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OverviewThe Administration is committed to providing Americans with disabilities the educational opportunities they need to succeed, increasing their employment rate, and supporting independent, community-based living. The 2010 request funds a wide range of programs that can improve educational, employment, and independent living outcomes for people with disabilities.
The $12.6 billion request for Special Education programs focuses on improving educational and early intervention outcomes for children with disabilities. For the Grants to States program, the Administration is requesting $11.5 billion, level with the fiscal year 2009 appropriation, to maintain the Federal contribution toward meeting the excess cost of special education at about 17 percent of the national average per pupil expenditure (APPE), and provide an estimated average of $1,713 per student for about 6.7 million children ages 3 through 21. Funding for the Grants for Infants and Families and Preschool Grants programs also would be maintained at their 2009 levels.
The $252.8 million request for Special Education National Activities would maintain level funding for a variety of technical assistance, dissemination, training, and other activities that assist States, local educational agencies, parents, and others in improving results for children with disabilities. Funding for Special Olympics programs also would be maintained at the 2009 level.
For Rehabilitation Services and Disability Research, the Budget provides $3.5 billion to support comprehensive and coordinated vocational rehabilitation and independent living services for individuals with disabilities through research, training, demonstration, technical assistance, evaluation, and direct service programs. The request includes $3.1 billion for Vocational Rehabilitation (VR) State Grants, an increase of $110.1 million, to help over 200,000 individuals with disabilities obtain or maintain employment.
Other proposed increases include $3 million for the National Institute on Disability and Rehabilitation Research to support demonstration projects that implement promising models of postsecondary education programs for students with intellectual disabilities and evaluate the outcomes associated with these models, and $3 million for the Centers for Independent Living program to support the continuation of services that empower individuals with disabilities to live independently and participate fully in all aspects of their communities.
All other programs in the Rehabilitation account would be maintained at the 2009 level, except for some small adjustments to Evaluation and Program Improvement, as well as a decrease in the Demonstration and Training program that reflects the elimination of earmarked projects.
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Special Education State Grants
Grants to States
| 2008 | 2009 | 2010 Request |
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|---|---|---|---|
| B.A. in millions | $10,947.5 | $11,505.2 | $11,505.2 |
| Estimated average Federal share per child |
$1,609 | $1,713 | $1,713 |
The Grants to States program, which is authorized under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), makes formula grants that help States pay the additional costs of providing special education and related services to children with disabilities aged 3 through 21 years. The request would maintain program spending at the 2009 level. That would maintain the Federal contribution toward meeting the excess cost of special education at about 17 percent of the national average per pupil expenditure, and provide a per-child average of $1,713 for an estimated 6,718,000 children with disabilities.
The Administration believes that the request level is appropriate in view of the $11.3 billion provided for Part B Grants to States under the Recovery Act. This unprecedented increase, much of which will be available for use by LEAs in fiscal year 2010 (for the 2010-11 school year), means that the effective request for 2010 is billions of dollars higher than the 2009 level.
Under IDEA, States are required to provide a free appropriate public education to all children with disabilities. Services are provided in accordance with individualized education programs that are developed by teams that include the child's parents; a special educator; a representative of the local educational agency; a regular educator, if appropriate; and others. In addition, services must be provided—to the maximum extent appropriate—in the least restrictive environment, which for most children means in classes with children who are not disabled. Under IDEA, children with disabilities must be included in general State and district-wide assessments, including the assessments required under ESEA. States must provide appropriate accommodations, where necessary, to enable children with disabilities to participate in these assessments, or alternate assessments for those children who cannot participate in regular assessments.
The request also includes $15.0 million that would be reserved for technical assistance to improve the capacity of States to meet the data collection requirements of the IDEA.
