Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA): Early Childhood Programs (Section 619 and Part C)

Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA): Early Childhood Programs (Section 619 and Part C)

Order Code RL31273
CRS Report for Congress
Received through the CRS Web
Individuals with Disabilities Education Act
(IDEA): Early Childhood Programs
(Section 619 and Part C)
February 6, 2002
Richard N. Apling
Specialist in Social Legislation
Domestic Social Policy Division
Congressional Research Service ˜ The Library of Congress

Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA):
Early Childhood Programs (Section 619 and Part C)
Summary
The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) is the main federal
program providing special education and related services to children with disabilities.
The largest and most often discussed part of IDEA is the Part B grants to states
program, which mostly funds programs for school-age children with disabilities and
accounts for nearly 90% of funding for the Act. In addition to the Part B grants to
states program, IDEA authorizes two other state grant programs aimed at younger
children: Part C, the Infants and Toddlers program, which serves disabled children
from birth to 2 years of age, and Section 619 of Part B, the Preschool program, which
generally serves children ages 3 to 5. This report summarizes the provisions of these
two grant programs and, in the final section, provides an overview of selected other
federal programs that serve these age groups.
Part C requires that states receiving grants create and maintain “a statewide,
comprehensive, coordinated, multidisciplinary, interagency system that provides early
intervention services for infants and toddlers with disabilities and their families.”
Services focus on children experiencing “developmental delay” with respect to
physical, mental, or other capacities, and their families. Services are detailed for each
child and his or her family in an Individualized Family Service Plan (IFSP). Services
are to be provided, to the maximum extent feasible, in “natural environments,”
including the home, with other infants and toddlers who are not disabled. States are
required to identify a state lead agency, which might be the state educational agency
(SEA) but could be other state agencies, to coordinate the program. Part C is funded
at $417 million for FY2002.
Section 619 of IDEA authorizes grants to states for preschool programs serving
children with disabilities generally ages 3 to 5. States are eligible for these grants if
they are eligible for grants under the Part B grants to states and make available free
appropriate public education (FAPE) to all disabled children ages 3 to 5 in the state.
In recent years, all states qualify and receive preschool grants under this section.
Since Part B grants to states are used to serve children with disabilities as young as
3 years of age (as well as school-age children), Section 619 is not so much a separate
program as it is supplementary funding for services to this age group. In general, the
provisions, requirements, and guarantees under the grants to states program that
apply to school-age children with disabilities also apply to children in this age group.
As a result, Section 619 is a relatively brief section of the law, which deals mostly
with the state and substate funding formulas for the grants and state-level activities.
Section 619 received $390 million for FY2002.
Other federal programs provide early childhood services and in some cases may
contribute to services for young children with disabilities. Largest among these
programs that explicitly provide early education and care are Head Start and funding
for early childhood programs under Title I, Part A, of the Elementary and Secondary
Education Act (ESEA).
This report will be updated only if legislative activities warrant.

Contents
The IDEA Infants and Toddlers Program (Part C) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
Target Populations and Services . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
Overview of Requirements for Statewide Systems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
Overview of Procedural Safeguards . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
Selected Additional Provisions of Part C . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
Funding and Allocations to States . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
The IDEA Preschool Program (Section 619) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
Funding for Section 619 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
State and Substate Formulas . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
State-Level Activities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
Characteristics of Children Served . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
Other Federal Programs Serving Preschoolers and/or Infants and Toddlers 10
List of Tables
Table 1. Funding for IDEA Early Childhood Programs (Section 619 & Part C)
and IDEA Total Funding (FY1997-FY2002) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5

Individuals with Disabilities Education Act
(IDEA): Early Childhood Programs
(Section 619 and Part C)
The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) is the main federal
program providing special education and related services to children with disabilities.
The largest and most often discussed part of IDEA is the Part B grants to states
program, which mostly funds programs for school-age children with disabilities and
accounts for nearly 90% of funding for the Act. In addition to the Part B grants to
states program, IDEA authorizes two other state grant programs aimed at younger
children: Part C, the Infants and Toddlers program, which serves disabled children
from birth to 2 years of age and Section 619 of Part B, the Preschool program, which
generally serves children ages 3 to 5. This report summarizes the provisions of these
two grant programs and, in the final section, provides an overview of selected other
federal programs that serve these age groups.1
The IDEA Infants and Toddlers Program (Part C)
The state grant program for infants and toddlers with disabilities and their
families was created by P.L. 99-457 in 1986. Originally enacted as Part H of IDEA,
the program is now authorized under Part C, as a result of the consolidation of several
other parts of the Act into Part D by the 1997 amendments (P.L. 105-17). The
general purpose of Part C is to aid each state to create and maintain “a statewide,
comprehensive, coordinated, multidisciplinary, interagency system that provides early
intervention services for infants and toddlers with disabilities and their families.”
In many respects, the requirements for these statewide systems resemble the
requirements under IDEA Part B for special education and related serves for children
with disabilities served in school systems. However, statewide coordinated systems
to serve very young children (the analog to state educational agencies (SEAs)) do not
exist in all states. Thus Part C differs in some respects from Part B in that it helps to
create the state structure in which services can be delivered to infants and toddlers
with disabilities.
Target Populations and Services. The target populations for the Part C
program are children under the age of 3 experiencing developmental delay2 in one or
1For further information on IDEA, see CRS Report RL31259, Individuals with Disabilities
Education Act: Statutory Provisions and Selected Issues, by Nancy Lee Jones and Richard
N. Apling. (Hereafter cited as CRS Report RL31259, IDEA Provisions.)
2The Act (Section 602(3)(B)(i)) leaves the definition of developmental delay to the states
except to enumerate that delays may occur in one or more areas (physical, cognitive,
(continued...)

