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Witnesses warn block grants or cuts to IDEA could reduce services and accountability for students with disabilities

2400825 · February 13, 2025

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Summary

Witness testimony and member questioning focused on risks to students with disabilities if IDEA funding is reduced, converted to block grants, or if federal civil‑rights enforcement is curtailed.

Members and witnesses devoted substantial time to the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) and related civil‑rights enforcement. Robert Kim, executive director of Education Law Center and former deputy assistant secretary in the Department of Education's Office for Civil Rights, said targeted federal funding and federal enforcement are essential to protect students with disabilities and warned of harms from block‑granting or diverting those funds.

Kim described IDEA’s structure and its parts in testimony: “We have part B of the IDEA grant, which is intended to help states in preschool programs provide for special education and related services. We have part C, which really is to support early intervention for our youngest children, infants and toddlers.” He argued that converting targeted programs into block grants would reduce accountability and risk diversion of funds away from specified purposes.

Ranking Member DeLauro and other members pressed witnesses about the longstanding underfunding of IDEA. Kim agreed that Congress has not met the statutory authorized share for IDEA, saying, “We have never met that goal” referring to the authorized 40 percent federal level. Witnesses and members repeatedly cautioned that cuts or structural changes that remove federal oversight could limit parents’ ability to secure services and reduce remedies available through federal enforcement.

Witnesses also discussed practical consequences. Virginia Gentles said many parents currently must use litigation to secure services. Committee members and witnesses noted that reducing federal staff or contracts that enable monitoring and research would impair the department’s ability to evaluate programs and enforce civil rights.

No formal changes to IDEA funding or statutory language were enacted at the hearing; the session documented concerns that appropriation or structural proposals under discussion could reduce services and enforcement responsibility for vulnerable students.