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| 2008 | 2009 | 2010 Request |
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|---|---|---|---|
| B.A. in millions | $374.1 | $374.1 | $374.1 |
This program provides formula grants to help States make a free appropriate public education available to all children with disabilities ages 3 through 5. The program supplements funds provided under the Grants to States program and helps to ensure that young children with disabilities are ready to learn when they enter school. The request would provide an estimated $506 per child for approximately 739,070 children.
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Grants for Infants and Families
| 2008 | 2009 | 2010 Request |
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|---|---|---|---|
| B.A. in millions | $435.7 | $439.4 | $439.4 |
This program makes formula grants to help States implement statewide systems of early intervention services for all eligible children with disabilities from birth through age 2 and their families. The Grants for Infants and Families program helps State and local agencies identify and serve children with disabilities early in life when interventions can be most effective in improving educational outcomes. The budget request will provide support to 57 State agencies serving approximately 354,900 infants and toddlers with disabilities and their families.
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Special Education National Activities
Special Education National Activities programs support State efforts to improve early intervention and educational results for children with disabilities. The total request for National Activities is $252.8 million.
| 2008 | 2009 | 2010 Request |
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|---|---|---|---|
| B.A. in millions | $22.6 | $48.0 | $48.0 |
This program provides competitive grants to help States reform and enhance their systems for personnel preparation and professional development in the areas of early intervention, educational, and transition services. The request would support continuation awards to 38 States and new awards to 8 States aimed at improving results for children through the delivery of high quality instruction and the recruitment and retention of highly qualified personnel.
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Technical Assistance and Dissemination
| 2008 | 2009 | 2010 Request |
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|---|---|---|---|
| B.A. in millions | $48.0 | $48.5 | $48.5 |
This program funds competitive grants for technical assistance and dissemination of materials based on knowledge gained through research and practice. This request is in addition to the separate $15.0 million to be set aside under the Grants to States program to help States meet data collection requirements.
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| 2008 | 2009 | 2010 Request |
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|---|---|---|---|
| B.A. in millions | $88.2 | $90.7 | $90.7 |
This program helps ensure that there are adequate numbers of personnel with the skills and knowledge necessary to help children with disabilities succeed educationally. Program activities focus both on meeting the demand for personnel to serve children with disabilities and improving the qualifications of these personnel, with particular emphasis on incorporating knowledge gained from research and practice into training programs. The Department is required to support training for leadership personnel and personnel who work with children with low-incidence disabilities, at least one activity in the broadly defined area of personnel development, and enhanced support for beginning special educators. At the request level, $21.6 million would be available for new competitive grants and $68.5 million for continuation awards.
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| 2008 | 2009 | 2010 Request |
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|---|---|---|---|
| B.A. in millions | $26.5 | $27.0 | $27.0 |
Parent Information Centers provide parents with the training and information they need to work with professionals in meeting the early intervention and special education needs of their children with disabilities. The request would support new competitive grants and continuation awards for about 88 centers as well as awards to provide technical assistance to the centers.
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| 2008 | 2009 | 2010 Request |
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|---|---|---|---|
| B.A. in millions | $39.3 | $38.6 | $38.6 |
This program makes competitive awards for research, development, and other activities that promote the use of technology, including universal design features, in providing special education and early intervention services. Funds also support media-related activities, such as providing video description and captioning of films and television appropriate for use in classrooms for individuals with visual and hearing impairments and increasing the availability of textbooks in accessible formats for individuals with visual impairments and other print disabilities. Funding used for earmarked projects in 2009 would be used for new competitive grants in 2010.
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Special Olympics Education Programs
| 2008 | 2009 | 2010 Request |
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|---|---|---|---|
| B.A. in millions | $11.8 | $8.1 | $8.1 |
This program supports the expansion of Special Olympics and the design and implementation of Special Olympics education programs. The request includes $4.4 million to support Project UNIFY, an education program designed to develop teamwork skills and increase awareness and social acceptance of individuals with intellectual disabilities.