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more physical, mental, or social skill areas; children diagnosed with physical or mental
conditions with high probabilities of resulting in such delays; and, at the state’s
discretion, children at risk of developing such delays. According to the U.S.
Department of Education (ED), about 250,000 infants and toddlers are served by the
program.3
The Act has an extensive definition of ‘early intervention services,’ which
provides a useful overview of what services the statewide systems can provide and
how these services should be provided.4 These services are required to be provided
under public supervision and at no cost “except where Federal or State law provides
a system of payments by families, including a schedule of sliding fees.”5 In general,
the services must meet the developmental needs of infants and toddlers with
disabilities.
The Part C definition of early intervention services permits a wide variety of
direct and support services that could be provided, including family training and home
visits, special instruction, service coordination, identification and assessment, medical
services (limited to diagnosis and evaluation) and health services,6 assistive
technology, and transportation necessary to benefit from services. The definition also
includes a list of providers, ranging from educators and therapists to pediatricians and
other physicians. Analogous to the least restrictive environment requirements of Part
B, Part C requires that “to the maximum extent feasible” services be provided in
“natural settings” or “natural environments,” including the home and in the
community with children who are not disabled.7
2(...continued)
communication, social/emotional, or adaptive development) and to require that appropriate
diagnostic assessments are to be used to determine such delays.
3U.S. Department of Education FY2002 Budget Justifications, p. H-30.
4Section 632(4).
5For example, under the Childcare and Development Block Grant, states set sliding scales for
parents’ co-payments based on income.
6A distinction is made between medical services, which are provided by a physician, for which
payments are limited to services related to determining eligibility, and health services, which
are provided by other health professionals and paraprofessionals and for which IDEA
payments are not limited.
7ED issued proposed amendments to the Part C regulations (65 FR 162, p. 53808-53869,
September 5, 2000). One purpose of these proposed regulations was to clarify the
interpretation of “natural environments.” In the discussion of the proposed regulations, ED
points out that “while ‘natural environments’ are the legally preferred settings for providing
early intervention services, it would be appropriate, under Part C of the Act and these
regulations, for a given child to receive one or more of the early intervention services in
another setting, if the child’s IFSP team, after reviewing the relevant information about the
child, makes that determination.” p. 53810. ED has withdrawn these proposed regulations
(67 FR 7, p. 1409-1410). Apparently ED decided to postpone any changes to the regulations
until after Part C is reauthorized.

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The specific services for an individual infant or toddler are to be detailed in an
individualized family service plan (IFSP),8 which is analogous to the individualized
educational plan (IEP) required under Part B for older children with disabilities. Part
C provides extensive details on the nature of the plan. The written plan is based on
a “multidisciplinary assessment” of the child’s strengths and needs and “a family-
oriented assessment” of the family’s resources, concerns, and priorities. A
multidisciplinary team, including the parents develops the plan. The plan includes
statements of:
! The child’s current level of development;
! The family’s resources, concerns, and priorities;
! Major expected outcomes for the child and timelines for achieving these
outcomes;
! Specific services required to meet the child’s needs;
! The natural environment in which services will be provided or justification
regarding the extent to which services will not be provided in a natural
environment;
! Dates of initiation and duration of services;
! Who will be the child’s service coordinator, who will be directly responsible
for implementing the plan; and
! Steps to be taken to ensure transition of the child from the program to
preschool or other appropriate services.
Overview of Requirements for Statewide Systems. Like other federal
grants programs including Part B of IDEA, Part C details requirements for states to
be eligible for grants. States then are required to assure and describe in state
applications their procedures for meeting statutory requirements. In general, to be
eligible for a Part C grant, a state must make available appropriate early intervention
services to all infants and toddlers with disabilities and have a statewide system to do
so.
Part C specifies that, at a minimum, a statewide system must have various
components, including:
! A state definition of “developmental delay”;
! A comprehensive “child find system (another analogue to Part B) to identify
and refer to service providers potentially eligible children in the state;
! Procedures for evaluating each child’s needs and the family’s concerns and
resources;
! An IFSP, as discussed above, for each child and family;
! Policies and procedures to ensure that, to the maximum extent possible,
services are provided in natural environments;
! A comprehensive personnel development system to recruit, prepare, and retain
qualified service providers (also analogous to Part B requirements);
! Related to the personnel system, the establishment and maintenance of
personnel standards to ensure proper training of service providers;
8Section 636.

