FY 2000 Budget Summary - February 1999

Section C - Special Education and Rehabilitative Services

• Overview
• Grants to States
• Preschool Grants
• Grants for Infants and Families
• National Activities
• Vocational Rehabilitation (VR) State Grants
• Client Assistance State Grants
• Training
• Demonstration and Training Programs
• Migrant and Seasonal Farmworkers
• Recreational Programs
• Protection and Advocacy of Individual Rights
• Projects with Industry
• Supported Employment State Grants
• Independent Living
• Program Improvement
• Evaluation
• Helen Keller National Center
• National Institute on Disability and Rehabilitation Research
• Assistive Technology
• Special Institutions for Individuals with Disabilities

C. SPECIAL EDUCATION AND REHABILITATIVE SERVICES

Overview

The Administration is committed to promoting the empowerment and independence of Americans with disabilities. The 2000 budget request continues to support programs that expand opportunities for persons with disabilities and improve education and employment outcomes. These include programs providing direct services and those supporting systems change, research, demonstration, technical assistance, and training activities.

The budget request of $5.4 billion for Special Education programs includes an increase of $116 million over the 1999 level. The request would maintain funding at roughly the 1999 level for the Grants to States program, which has grown by almost $2 billion or 85 percent since 1996. The request includes significant increases for programs targeted on young children with disabilities. Research shows that the earlier we meet the needs of children with disabilities, the better the results. To put this research into practice, a new $50 million Primary Education Intervention program would demonstrate how research-based interventions, coupled with early identification, can improve results for children with developmental delays ages 5 through 9. A $20 million increase is proposed for Grants for Infants and Families to assist States in carrying out their responsibility to provide early intervention services to infants and toddlers with disabilities and their families. A $28 million increase for the Preschool Grants program would help prepare young children with disabilities to enter and succeed in school. The request also includes a $10 million expansion of the State Improvement program, which provides competitive grants to assist State educational agencies, in partnership with others, to reform and improve their systems for providing educational, early intervention, and transitional services to improve results for children with disabilities. Finally, the budget includes a $4 million increase for Parent Information Centers.

For Rehabilitation Services and Disability Research, the budget provides $2.7 billion, an increase of $65 million or 2.4 percent over the 1999 level. This total includes $2.3 billion for Vocational Rehabilitation State Grants, an increase of $35 million to help 1.3 million individuals with disabilities receive the services they need to become employed. A $10 million increase for the National Institute on Disability and Rehabilitation Research (NIDRR) would be used to fund three new initiatives to enhance the accessibility of information technology and telecommunications for individuals with disabilities. An additional $15 million would help States establish or maintain alternative loan financing programs authorized under Title III of the Assistive Technology Act of 1998. These programs could offer individuals with disabilities attractive options that significantly enhance their access to assistive technology. Finally, a $5 million increase for the Independent Living program would provide additional funding for some existing centers for independent living and expand the network of centers by funding up to 35 new centers in 19 States.

SPECIAL EDUCATION

Grants to States

The Grants to States program makes formula grants that help States pay the excess costs of providing special education and related services to children with disabilities aged 3 through 21 years. On June 4, 1997, the President signed into law the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) Amendments of 1997, which strengthen the access of children with disabilities to the general curriculum, promote accountability for educational results, and better focus resources on teaching and learning. During the past three years, Congress has increased funding for the IDEA Grants to States program by almost $2 billion or 85 percent. These funds provide significant new resources to help States implement the IDEA Amendments. The 2000 request would maintain funding for States at the 1999 level, which represents a Federal contribution of about 10 percent of the excess costs of educating children with disabilities.

The request also includes an increase of $3.3 million for studies to carry out the National Assessment of the Act required by the IDEA Amendments.

Preschool Grants

The Preschool Grants program provides formula grants to help States make a free, appropriate public education available to all children with disabilities ages 3 through 5 and to ensure that a minimum level of funding is available to serve these children. The request provides an increase of $28 million, or 8 percent, to help States and local educational agencies to identify and serve children with disabilities early in life when interventions can be most effective in improving results. The request would increase the Federal share per child by 6 percent, from $642 in 1999 to $679 in 2000, while serving an additional 10,500 children. This increase reflects the Administration?s priority on early childhood education and programs that help to ensure that young children with disabilities are ready to learn when they enter school.

