The 26-year-old Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), which mandates that states pay for the schooling of children with behavioral and slight learning problems as well as children that need 24-hour nursing care, had been folded into the US Senate version of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA).
The federal government currently pays 16 percent of the costs of educating special needs kids even though IDEA sets the federal share at 40 percent.
Most state legislatures backed the Senate-passed measure because it would free up money to spend on shrinking class size and extra academic help for struggling students.
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