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! A lead state agency identified by the Governor to provide overall oversight of
the system and coordinate with other state, federal, local, and private programs
that serve disabled infants and toddlers;
! Creation of a state interagency coordinating council, appointed by the
Governor, composed of various individuals (such as parents and
representatives of relevant state agencies);9 and
! Policies ensuring procedural safeguards discussed below.
To be eligible, a state must have an approved state application that, among other
things, provides assurances that the requirements for the statewide system are
fulfilled. Unless there are changes in law, regulation, or interpretation of law or
regulations, a state’s application submitted under Part H may still fulfill this
requirement of Part C.
Overview of Procedural Safeguards. Like Part B,10 Part C guarantees
certain rights for infants and toddlers with disabilities and their families.11 However,
Part C’s procedural safeguards are described as “minimum procedures” for statewide
systems and are not as detailed as those for school-aged children under Part B. In
addition to the right of parents to be involved in the IFSP discussed above, Part C
guarantees:
! The right of confidentiality of personally identifiable information;
! The right to accept or refuse some services without jeopardizing the right to
other services;
! The opportunity to examine records;
! Procedures to ensure the child’s rights if parents are unknown or unavailable;
! The right of written prior notice of decisions to change services or the place
where services are provided;
! The right of parents to be fully informed in their native language, and the right
to mediation as provided under Part B.
Parental disputes are to be resolved administratively in a timely manner. Like
Part B, Part C provides any party in disagreement with an administrative resolution
the right to bring civil action in the appropriate state court or in a U.S. district court.
Finally, like Part B, the child’s services and placements continue while a dispute is
being resolved unless the state agency and the parents agree otherwise.
Selected Additional Provisions of Part C. By reference to Sections 616,
617, and 618 of Part B, Part C grants certain powers and responsibilities to the
Secretary and extends certain Part B state information requirements to Part C
grantees. Section 616 empowers the Secretary to withhold grant funds as a result of
state or local failure to comply with requirements of Part C. Section 616 also
provides states with the right of federal judicial review of the Secretary’s decision
with respect to the state’s eligibility under IDEA. Section 617 grants the Secretary
9Part C also requires a federal interagency coordinating council.
10See Section 615.
11Section 639.

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the right to issue regulations and to hire personnel to assist in carrying out duties
under the act. The section also requires that the Secretary provide technical
assistance to the states in providing special education and complying with the Act.
Section 618 requires states receiving grants to provide the Secretary with certain
information and data on children served under the Act.
Part C requires that funds under the part be used, for the most part, as “payor
of last resort.” The basic principle is that Part C funds should not be used to pay for
services that otherwise would have been provided from other public or private source
if Part C did not exist. The exception is that Part C funds may be used initially to
ensure prompt services, under the assumption that these funds will be reimbursed by
the agency with ultimate responsibility for providing the services. Part C explicitly
prohibits states to use Part C funding to reduce medical or other assistance for or to
alter eligibility of infants and toddlers with disabilities available under the Maternal
and Child Health Act Block Grant or under Medicaid.12
Funding and Allocations to States. As Table 1 shows, compared to the
overall funding for IDEA, funding for Part C has grown relatively modestly between
FY1997 and FY2002, increasing by a total of about 32%. Although funding has
grown faster than funding for the preschool program, overall IDEA funding more than
doubled during this period — due mainly to increases in funds for the Part B grants
to states program. As a result, funding for Part C today accounts for a smaller share
of total IDEA funding (4.8%) than it did in FY1997 (7.8%).
Table 1. Funding for IDEA Early Childhood Programs
(Section 619 & Part C) and IDEA Total Funding (FY1997-FY2002)
(dollars in 1,000s)
Percentage
change
FY1997-
FY1997
FY1998
FY1999
FY2000
FY2001
FY2002
FY2002
Preschool
grants (Section
619
$360,409
$373,985
$373,985
$390,000
$390,000
$390,000
8.2%
Grants for
infants and
families (Part
C)
315,754
350,000
370,000
375,000
383,567
417,000
32.1%
Total IDEA
$4,035,979
$4,810,646
$5,334,146
$6,036,196
$7,439,948
$8,672,804
115.0%
Appropriations for the Act are authorized through FY2002 with an additional
year of authorization (i.e., through FY2003) automatically provided under Section
422 of the General Education Provisions Act (GEPA). For FY1998, the Act
12For an overview of the Maternal and Child Health Block Grant, see CRS Report 97-350,
Maternal and Child Health Block Grant, by Sharon Kearney. For an overview of the
Medicaid program, see CRS Report RS20245, Medicaid: A Fact Sheet, by Jean Hearne.

