind. Sadly, at least in the State of Minnesota--and I know, from the observations of other Senators, in many other States--the funding presently is seriously inadequate to provide all of those services. In Minnesota, some $250 million a year shortfall exists in funding for special education which results in education dollars having to be shifted from regular programs and services to special education to meet the statutory requirement of school districts to provide services to every qualified schoolchild. The result is that in Minnesota all the students are harmed by the underfunding of special education, those who are the recipients of those services, as well as those who see dollars shifted from other programs for their benefit. IDEA funding for part B for States in the current legislation before us is set at $9.858 billion.”