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Rehabilitation Services and Disability Research
Vocational Rehabilitation (VR) State Grants
| 2008 | 2009 | 2010 Request |
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|---|---|---|---|
| B.A. in millions | $2,874.0 | $2,974.6 | $3,084.7 |
This program, funded through mandatory appropriations, provides formula grants to State vocational rehabilitation agencies to help individuals with disabilities become gainfully employed. A wide range of services are provided each year to over 1 million individuals with disabilities, including vocational evaluation, counseling and guidance, work adjustment, diagnosis and treatment of physical and mental impairments, education and vocational training, job placement, and post-employment services. States that are unable to serve all eligible individuals with disabilities who apply must give priority to individuals with the most significant disabilities. Services are provided according to an individualized plan for employment. In 2008, the VR program helped over 200,000 individuals with disabilities—92 percent with significant disabilities—achieve employment outcomes.
The $3.1 billion request, an increase of $110.1 million or 3.7 percent, would help State VR agencies increase the participation of individuals with disabilities in the labor force. The request would satisfy the statutory requirement to increase funding by at least the percentage change in the Consumer Price Index. The request also includes $37.4 million for grants to Indian tribes.
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Client Assistance State Grants
| 2008 | 2009 | 2010 Request |
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|---|---|---|---|
| B.A. in millions | $11.6 | $11.6 | $11.6 |
This program makes formula grants to States for activities to inform and advise clients of benefits available to them under the Rehabilitation Act, to assist them in their relationships with service providers, and to ensure the protection of their rights under the Act. The request would support advocacy services for approximately 62,437 individuals with disabilities.
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| 2008 | 2009 | 2010 Request |
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|---|---|---|---|
| B.A. in millions | $37.8 | $37.8 | $37.8 |
The Training program makes competitive grants to State and other public or nonprofit agencies and organizations, including institutions of higher education, to help ensure that personnel with adequate skills are available to provide rehabilitation services to persons with disabilities. The 2010 request includes $22.3 million for 124 projects receiving continuation awards and $14.7 million for 134 new awards.
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Demonstration and Training Programs
| 2008 | 2009 | 2010 Request |
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|---|---|---|---|
| B.A. in millions | $10.2 | $9.6 | $6.5 |
Demonstration and Training Programs support competitive grants for projects that expand and improve the provision of rehabilitation and other services authorized under the Rehabilitation Act, including related research and evaluation activities. All funds requested would cover the costs of activities that began in previous fiscal years, such as the support of four new demonstration projects to obtain high quality employment outcomes for Social Security Disability Insurance beneficiaries and Supplemental Security Income recipients that will begin this year. The requested decrease for 2010 reflects the elimination of earmarked projects.
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Migrant and Seasonal Farmworkers
| 2008 | 2009 | 2010 Request |
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|---|---|---|---|
| B.A. in millions | $2.2 | $2.2 | $2.2 |
This program awards competitive grants to State vocational rehabilitation agencies and nonprofit organizations to provide rehabilitation services to migratory workers with disabilities. States that receive funding under this program are consistently more focused on serving this population than those that do not. The request would support two new projects and nine ongoing projects.
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| 2008 | 2009 | 2010 Request |
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| B.A. in millions | $2.5 | $2.5 | $2.5 |
This program supports projects that provide recreation and related activities for individuals with disabilities to aid in their employment, mobility, independence, socialization, and community integration. The request would fund 10 new projects and 15 ongoing projects.
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Protection and Advocacy of Individual Rights (PAIR)
| 2008 | 2009 | 2010 Request |
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|---|---|---|---|
| B.A. in millions | $16.2 | $17.1 | $17.1 |
This formula grant program funds systems in each State to protect and advocate for the legal and human rights of individuals with disabilities, helping them to pursue legal and administrative remedies to secure their rights under Federal law. The PAIR systems also provide information on, and referrals to, programs and services for individuals with disabilities. The request would support advocacy services to approximately 71,419 individuals with disabilities.