Grants for Infants and Families

The Grants for Infants and Families program makes formula grants to States to help them implement statewide systems to make available early intervention services to all eligible children with disabilities from birth through age 2, and their families. The request would provide an increase of $20 million or 5 percent to help States expand the numbers of children served, improve the scope and quality of services, increase the focus on providing services in natural environments, and improve transition services for children with disabilities and their families. This increase reflects the Administration?s priority on early intervention and early childhood education, which play a major role in improving the school readiness of young children with disabilities. This is the only Federal program focused exclusively on children with disabilities from birth through age 2.

National Activities
(BA in millions)

These programs provide a streamlined and coherent structure of essential support to the States in their efforts to provide early intervention services and equal educational opportunity to children with disabilities. The total request for National Activities is $343.5 million, an increase of $64 million over the 1999 level. Priorities for National Activities are established through a comprehensive planning process involving a wide range of participants, including individuals with disabilities; parents of children with disabilities; appropriate professionals; and representatives of State and local educational agencies, private schools, institutions of higher education, and other agencies and organizations.

The State Improvement program provides competitive grants to assist State educational agencies, in partnership with others, in reforming and improving their systems for providing educational, early intervention, and transitional services to improve results for children with disabilities. This includes their systems for professional development, technical assistance, and dissemination.

At least 75 percent of the funds provided to each State are reserved for professional development. The remaining funds are used to carry out the State?s strategies for improving educational results, including strategies for holding school districts and schools accountable for the educational progress of children with disabilities, providing high-quality technical assistance to school districts and schools, and changing State policies and procedures to address systemic barriers to improving results for students with disabilities.

In 2000, the $45.2 million request includes about $13.5 million for new awards to an additional 12 States. Approximately $25.8 million would be used to continue the 24 awards to be made with 1998 and 1999 funds, and about $5.8 million to continue projects funded under expired authorities.

The budget includes $64.5 million for Research and Innovation activities that develop new knowledge through research, apply knowledge to create useful practices through demonstrations, and make knowledge available through outreach and other activities. About $47.6 million would be used to cover continuation costs and about $15.9 million would be available for new activities.

The $44.6 million request for the Technical Assistance and Dissemination program provides technical assistance and disseminates materials based on knowledge gained through research and practice. The budget provides about $36.4 million for continuation projects?including $10 million for the third year of a five-year initiative to inform educators, administrators, parents, and others of the impact of the IDEA Amendments of 1997?and about $8.1 million for new activities.

The $82.1 million Personnel Preparation program makes awards to prepare personnel to serve children with low- and high-incidence disabilities and leadership personnel, as well as for projects of national significance such as developing models for teacher preparation. The overall goal of the program is to help ensure that there are adequate numbers of personnel with the skills and knowledge of the best practices to help children with disabilities succeed educationally. For this reason the program focuses on both meeting the demand for personnel to serve children with disabilities and improving the quality of these personnel. A particular emphasis will be placed on incorporating research and practice knowledge into training programs. The request would provide $30 million for new awards and $51.3 million for continuation awards.

The $22.5 million request for Parent Information Centers includes a $4 million increase that would be used to increase the size of the awards to parent centers and to expand the number of community parent resource centers from 16 to 26. 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 community centers are operated by local parent organizations and focus on meeting the needs of underserved parents, including low-income parents, parents of children with limited English proficiency, and parents with disabilities.

The budget includes $34.5 million Technology and Media Services, which support media-related activities such as captioning films and television for individuals with hearing impairments and video description and recording activities for individuals with visual impairments. Funds also will be used for research, development, and other activities to advance the application of new and emerging technologies in providing special education and early intervention services. The request includes about $30.7 million for continuation projects and $3.8 million for new activities.

