Mar 17, 2022, Disability Scoop: Congress Boosts Funding For Special Ed, Disability Programs https://www.disabilityscoop.com/2022/03/17/congress-boosts-funding-for-special-ed-disability-programs/29759/
A $1.5 trillion spending bill signed by President Joe Biden will mean more money for special education and other programs for people with disabilities, but advocates say it’s not enough.
The package, signed early this week, funds the government through September. It is the first federal spending bill to be approved since Biden took office.
It includes $14.5 billion for special education, an increase of $448 million over last year, as well as a $6 million bump for home and community-based supportive services, $1 million more for respite care and $10 million extra for a Down syndrome research effort, among other changes.
“We are very pleased that Congress has finally passed an omnibus spending bill for the fiscal year that began five months ago. This avoided a year-long continuing resolution at level-funding which would have been devastating for people with autism and other disabilities,” said Kim Musheno, vice president of public policy at the Autism Society of America.
But, Musheno said that the final legislation left out many of the increases that had been included in a version approved by the U.S. House of Representatives. Specifically, she cited a big increase for special education personnel development that got cut from the bill and she said that the slight increases for most developmental disabilities programs fall short of what was in the House version and the president’s budget request.
“The combination of the smaller increases in this final bill and the stalled Build Back Better Act means that there continue to be significant unmet needs for people with autism and their families,” Musheno said….