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| 2008 | 2009 | 2010 Request |
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| B.A. in millions | $19.2 | $19.2 | $19.2 |
The PWI program funds projects that help individuals with disabilities obtain employment and advance their careers in the competitive labor market. PWI promotes the involvement of business through Business Advisory Councils that participate in project policymaking and provide advice on available jobs and training requirements. In fiscal year 2007, PWI placed over 5,000 individuals with disabilities in competitive employment. Most of the individuals served through this program are considered difficult to place due to significant disability or extended unemployment (at least 6 months at time of project entry). The request would fund 66 continuation awards.
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Supported Employment State Grants
| 2008 | 2009 | 2010 Request |
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|---|---|---|---|
| B.A. in millions | $29.2 | $29.2 | $29.2 |
This program supplements supported employment services funded through the VR State Grants program by making additional formula grants that assist States in providing supported employment services to individuals with the most significant disabilities who have a goal of supported employment under the VR State Grants program. Supported employment placements are achieved by augmenting short-term VR services with ongoing support provided by other public or non-profit organizations. Of the roughly 38,000 individuals receiving VR services who had a goal of supported employment and exited the program in fiscal year 2007, about 54 percent received services funded, in part, through Supported Employment State Grants.
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Independent Living
(B.A. in millions)
| 2008 | 2009 | 2010 Request |
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|---|---|---|---|
| Independent Living State Grants | $22.2 | $23.4 | $23.4 |
| Centers for Independent Living | 73.3 | 77.3 | 80.3 |
| Services for Older Blind Individuals | 32.3 | 34.2 | 34.2 |
The Independent Living programs provide services to individuals with disabilities to maximize their independence and productivity and to help them integrate into the mainstream of American society. The State Grants program awards formula grants to States to expand and improve independent living services and to support the operation of centers for independent living. The Centers for Independent Living program makes competitive grants to support a network of consumer-controlled, nonresidential, community-based centers that provide a broad range of independent living services. The formula-based Services for Older Blind Individuals program assists individuals aged 55 or older whose severe visual impairments make competitive employment difficult to obtain, but for whom independent living goals are feasible. At the requested level, program funds would directly support 78 designated State units under the State Grants program and 56 grantees under the Services for Older Blind Individuals program. The requested increase of $3 million for the Centers for Independent Living program would help the centers to provide services that empower individuals with disabilities to live independently and participate fully in all aspects of their communities.
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| 2008 | 2009 | 2010 Request |
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| B.A. in millions | $0.6 | $0.6 | $0.9 |
These funds, awarded through competitive grants and contracts, support activities that increase program effectiveness, improve accountability, and enhance the Department's ability to address critical areas of national significance in achieving the purposes of the Rehabilitation Act. Funds would be used to support new and ongoing projects designed to increase the Department's capacity for providing technical assistance to State VR agencies and other grantees. Nearly half of the program funds would be used to continue support for the National Vocational Rehabilitation Technical Assistance Center.
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| 2008 | 2009 | 2010 Request |
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| B.A. in millions | $1.4 | $1.4 | $1.2 |
These funds are used to evaluate the impact and effectiveness of programs authorized by the Rehabilitation Act. The request would continue support for evaluation activities begun in fiscal years 2008 and 2009 and provide funds to initiate two new evaluations. In fiscal year 2009, the Department will begin an evaluation planning process that will identify the data needed to measure and define program success and produce a comprehensive multi-year plan for evaluating programs authorized under the Rehabilitation Act.
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Helen Keller National Center for Deaf-Blind Youths and Adults
| 2008 | 2009 | 2010 Request |
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|---|---|---|---|
| B.A. in millions | $8.4 | $8.4 | $8.4 |
This program serves individuals who are deaf-blind, their families, and service providers through a national headquarters center with a residential training and rehabilitation facility and a network of 10 regional offices that provide referral, counseling, training, and technical assistance. At the request level, the Center would provide direct services for approximately 122 clients in its residential training and rehabilitation program and serve an estimated 1,600 individuals, 500 families, and 1,000 agencies through its regional offices.
