Unfunded mandate: Does more money mean better special education compliance?

摘要

The purpose of this quantitative study was to determine if there is a relationship between increased special education funding and compliance with Part B of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) of 2004. In 2009, through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA), states received the highest level of federal support for special education than at any other time in history. Full compliance with Part B in special education has been viewed by many as impossible due to a lack of full funding. The ARRA grants provided an opportunity to determine if additional funding might be a significant factor in compliance. State annual performance reports detail progress on targets specified by the U.S. Department of Education as indicative of compliance with the provisions of IDEA. Levels of compliance for 2008-2009 and 2009-2010 for the 50 states and District of Columbia were compared to determine if a relationship existed between increased funding and improved compliance. For the first research question regarding the potential relationship between special education funding and compliance with Part B of IDEA, results showed no significant correlation between funding and compliance. Special education population size, the total number of disputes, and the region of the country correlated significantly with both adequate and inadequate compliance, as results for the second and third research questions showed. Additional research is needed to better understand those factors shown to be related to compliance and to further explore other factors that may potentially affect the relationship between funding and compliance.