Schools that receive federal Title I funds, have poverty rates of at least 40 percent and have approved Title IA Schoolwide Plans are eligible to use their Title I funds – and funds from other sources – to develop “schoolwide programs.”
Schoolwide programs are comprehensive reform strategies aimed at raising the achievement levels of all students.
To facilitate the inclusion of students with disabilities in schoolwide programs, the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) and the federal regulations at 34 CFR §300.206(a) allow school administrative units (SAUs) to use a portion of the funds they receive under Part B of IDEA for any fiscal year to fund such schoolwide programs.
They can use those funds as long as students with disabilities receive the services to which they are entitled under their Individualized Education Programs and that are guaranteed under IDEA.
The amount of Part B funds a school expends for schoolwide programs cannot exceed the amount the SAU has received for that fiscal year, divided by the number of children with disabilities in that unit, multiplied by the number of children with disabilities participating in the schoolwide program.
For more information, contact Jackie Godbout, Title IA specialist, at jackie.godbout@maine.gov, or Jan Breton, director of Special Services, at janice.breton@maine.gov. You may also visit the schoolwide programs web page.