Section 1411 (e)
(e) State-level activities
- For the purpose of administering this subchapter, including paragraph (3), section 1419 of this title, and the coordination of activities under this subchapter with, and providing technical assistance to, other programs that provide services to children with disabilities—
- (i) each State may reserve for each fiscal year not more than the maximum amount the State was eligible to reserve for State administration under this section for fiscal year 2004 or $800,000 (adjusted in accordance with subparagraph (B)), whichever is greater; and
- (ii) each outlying area may reserve for each fiscal year not more than 5 percent of the amount the outlying area receives under subsection (b)(1) for the fiscal year or $35,000, whichever is greater.
- For each fiscal year beginning with fiscal year 2005, the Secretary shall cumulatively adjust—
- (i) the maximum amount the State was eligible to reserve for State administration under this subchapter for fiscal year 2004; and
- (ii) $800,000,
- Prior to expenditure of funds under this paragraph, the State shall certify to the Secretary that the arrangements to establish responsibility for services pursuant to section 1412(a)(12)(A) of this title are current.
- Funds reserved under subparagraph (A) may be used for the administration of subchapter III, if the State educational agency is the lead agency for the State under such subchapter.
- Except as provided in clause (iii), for the purpose of carrying out State-level activities, each State may reserve for each of the fiscal years 2005 and 2006 not more than 10 percent from the amount of the State’s allocation under subsection (d) for each of the fiscal years 2005 and 2006, respectively. For fiscal year 2007 and each subsequent fiscal year, the State may reserve the maximum amount the State was eligible to reserve under the preceding sentence for fiscal year 2006 (cumulatively adjusted by the rate of inflation as measured by the percentage increase, if any, from the preceding fiscal year in the Consumer Price Index For All Urban Consumers, published by the Bureau of Labor Statistics of the Department of Labor).
- Notwithstanding clause (i) and except as provided in clause (iii), in the case of a State for which the maximum amount reserved for State administration is not greater than $850,000, the State may reserve for the purpose of carrying out State-level activities for each of the fiscal years 2005 and 2006, not more than 10.5 percent from the amount of the State’s allocation under subsection (d) for each of the fiscal years 2005 and 2006, respectively. For fiscal year 2007 and each subsequent fiscal year, such State may reserve the maximum amount the State was eligible to reserve under the preceding sentence for fiscal year 2006 (cumulatively adjusted by the rate of inflation as measured by the percentage increase, if any, from the preceding fiscal year in the Consumer Price Index For All Urban Consumers, published by the Bureau of Labor Statistics of the Department of Labor).
- If a State does not reserve funds under paragraph (3) for a fiscal year, then—
- (I) in the case of a State that is not described in clause (ii), for fiscal year 2005 or 2006, clause (i) shall be applied by substituting “9.0 percent” for “10 percent”; and
- (II) in the case of a State that is described in clause (ii), for fiscal year 2005 or 2006, clause (ii) shall be applied by substituting “9.5 percent” for “10.5 percent”.
- Funds reserved under subparagraph (A) shall be used to carry out the following activities:
- (i) For monitoring, enforcement, and complaint investigation.
- (ii) To establish and implement the mediation process required by section 1415(e) of this title, including providing for the cost of mediators and support personnel.
- Funds reserved under subparagraph (A) may be used to carry out the following activities:
- (i) For support and direct services, including technical assistance, personnel preparation, and professional development and training.
- (ii) To support paperwork reduction activities, including expanding the use of technology in the IEP process.
- (iii) To assist local educational agencies in providing positive behavioral interventions and supports and appropriate mental health services for children with disabilities.
- (iv) To improve the use of technology in the classroom by children with disabilities to enhance learning.
- (v) To support the use of technology, including technology with universal design principles and assistive technology devices, to maximize accessibility to the general education curriculum for children with disabilities.
- (vi) Development and implementation of transition programs, including coordination of services with agencies involved in supporting the transition of children with disabilities to postsecondary activities.
