The decision has been made by the panel of three judges…Texas will lose $33.3 million in federal funds. The decision was filed yesterday in the U.S. Court of Appeals Fifth Circuit.
The judges determined Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos’ decision to take away Texas’ funding would stand. In May, Texas lost its challenge to DeVos’ decision at the U.S. Department of Education’s Office of Hearings and Appeals. The state successfully petitioned the Fifth Circuit to take up the case in July.
The U.S. government says Texas violated a federal law requiring states to maintain the same amount of funding each year for special education services in order to continue to be eligible for federal special education grants. In IDEA this requirement is called “maintenance of
state financial support” (“MFS”) clause which prohibits a state from reducing the amount of state financial support made available for special education and related services below the amount for the previous fiscal year. The federal government claimed Texas needed to be stripped of $33.3 million in federal funds ironically the same amount that the state cut.
Since Texas failed to defend its case for decrease in spending, it will lose the equivalent of about 3 percent or 33.3 million of its annual federal special education grant.
To read the judges’ decision click the first link below & to read the backstory on the case click the second link below.
https://www.texastribune.org/2018/10/01/texas-special-education-fifth-circuit/