The $50 million Primary Education Intervention proposal would target children with developmental delays who are experiencing significant problems in learning to read and who are exhibiting behavioral problems. These children often do not receive special education services until the late primary or middle grades when their problems have worsened due to inattention. The proposal would fund model demonstration projects that would apply research-based knowledge to local practice. Funds would also be used to support technical assistance and evaluation activities.

REHABILITATION SERVICES AND DISABILITY RESEARCH

Vocational Rehabilitation (VR) State Grants

The $2.3 billion request, an increase of $34.6 million or 1.5 percent, would assist State VR agencies in reducing the unemployment rate of people with disabilities. The request would satisfy the statutory requirement to increase funding by at least the percentage change in the Consumer Price Index. The total includes the minimum statutory set-aside of $23.4 million for grants to Indian tribes.

Vocational Rehabilitation State Grants provide funds to State vocational rehabilitation agencies to help individuals with disabilities become gainfully employed. Funds are distributed on the basis of a formula that takes into account population and per capita income.

A wide range of services is provided each year to about 1.3 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. In the event that services cannot be provided to all eligible individuals with disabilities who apply, States must give priority to individuals with the most significant disabilities. Services are provided according to an individualized plan for employment. Each year, the VR program helps over 200,000 individuals with disabilities achieve successful outcomes, of which about 87 percent enter the competitive labor market or become self-employed. Approximately 78 percent of the individuals served have significant disabilities.

Client Assistance State Grants

This program makes formula grants to States for activities to inform and advise clients of benefits available to them under the Rehabilitation Act and to assist them in their relationships with service providers, including remedies to ensure the protection of their rights under the Act.

Training

This program makes grants to State and public or other nonprofit agencies and organizations, including institutions of higher education, to help ensure that adequate skilled personnel are available to provide rehabilitation services to persons with disabilities.

The request includes an increase of $2 million for the Training program to continue and expand support for an initiative to assist States in the implementation of their Comprehensive Systems of Personnel Development and in raising the academic credentials of VR State agency personnel.

Demonstration and Training Programs

Demonstration and Training programs develop innovative methods and comprehensive service programs to help individuals with disabilities achieve vocational outcomes. The program awards competitive grants to community rehabilitation programs, designated State units, and other public or private organizations. The requested level of funding for this program is sufficient to continue on-going activities and to award 7 new grants.

Migrant and Seasonal Farmworkers

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 aggressive in serving this population than those that do not. Level funding would provide support for 4 new projects and 10 ongoing projects.

Recreational Programs

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 $2.6 million request would support 8 new projects and 17 continuations. Because the Federal contribution to each program declines over the project period, the Department is able to initiate new recreational programs each year with no increase in Federal funds.

Protection and Advocacy of Individual Rights

The request would support systems in each State to protect and advocate for the legal and human rights of individuals with disabilities. These systems pursue legal and administrative remedies to ensure the protection of the rights of individuals with disabilities under Federal law and provide information on and referrals to programs and services for individuals with disabilities.

Projects with Industry (PWI)

These projects assist individuals with disabilities in obtaining employment and advancement 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. PWI places over 11,000 individuals with disabilities in competitive employment each year. 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 2000 request would support approximately 8 new and 92 continuation awards.

Supported Employment State Grants

This program makes formula grants to assist States in developing collaborative programs with appropriate public and private nonprofit organizations to offer supported employment services for individuals with the most significant disabilities who have a goal of supported employment under the Vocational Rehabilitation State Grants program. Supported employment placements are achieved by augmenting short-term vocational rehabilitation services with ongoing support provided by other public or non-profit organizations.

Independent Living
BA in millions

These programs provide services to individuals with disabilities to maximize their independence and productivity. The State Grants program awards formula grants to States to provide 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 Services for Older Blind Individuals program assists individuals aged 55 or older whose severe visual impairment makes competitive employment difficult to obtain, but for whom independent living goals are feasible.

The request includes a $4.8 million or 10 percent increase for the Centers for Independent Living program. Funds would be used to provide additional support to some existing independent living centers, and the network of centers would be expanded by up to 35 new centers in 19 States. A small increase is also proposed for the Independent Living Services for Older Blind Individuals program.

