# Supporting Children with Disabilities During COVID-19 Act

During the COVID-19 pandemic, schools had to scramble to move classes online, and this created major problems for children with disabilities. These students rely on specialized services like speech therapy, occupational therapy, and one-on-one support that are much harder to deliver through a computer screen. This bill provides emergency funding to help schools and early intervention programs continue serving these children despite the disruptions caused by the pandemic.

The bill allocates approximately $12.3 billion in total funding. The largest chunk—$11 billion—goes directly to states to help schools provide special education services to the roughly 7 million school-aged children with disabilities. An additional $400 million supports preschool programs for children with disabilities, and $500 million helps programs that work with infants and toddlers (under age three) who have disabilities or developmental delays. The bill also includes $300 million specifically for training and hiring special education teachers and support staff, since schools were struggling to find qualified personnel during the pandemic. Finally, $55 million goes toward assistive technology—devices and software that help students with disabilities access education, like text-to-speech programs or specialized keyboards.

The money comes with accountability requirements. Schools must track how they spend these funds and report back to their state education agencies within a year. States then compile this information into public reports so taxpayers can see where the money went. The federal Department of Education also produces a national report on how all these funds were used. This ensures the emergency funding actually reaches children with disabilities and isn't diverted to other purposes.

Supporting Children with Disabilities During COVID–19 Act

Schiff, Adam B.

Supporting Children with Disabilities During COVID-19 Act This bill provides FY2021 supplemental appropriations for grants to assist states in providing special education and related services to children with disabilities and for specified early childhood education programs for children with disabilities. Additionally, the bill specifies reporting requirements related to the use of these funds. It also requires the Department of Education to publish on its website, and the Department of Health and Human Services to release, certain expenditure reports related to these funds. The amounts provided by the bill are designated as an emergency requirement pursuant to the Statutory Pay-As-You-Go Act of 2010 (PAYGO) and the Senate PAYGO rule.