§ 300.203 Maintenance of effort.

Plain English summary

This section establishes the maintenance of effort (MOE) requirements that LEAs must satisfy to be eligible for Part B IDEA funds, requiring that LEAs budget and spend at least the same level of local or combined state-and-local funds on special education as they did in the prior fiscal year. Federal funds are excluded from MOE calculations. If an LEA fails to maintain effort, the SEA becomes liable to repay the Department an amount equal to the shortfall or the LEA's Part B subgrant, whichever is lower.

Key requirements

• The SEA must determine that the LEA budgets for the education of children with disabilities at least the same amount from at least one specified source as the LEA spent for that purpose from the same source for the most recent fiscal year for which information is available.
• Funds provided to an LEA under Part B of the Act must not be used to reduce the level of expenditures for the education of children with disabilities made by the LEA from local funds below the level of those expenditures for the preceding fiscal year.
• An LEA meets the compliance standard if it does not reduce the level of expenditures from at least one of the following sources below the level from the same source for the preceding fiscal year: (i) local funds only; (ii) the combination of State and local funds; (iii) local funds only on a per capita basis; or (iv) the combination of State and local funds on a per capita basis.
• Expenditures made from funds provided by the Federal government for which the SEA or LEA is required to account to the Federal government may not be considered in determining whether an LEA meets the eligibility or compliance standard.
• If an LEA fails to maintain its level of expenditures, the level of expenditures required for the subsequent fiscal year is the amount that would have been required in the absence of that failure, not the LEA's reduced level of expenditures.
• If an LEA fails to maintain its level of expenditures in accordance with paragraph (b), the SEA is liable in a recovery action under section 452 of the General Education Provisions Act (20 U.S.C. 1234a) to return to the Department, using non-Federal funds, an amount equal to the amount by which the LEA failed to maintain its level of expenditures or the amount of the LEA's Part B subgrant in that fiscal year, whichever is lower.
• When determining the budget amount required, the LEA may take into consideration exceptions and adjustments provided in §§ 300.204 and 300.205 that the LEA took in intervening years or reasonably expects to take in the budgeting fiscal year.

Affected parties

• Local Educational Agencies (LEAs)
• State Educational Agencies (SEAs)
• U.S. Department of Education
• Children with disabilities

Official source

https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-34/part-300/section-300.203