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The bill increases parental choice and portability of IDEA Part B funds so families can use ESAs across public, private, and home settings, but it shifts funding and oversight away from public schools and risks under‑funding and reduced accountability for specialized services.
Children with disabilities (and their families) will have IDEA Part B funding follow the child when they move between public, private, or home schools, so per‑child federal funds are portable to the setting the student attends.
Parents/guardians of eligible children will get direct control of an education savings account (ESA) equal to the State per‑child IDEA amount for use in private or home schooling, increasing family choice over services and placements.
Local public school budgets and allocations will be based on actual counts of eligible children enrolled, making per‑child funding allocations more transparent and potentially more predictable for LEAs.
Public schools and the students who remain there may lose per‑child IDEA funding when eligible students move to private or home schooling, reducing resources available for special education services in LEAs.
Families with children who need intensive or specialized services may receive ESAs that equal the State per‑child amount but still fall short of the higher actual costs of many special‑education services, leaving needs unmet.
Shifting IDEA funds into privately controlled ESAs could reduce federal oversight of how special‑education dollars are spent for privately or home‑schooled children, increasing risk of inconsistent services or misuse.
Based on analysis of 3 sections of legislative text.
Requires IDEA Part B federal funds to 'follow the student,' allocating per‑child grants to LEAs for public students or providing education savings accounts equal to the state's per‑child amount for eligible private/home‑schooled children.
Introduced March 21, 2025 by Charles Roy · Last progress March 21, 2025
Requires federal special-education (IDEA Part B) dollars to “follow the student” so that funding is allocated for eligible children whether they attend public school, private school, or are homeschooled. States would send per-child amounts to local public school systems for eligible public-school students and provide education savings accounts (ESAs) directly to eligible private- or home‑schooled children equal to the state’s per-child amount. The bill also adds a brief, unspecified insertion to Title VIII of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act and sets a short title. States must base public-school allocations on counts of eligible children, run an annual parent/guardian notification plan, limit data use to allocation calculations, and apply a supplement‑not‑supplant rule to both local distributions and ESAs; the measure preserves eligibility for school meal programs and disclaims federal or state control over nonpublic education providers.