The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) provides funding to states for the education of students with disabilities. These funds are critical to ensuring that students with communication disorders receive the free appropriate public education to which they are legally entitled and help school-based providers better meet the needs of these students.

However, federal funding has fallen far short of providing 40% of the average per-pupil expenditure for students with disabilities in public elementary and secondary schools. Congress must do more to meet the needs of students with disabilities to ensure they receive the law’s guarantee of a free appropriate public education, especially as schools continue to struggle with increased costs, personnel shortages, and learning gaps worsened by the COVID-19 pandemic, which have increased the caseloads and workloads of educational audiologists and school-based SLPs. 

Ask Congress to:

• Increase funding to $16.2 billion for IDEA Part B (state grant funds, which includes an increase to $502.6 million for IDEA’s Part B Section 619 preschool grants) for FY 2024.
• Increase IDEA Part C (infants and toddlers) funding to $932 million for FY 2024.
• Increase IDEA Part D section 662 (personnel preparation) funding to $250 million for FY 2024.

Download the Issue Brief [PDF] to learn more. 

Please complete the form to email your senators and representative and urge them to provide funding for FY 2024 that invests in IDEA and supports school-based personnel. 

Questions? Contact Kevin Stutman, ASHA's associate director, federal affairs, at kstutman@asha.org. 

Thank you for being an ASHA Advocate!