Bill Would Force U.S. to Cover 40% of Special Education

A congressman unveiled legislation Monday that would require the federal government to fulfill a 25-year-old pledge to pay its share for special education.

Congress promised in 1975 to pay 40% of the costs of educating children with disabilities, but it has never allocated funds to cover more than 13% of the tab.

The shortage has forced school districts to raid their general education coffers and prompted local officials to complain that they cannot properly meet the needs of special education students without shortchanging those in regular classrooms.

In California, school districts will take about $1.3 billion from general education this year to cover the costs of educating 651,000 students with special needs.

“I think it’s about time the federal government made good on its commitment to help . . . offset the costs of fulfilling the mandate of educating children with disabilities,” Rep. Matthew G. Martinez (D-Monterey Park) said at a news conference at Farmdale Elementary School in El Sereno.

Martinez’s legislation, introduced last week, would require Congress to increase special education funding by $2 billion a year until it reaches the 40% goal by 2010. The extra money would come from the federal budget surplus, he said.

Congress has approved minor increases in the funding over the years, but Martinez’s bill is believed to be the first attempt to raise the federal investment to the full 40% level--about $15.8 billion, said Becky Campoverde, communications director for the House Committee on Education and the Work Force.

The increase would mean an additional $116 million for the Los Angeles Unified School District, Martinez said.

Los Angeles Unified tapped about $330 million in general education funds last year to make up for its special education shortfall--enough money to pay for 6,000 teachers for a year, one teachers union official said.

The district spends nearly $900 million a year to serve 81,000 special education students.