- (vii) To assist local educational agencies in meeting personnel shortages.
- (viii) To support capacity building activities and improve the delivery of services by local educational agencies to improve results for children with disabilities.
- (ix) Alternative programming for children with disabilities who have been expelled from school, and services for children with disabilities in correctional facilities, children enrolled in State-operated or State-supported schools, and children with disabilities in charter schools.
- (x) To support the development and provision of appropriate accommodations for children with disabilities, or the development and provision of alternate assessments that are valid and reliable for assessing the performance of children with disabilities, in accordance with sections 6311(b) and 6361 of this title.
- (xi) To provide technical assistance to schools and local educational agencies, and direct services, including direct student services described in section 6303b(c)(3) of this title to children with disabilities, to schools or local educational agencies implementing comprehensive support and improvement activities or targeted support and improvement activities under section 6311(d) of this title on the basis of consistent underperformance of the disaggregated subgroup of children with disabilities, including providing professional development to special and regular education teachers, who teach children with disabilities, based on scientifically based research to improve educational instruction, in order to improve academic achievement based on the challenging academic standards described in section 6311(b)(1) of this title.
- For the purpose of assisting local educational agencies (including a charter school that is a local educational agency or a consortium of local educational agencies) in addressing the needs of high need children with disabilities, each State shall have the option to reserve for each fiscal year 10 percent of the amount of funds the State reserves for State-level activities under paragraph (2)(A)—
- (I) to establish and make disbursements from the high cost fund to local educational agencies in accordance with this paragraph during the first and succeeding fiscal years of the high cost fund; and
- (II) to support innovative and effective ways of cost sharing by the State, by a local educational agency, or among a consortium of local educational agencies, as determined by the State in coordination with representatives from local educational agencies, subject to subparagraph (B)(ii).
- In this paragraph the term “local educational agency” includes a charter school that is a local educational agency, or a consortium of local educational agencies.
- A State shall not use any of the funds the State reserves pursuant to subparagraph (A)(i), but may use the funds the State reserves under paragraph (1), to establish and support the high cost fund.
- A State shall not use more than 5 percent of the funds the State reserves pursuant to subparagraph (A)(i) for each fiscal year to support innovative and effective ways of cost sharing among consortia of local educational agencies.
- The State educational agency shall establish the State’s definition of a high need child with a disability, which definition shall be developed in consultation with local educational agencies.
- The State educational agency shall develop, not later than 90 days after the State reserves funds under this paragraph, annually review, and amend as necessary, a State plan for the high cost fund. Such State plan shall—
- (I) establish, in coordination with representatives from local educational agencies, a definition of a high need child with a disability that, at a minimum—
- (aa) addresses the financial impact a high need child with a disability has on the budget of the child’s local educational agency; and
- (bb) ensures that the cost of the high need child with a disability is greater than 3 times the average per pupil expenditure (as defined in section 7801 of this title) in that State;
- (II) establish eligibility criteria for the participation of a local educational agency that, at a minimum, takes into account the number and percentage of high need children with disabilities served by a local educational agency;
- (III) develop a funding mechanism that provides distributions each fiscal year to local educational agencies that meet the criteria developed by the State under subclause (II); and
- (IV) establish an annual schedule by which the State educational agency shall make its distributions from the high cost fund each fiscal year.
- The State shall make its final State plan publicly available not less than 30 days before the beginning of the school year, including dissemination of such information on the State website.
- Each State educational agency shall make all annual disbursements from the high cost fund established under subparagraph (A)(i) in accordance with the State plan published pursuant to subparagraph (C).
- Each State educational agency shall make annual disbursements to eligible local educational agencies in accordance with its State plan under subparagraph (C)(ii).
- The costs associated with educating a high need child with a disability under subparagraph (C)(i) are only those costs associated with providing direct special education and related services to such child that are identified in such child’s IEP.
- The disbursements under subparagraph (D) shall not support legal fees, court costs, or other costs associated with a cause of action brought on behalf of a child with a disability to ensure a free appropriate public education for such child.