Program Improvement

The 2000 request would provide sufficient funds to continue support for technical assistance to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of the VR program and for other program improvement and accountability efforts, including support for a national conference on the findings of the longitudinal study of the VR program.

Evaluation

These funds are used to evaluate the impact and effectiveness of programs authorized by the Rehabilitation Act of 1973. The request would provide support for three new program evaluation studies, continuation of the extended follow-up of individuals in the longitudinal study of the vocational rehabilitation program, and dissemination and utilization activities in connection with the longitudinal study.

Helen Keller National Center

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; a network of 10 regional field offices which provide referral, counseling, and technical assistance; and an incentive grant program for public and private agencies that serve individuals with deaf-blindness. The 1999 level includes $476,000 for one-time construction projects that will be completed in 1999. The level funding requested for 2000 would provide $161,000 to meet higher costs, $220,000 for additional one-time construction projects, and $95,000 for discretionary activities.

National Institute on Disability and Rehabilitation Research (NIDRR)

NIDRR provides a comprehensive and coordinated approach to the administration and conduct of research, demonstration projects, and related activities dealing with the rehabilitation of persons of all ages with disabilities, including training of persons who provide rehabilitation services or who conduct rehabilitation research.

NIDRR awards discretionary grants for support of rehabilitation research and training centers, rehabilitation engineering research centers, and disability and rehabilitation research projects that address diverse issues in rehabilitation, including the causes and consequences of disability and ways to improve educational, employment, and independent living opportunities for persons with disabilities. Grants or contracts are also awarded for utilization and dissemination of research results and for training.

The 2000 request would provide sufficient funding to continue all of NIDRR?s current centers and projects and to support a small number of new projects based on its recently published long-range plan. The increase would also enable NIDRR to implement three new initiatives in the area of information technology and telecommunications: a project to enhance technology transfer, consortia to work with information technology industries to ensure that accessibility is a built-in design feature, and a demonstration center that would allow people?including researchers and representatives from industry?to see, compare, and learn about the latest in information technology for individuals with disabilities.

Assistive Technology

This program assists States in improving the access of individuals with disabilities to assistive technology (AT) devices and services. The request includes $30 million for activities in Title I of the Assistive Technology Act, including the Assistive Technology State Grant program, protection and advocacy services related to assistive technology, and technical assistance activities. In addition, the request includes an increase of $15 million to support grants to States, authorized under Title III of the Act, to establish or maintain alternative loan financing programs. Currently, major service programs such as Medicaid, Medicare, special education, and vocational rehabilitation cannot meet the growing demand for assistive technology. Loan programs offer individuals with disabilities attractive options that significantly enhance their access to assistive technology.

Special Institutions for Individuals with Disabilities
(BA in millions)

The American Printing House for the Blind provides special education materials for students who are blind, offers advisory services for consumers, and conducts research. Each State receives an allotment that can be used to purchase materials from the Printing House. A proposed increase of $312,000 above the 1999 level will provide adequate funds to offset the effect of inflation for program operations and fund a number of special projects. These include projects to promote the effective use of APH products and develop new optical aids to assist children with visual impairments to function in the classroom.

The National Technical Institute for the Deaf provides postsecondary technical education and training for students who are deaf and conducts research and provides training related to the education and employment of individuals who are deaf. The $47.9 million request includes $883,000 to help offset the effect of inflation, an additional $250,000 for the Endowment Grant program, and $2.7 million for the first phase of a major project to renovate the NTID dormitories.

Gallaudet University offers undergraduate and continuing education programs for persons who are deaf, and graduate programs for persons who are deaf or hearing. Gallaudet also maintains and operates the Kendall Demonstration Elementary School and Model Secondary School for the Deaf. The $85.1 million request includes a $1.6 million increase for higher operating costs and $2.5 million for construction projects related to the Model Secondary School for the Deaf.

Direct any questions to Martha Jacobs, Budget Service

[Section B - Bilingual and Immigrant Education]

[Section D - Vocational and Adult Education]