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Wilk: Congress Must Keep Promise To California’s Special Education Students

Senator Scott Wilk, R-Santa Clarita, announced that Senate Joint Resolution 4 (SJR 4) – an initiative that would ensure students with disabilities adequate support — has unanimously passed the state assembly on Thursday.

In 1975, Congress passed the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) to ensure students with disabilities receive the necessary academic support in order to succeed, and SJR 4 called on Congress to uphold its end of the bargain whose numbers do not align with their promises, according to Wilk. 

“In 1975, the federal government made a commitment to students with disabilities and their families to fund IDEA,” Wilk said. “It has completely failed in its partnership with the states by not keeping its promised funding levels. School districts are forced to make up the shortfall, which hinders our ability to provide a high-quality education to all students – those with and without disabilities.”

IDEA guaranteed that the federal government would pay 40 percent of all special education costs, and the federal government has “failed” to keep this promise, according to Wilk

From 2005 to 2006, the federal share of special education costs was 14 percent and dropped to a mere 8 percent during the 2019 to 2020 school year, according to Wilk

“IDEA funding lags so far behind the promised amount, that there is a $3.2 billion deficit of federal funding in this area of California alone,” read a statement from Wilk’s office. 

In California, IDEA serves approximately 800,000 students, and SJR 4 reminds Congress that the resolution was a guarantee, not an empty promise. 

“Congress: Keep your promise to California’s Special Education students and to millions of students, families and faculty across the nation by fully funding IDEA once and for all,” Wilk said.


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Wilk: Congress Must Keep Promise To California’s Special Education Students

2 comments

  1. Hey Wilk. What do you actually do for voters?
    Posturing and self-serving statements and pontificating will NOT GET YOU RE-ELECTED.

  2. Wilk, are you spending taxpayer money for these spots? You need a NEW PR person, press release writer, publicist, and whoever else writes these “news items” for you. They perpetuate your lame smiling,
    do nothing, its-thier-fault image.
    Maybe a new candidate, too.

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