NH schools receiving $10.3 million for special education

CONCORD – New Hampshire Education Commissioner Frank Edelblut today announced an agreement with the U.S. Department of Education allowing $10.3 million in unspent special education funds to go back out to New Hampshire school districts. The agreement allows Edelblut to redistribute $9.4 million in IDEA Part 2 funds and $838,600 in preschool funds that have accumulated over the past decade. Without such an agreement, New Hampshire would have had to return these funds to the federal government.

"Special education costs put huge pressure on New Hampshire school district budgets, but districts have not always been able to use special education grants provided by the federal government," Edelblut said. "This agreement to send more than $10 million back to New Hampshire schools will make a real difference for special education students across the Granite State."

Districts will have until September of 2020 to use this new round of special education funding. As part of the agreement, the U.S. Department of Education has asked New Hampshire to adjust how it calculates school population figures to account for private school enrollments. Edelblut will use state set-aside funds to ensure that no New Hampshire school district will see a drop in special education funding next year because of this change.

In order to help school districts make best use of all available special education grants, the New Hampshire Department of Education will hold a series of webinars over the next two weeks.

"I want to thank Secretary DeVos and the Office of Special Education Programs for their flexibility in allowing New Hampshire to use these unspent funds," Edelblut added. "Special education is a shared responsibility, and I’m glad we could bring local, state, and federal education officials together to reach this agreement."

For more information, see:

• Special Education Reallocations
• Permissive Use of Funds for Reallocation
• FY 19 IDEA Allocation Adjustments