- Nothing in this paragraph shall be construed—
- (i) to limit or condition the right of a child with a disability who is assisted under this subchapter to receive a free appropriate public education pursuant to section 1412(a)(1) of this title in the least restrictive environment pursuant to section 1412(a)(5) of this title; or
- (ii) to authorize a State educational agency or local educational agency to establish a limit on what may be spent on the education of a child with a disability.
- Notwithstanding the provisions of subparagraphs (A) through (F), a State may use funds reserved pursuant to this paragraph for implementing a placement neutral cost sharing and reimbursement program of high need, low incidence, catastrophic, or extraordinary aid to local educational agencies that provides services to high need students based on eligibility criteria for such programs that were created not later than January 1, 2004, and are currently in operation, if such program serves children that meet the requirement of the definition of a high need child with a disability as described in subparagraph (C)(ii)(I).
- Disbursements provided under this paragraph shall not be used to pay costs that otherwise would be reimbursed as medical assistance for a child with a disability under the State medicaid program under title XIX of the Social Security Act [42 U.S.C. 1396 et seq.].
- Funds reserved under subparagraph (A) in any fiscal year but not expended in that fiscal year pursuant to subparagraph (D) shall be allocated to local educational agencies for the succeeding fiscal year in the same manner as funds are allocated to local educational agencies under subsection (f) for the succeeding fiscal year.
- A State may use funds the State reserves under paragraphs (1) and (2) without regard to—
- (A) the prohibition on commingling of funds in section 1412(a)(17)(B) of this title; and
- (B) the prohibition on supplanting other funds in section 1412(a)(17)(C) of this title.
- As part of the information required to be submitted to the Secretary under section 1412 of this title, each State shall annually describe how amounts under this section—
- (A) will be used to meet the requirements of this chapter; and
- (B) will be allocated among the activities described in this section to meet State priorities based on input from local educational agencies.
- A State may use funds the State reserves under paragraph (1)(A) as a result of inflationary increases under paragraph (1)(B) to carry out activities authorized under clause (i), (iii), (vii), or (viii) of paragraph (2)(C).
- Any State eligible to receive a grant under section 1419 of this title may use funds made available under paragraph (1)(A), subsection (f)(3), or section 1419(f)(5) of this title to develop and implement a State policy jointly with the lead agency under subchapter III and the State educational agency to provide early intervention services (which shall include an educational component that promotes school readiness and incorporates preliteracy, language, and numeracy skills) in accordance with subchapter III to children with disabilities who are eligible for services under section 1419 of this title and who previously received services under subchapter III until such children enter, or are eligible under State law to enter, kindergarten, or elementary school as appropriate.
(1) State administration
(A) In general
(B) Cumulative annual adjustments
by the rate of inflation as measured by the percentage increase, if any, from the preceding fiscal year in the Consumer Price Index For All Urban Consumers, published by the Bureau of Labor Statistics of the Department of Labor.
(C) Certification
(D) Subchapter III
(2) Other State-level activities
(A) State-level activities
(i) In general
(ii) Small State adjustment
(iii) Exception
(B) Required activities
(C) Authorized activities
(3) Local educational agency risk pool
(A) In general
(i) Reservation of funds
(ii) Definition of local educational agency
(B) Limitation on uses of funds
(i) Establishment of high cost fund
(ii) Innovative and effective cost sharing
(C) State plan for high cost fund
(i) Definition
(ii) State plan
(iii) Public availability
(D) Disbursements from the high cost fund
(i) In general
(ii) Use of disbursements
(iii) Appropriate costs
(E) Legal fees
(F) Assurance of a free appropriate public education
(G) Special rule for risk pool and high need assistance programs in effect as of January 1, 2004
(H) Medicaid services not affected
(I) Remaining funds
(4) Inapplicability of certain prohibitions
(5) Report on use of funds
(6) Special rule for increased funds
(7) Flexibility in using funds for subchapter III
Severe Discrepancy
Last modified on November 7, 2019