Dive Brief:

• Rep. John Kline (R-Minn.), chairman of the House education committee, plans to shift his focus to increased funding for special education.

• In the past, Rep. Kline has criticized President Obama’s focus on competitive grants, which ignore formula grants such as special education funding. 

• However, it is unclear how Rep. Kline plans to grow the federal government’s special education budget, which currently stands at about $11.5 billion. His actions thus far consist of joining 130 lawmakers in signing a letter to the president asking to boost funding of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA). 

Dive Insight:

Rep. Kline has a rough and difficult journey ahead of him if he plans to make any true reforms to special education in America. It just doesn’t seem to be a priority of the federal government at the moment. The letter he signed last year asking for a boost in funding for IDEA was never met. In fact, under IDEA, the federal government is supposed to pick up 40% of the excess cost of educating disability students — though it continually does not reach this goal.

Kline says he would like to see the federal government reach its 40% commitment in the next three to five years.