In an article headed, “Ed Department To Release Extra IDEA Funds, New Guidance,” Michelle Diament of Disability Scoop reported that “Schools across the country are set to receive billions of dollars — and some new guidance — to help meet the needs of students with disabilities amid the fallout from the COVID-19 pandemic.”

She described plans to distribute $3 billion to help schools in the US with services for students with disabilities. She explained that the funds can be used for activities consistent with IDEA.

Ms. Diament did not discuss how folks might determine on what the funds are spent. Perhaps the mechanism that we described on SET earlier will permit people to trace the expenditures.

I remember a story from when I was working in the Los Angeles area in the 1960s-70s (i.e., before “the law”) in whcih a local education agency was said to have used the special education funds it got from California to build a swimming pool. The idea was that swimming would be good for kids with disabilities. The kids with disabilities got to use it sometimes. The high school’s water polo team got to use it for 2-3 hours a day.

Link to Ms. Diament’s article.

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