The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) is a law that makes available a free appropriate public education to eligible children with disabilities throughout the nation and ensures special education and related services to those children. Ferris ISD receives two types of formula grants under IDEA: IDEA-B.
Program Contacts for IDEA
Candace Johnson
Director of Special Education
candace.johnson@lifeschools.net
IDEA Highlights
- Ensures all children with disabilities have available to them a free appropriate public education that emphasizes special education and related services designed to meet their unique needs and prepare them for further education, employment, and independent living;
- Ensures the rights of children with disabilities and parents of such children are protected;
- Assists States, localities, educational service agencies, and Federal agencies to provide for the education of all children with disabilities;
- Assists States in the implementation of a statewide, comprehensive, coordinated, multidisciplinary, inter-agency system of early intervention services for infants and toddlers with disabilities and their families;
- Ensures that educators and parents have the necessary tools to improve educational results for children with disabilities by supporting system improvement activities; coordinated research and personnel preparation; coordinated technical assistance, dissemination, and support; and technology development and media services;
- Assesses, and ensures the effectiveness of, efforts to educate children with disabilities.
What programs fall under IDEA?
IDEA-B Grant
- Assists in providing a free appropriate public education in the least restrictive environment for school-age children with disabilities.
- Any item that is used by students cannot be split-funded with IDEA-B funds. The fund source used for general education students must be used for the entire cost of the item.
- IDEA-B funds may only be used for items that are supplemental to those used by all students and/or address the unique needs of the child that results from the child’s disability.
- IDEA-B funds must be used only to pay the excess cost of providing special education and related services to children with disabilities and must not be used to pay for all costs directly attributable to the education of a child with a disability.
