Federal grant programs / Department of Education

Special Education Grants to States (84.027)

• Awarded, FY 2021 to 2025$71 billion
• Grant awards424
• Typical award$89.5 million
• Awarded in FY 2025$14 billion
• Size rank11 of 1824
• Type of assistanceFormula grants

Key findings

• Annual funding fell from $15 billion in fiscal 2021 to $14 billion in fiscal 2025.
• It is the 11th largest of 1,824 federal grant programs by five-year awards.
• The 20 largest recipients received 72% of the money.
• Awards went to recipients in 59 states and territories.

What the program funds

To provide grants to States to assist them in providing special education and related services to all children with disabilities.

From the federal Assistance Listing. Read the full listing on SAM.gov.

Open opportunities

No opportunity under this program is open or forecast on Grants.gov right now. Programs often post once a year, so the funding history below shows what to expect.

Rules from the program listing

Who can apply

State educational agencies in the 50 States, District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, American Samoa, Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, Guam and Virgin Islands, the Department of the Interior, and freely associated States. Local educational agencies apply to their State educational agency for subgrants.

What the money can and cannot pay for

States must distribute all grant funds that the State does not reserve for administration of the program or other State-level activities to eligible local educational agencies. Funds are used by State and local educational agencies, in accordance with the IDEA, to help provide the special education and related services needed to make a free appropriate public education available to all eligible children and, in some cases, to provide early intervening services.

Matching requirements

Statutory Formula: Title 20, Part B, Subpart 611,Public Law 108-446.Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, Part B, Section 611)Matching requirements are not applicable to this assistance listing. This program has MOE requirements, see funding agency for further details. The IDEA also requires each State to maintain its level of State financial support for special education and related services from one year to the next. This requirement is commonly referred to as the State maintenance of effort, or MOE. However, the IDEA allows any State that provided 100 percent of the non-Federal costs of special education services in the 2003–2004 school year, or any subsequent year, to reduce its level of expenditures by up to 50 percent of any increase in its allocation under the Grants to States program over the prior year. The Department may prohibit a State from exercising this authority if it is determined that a State is not adequately carrying out its responsibilities under the IDEA.

Deadlines

Oct 01, 2016 to Sep 30, 2017

Award range and average, in the agency's words

In FY 2023, regular annual allotments to States, including DC and Puerto Rico, ranged from $25.9 million to $1.6 billion, with an average award of $297.6 million. Grants to outlying areas ranged from $6.3 million to $20.3 million. The Department of Interior received $100.0 million.

Quoted from the program's federal Assistance Listing. The notice of funding opportunity is the official source for each competition's rules.

Who usually wins

State and local governments received 89% of the money, colleges and universities 10% and tribes 0.7%.

By state

Each state below has its own page for this program, with its recipients and yearly totals.

Award amounts are federal obligations reported to USAspending.gov for fiscal 2021 to 2025; see how our data works.