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National Institute on Disability and Rehabilitation Research (NIDRR)
| 2008 | 2009 | 2010 Request |
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|---|---|---|---|
| B.A. in millions | $105.7 | $107.7 | $110.7 |
The National Institute on Disability and Rehabilitation Research (NIDRR) helps improve the lives of persons of all ages with disabilities through a comprehensive and coordinated program of research, demonstration projects, and related activities, including training of persons who provide rehabilitation services or conduct rehabilitation research. NIDRR awards discretionary grants that support the Rehabilitation Engineering Research Centers (RERC), Rehabilitation Research and Training Centers (RRTC), Model Systems projects for Spinal Cord Injury (SCI), Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI), and Burn Injury, field- initiated research and development projects, and a wide range of additional research, demonstration, and training projects that address diverse issues in rehabilitation, including ways to improve educational, employment, and independent living opportunities for persons with disabilities.
In recent years, the RERCs have sponsored innovative assistive technology research that has helped individuals with disabilities to achieve greater independence. In addition, the RRTCs conducted research, training, and information dissemination in identified problem areas, such as barriers to employment for individuals with psychiatric disabilities. Model Systems projects have focused on the delivery, demonstration, and evaluation of comprehensive medical, vocational, and other rehabilitation services for individuals with SCI, TBI, and Burn Injury.
The requested $3 million increase would be used to support demonstration projects that implement promising models of postsecondary education programs for students with intellectual disabilities and evaluate the outcomes associated with these models.
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| 2008 | 2009 | 2010 Request |
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| B.A. in millions | $29.9 | $31.0 | $31.0 |
Assistive Technology (AT) programs support grants to States to increase access to and funding for assistive technology devices and services for individuals with disabilities of all ages. The request includes $25.7 million for the AT State grant program, $4.3 million for the Protection and Advocacy for Assistive Technology program, and $1.0 million for technical assistance required under the AT Act's National Activities authority.
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Special Institutions for Persons with Disabilities
(B.A. in millions)
| 2008 | 2009 | 2010 Request |
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| American Printing House for the Blind (APH) |
$21.6 | $22.6 | $22.6 |
| National Technical Institute for the Deaf (NTID) |
59.7 | 64.2 | 68.4 |
| Gallaudet University | 113.4 | 124.0 | 120.0 |
| Total | 194.7 |
210.8 |
211.0 |
The American Printing House for the Blind provides specially manufactured education materials for students who are visually impaired, offers advisory services for consumers and educational agencies, and conducts applied research related to the development of new products. At the request level, APH would provide free educational materials to approximately 60,000 persons with visual impairments at an average per student allotment of $290, continue funding for initiatives to improve its technical assistance and outreach services, and support a variety of continuing and new research projects.
The National Technical Institute for the Deaf provides postsecondary technical education and training for students who are deaf, and graduate education and interpreter training for persons who are deaf or hearing. NTID also conducts research and provides training related to the education and employment of individuals who are deaf. The request would support education and training for approximately 1,210 undergraduate and technical students, 105 graduate students, and 130 interpreters for persons who are deaf. The request maintains the 2009 level for operations and increases construction funding to provide a total of $5.4 million for an institution-wide energy efficiency project.
Gallaudet University offers undergraduate, continuing education, and graduate programs for persons who are deaf and hearing. Gallaudet also maintains and operates the Kendall Demonstration Elementary School and Model Secondary School for the Deaf (MSSD). The request provides $118.0 million for operations, including funds for the Endowment Grant program, and $2 million for construction reflecting lower costs as an MSSD facilities project nears completion. The request would help the University serve approximately 1,740 undergraduate and graduate students and 365 elementary and secondary education students in the 2009-10 school year.
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Elementary and Secondary Education 
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Education
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This page last modified—May 7, 2009 (mjj).