Senator Scott Wilk, R-Santa Clarita, announced Wednesday Senate Joint Resolution 8 has unanimously passed the Senate.

SJR 8 urges the United States Congress to fully fund the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), a program focusing on disabled students, according to Wilk’s office.

“All California students should be provided a quality education – it is one of the state’s highest priorities – but the federal government has not given us its promised share of the special education funding we badly need,” said Wilk. “This forces our schools to do more with less, which hurts all students, whether or not they have special needs.”

In 1975, Congress enacted the Education for All Handicapped Children Act with the purpose of ensuring a free and appropriate public education is available to all children with disabilities, emphasizing services designed to meet their unique needs. It set up a mechanism to fund a matching program that would help pay for these costly, specialized educational services, according to officials.

In 2004, Congress went even further and enacted the IDEA Act, which set a minimum of 40 percent federal fund-matching for the average per-pupil expenditure in public elementary schools and secondary schools to pay for services for children with disabilities. That act has yet to be fully funded, officials said.

According to the Legislative Analyst’s Office, between 2015 to 2016, “The federal government provided California a little over a billion dollars for special education costs. That represented a little less than 10 percent of total special education expenditures in the state, so roughly speaking we would be talking about an increase along the lines of three to four billion dollars in federal special education aid in order to get up to the 40 percent.”

This year, United States Senator Chris Van Hollen, D-Maryland, introduced a bill, S. 866, which will provide greater special education funding for schools, allowing Congress to meet its original 40 percent mark by the year 2029. SJR 8 strongly encourages Congress to pass S. 866 in the interest of students across California and the nation.

“Until Congress keeps its word and provides full funding for special education, the IDEA act will not be fully realized,” said Wilk. “We need to keep the pressure on Congress to pass S. 866 so that all children can have the opportunity to be educated and succeed in this country.”

SJR 8 is now expected to go to the Assembly for a vote.

KHTS FM 98.1 and AM 1220 is Santa Clarita’s only local radio station. KHTS mixes in a combination of news, traffic, sports, and features along with your favorite adult contemporary hits. Santa Clarita news and features are delivered throughout the day over our airwaves, on our website and through a variety of social media platforms. Our KHTS national award-winning daily news briefs are now read daily by 34,000+ residents. A vibrant member of the Santa Clarita community, the KHTS broadcast signal reaches all of the Santa Clarita Valley and parts of the high desert communities located in the Antelope Valley. The station streams its talk shows over the web, reaching a potentially worldwide audience. Follow @KHTSRadio on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.