The Funding Early Childhood is the Right IDEA Act (H.R. 6532 and S. 3544) was introduced by Representatives Mark DeSaulnier (D-California), Rodney Davis (R-Illinois) and Jared Huffman (D-California) as well as U.S. Senators Maggie Hassan (D-New Hampshire), Robert Casey (D-Pennsylvania), Chris Van Hollen (D-Maryland) and Christopher Murphy (D-Connecticut).

The bill comes at a time when the number of children who require early intervention and preschool special education services has increased in recent years, but federal investments have failed to keep up with need. It would increase funding for programs paid for through Part B, Section 619, and Part C of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA).

CSBA played a major role in shaping the initial concept for the proposed legislation through the ACSA-CSBA Federal Partnership.

CSBA Legislative Advocate Erika Hoffman explained that the conversation started around two years ago. “It came about in talking to federal lobbyists about special education and what some of the issues are, and at the same point in time here in California there were discussions about the need, which we’ve had for quite a few years, to provide preschool services for children in need of special education and the fact that we got very little to no money from the federal government on that front.”

“Under federal law, 0 to 3 is handled by the Department of Rehabilitation under Social Services and at 3 years of age children come to education,” Hoffman continued. “We had the realization that we have to pay more attention to those age groups … [It was] just a basic discussion of needing to increase the funding for this age range so that we can provide necessary services, which is why the bill includes Part C of IDEA — the infant and toddler program — and also emphasize Part B, Section 619, preschool programs, because it covers that age range of children between 0-5.”

Hoffman and federal lobbyists, alongside the Association of California School Administrators through the federal partnership, began to widen the discussion to include interested parties and searched for an author for the bill. The author ended up being DeSaulnier.

Though the bill has yet to have a hearing, it has become a part of budget conversations in the U.S., Hoffman said. For example, President Joe Biden’s budget proposal for fiscal year 2023 and the House Health Education Labor Appropriations Labor bill both have increases in funding for Part C and Part B preschool, Hoffman said, adding that it’s “the first time we’ve really seen proposed increases into those programs so there has been an affect since we brought the issue to the forefront.”

In early March as the FY 2023 budget was still pending, Hoffman said the hope is that there could still be some influence this year as well as the next.

An increase in federal funding could greatly aid California as it works to expand early learning offerings and services.

“If you look at what is going on here in California and Gov. Newsom’s push to increase services and the expansion of universal transitional kindergarten and preschool, this ties fully into that,” Hoffman said. “The Governor’s budget proposal wants a minimum of 10 percent of the kids in state preschool to be special education. This would help provide the funding to get those services to those students … Hopefully by also increasing federal funding, we’re better able to serve the 0-5 population in the state and have them ready to attend school full time.”