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authorized $400 million. The Act authorizes “such sums as may be necessary” for
fiscal years through FY2002.
The Act permits the Secretary of Education to reserve up to 1% of funds
appropriated for Part C for outlying areas (Guam, American Samoa, the Virgin
Islands, and the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands), and 1.25% of
appropriations for payments by the Secretary of the Interior to tribes and other
entities providing services to Indian infants and toddlers with disabilities. The actual
reservation for the outlying areas for FY2002 is about 0.77%. Of the remainder, the
Secretary is directed to allocate to the 50 states, the District of Columbia, and Puerto
Rico amounts in proportion to each state’s share of children under the age of 3;
except no state shall receive less than the state minimum grant of 0.5% of the amount
allocated to states or $500,000, whichever is the greater amount (if funds are
sufficient).13 If funds are insufficient, the Secretary is required to ratably reduce funds
to all states. There is no substate formula because the state through the lead agency
may contract with service providers as well as provide direct services and
coordinating services provided by other state entities.
The IDEA Preschool Program (Section 619)
Section 619 of IDEA authorizes grants to states for preschool programs serving
children with disabilities ages 3 to 5.14 States are eligible for these grants if they are
eligible for grants under the Part B grants to states and make available free
appropriate public education (FAPE) to all disabled children ages 3 to 5 in the state.15
Currently all states qualify and receive preschool grants under this section. Since Part
B grants to states are used to serve children with disabilities as young as 3 years of
age (as well as school-age children), Section 619 is not so much a separate program
as it is supplementary funding for services to this age group. In general, the
provisions, requirements, and guarantees under the grants to states program that
apply to school-age children with disabilities also apply to children in this age group.16
13At current appropriations levels, the minimum state grant under Part C is based on 0.5% of
the total allocation. For FY2002, this amount is about $2 million. Twelve states currently
receive this minimum grant amount.
14Section 619(a)(2) permits states to serve children as young as 2 years of age under Part B
if they will turn 3 during the school year.
15At the state’s discretion, children experiencing developmental delay (as defined by the state)
with respect to, for example, physical, cognitive, social, or emotional development may be
included as children with disabilities eligible for services.
16For a brief overview of the provisions of Part B, see CRS Report RL31259, IDEA
Provisions. The Part B requirements for preschool programs do not completely parallel the
requirements for school-age children with disabilities. For example, the IEPs for all children
covered by Part B must assess the child’s present level of academic performance. For school-
age children with disabilities, these assessments are made with respect to the general
curriculum in the school. This benchmark may not be appropriate for preschool programs.
So the benchmark for preschool children with disabilities is “the child’s participation in
appropriate activities.” (Section 614(d)(1)(A)(i)(II)) The requirement of the least restrictive
environment applies to serving preschool children with disabilities as it does to services to
(continued...)

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As a result, Section 619 is a relatively brief section of the law, which deals mostly
with the state and substate funding formulas for the grants and state-level activities.
Funding for Section 619. Appropriations are permanently authorized for
Section 619 under Section 619(j), which authorizes $500 million for FY1998 and
“such sums” thereafter. As Table 1 above indicates, funding for Section 619 has been
relatively stable since FY1997. Funding for preschool grants grew from $360 million
in that fiscal year to $390 million for FY2002, about an 8.2% increase. During the
same period, funding for IDEA overall more than doubled from about $4 billion to
nearly $8.7 billion. Most of this increase occurred in the Part B grants to states
program (the school-age program under IDEA). As a result, Section 619 funding,
which accounted for about 8.9% of total IDEA funding in FY1997, makes up about
4.5% of total FY2002 funding. It should be noted that although funding for the
preschool program has been relatively stable, overall federal funding for preschool
children with disabilities probably has grown more substantially in some states because
funds provided under the grants to states program can also be used to serve children
in this age group.17
State and Substate Formulas. The state and substate formulas for Section
619 are similar to those for the Part B grants to states program.18 The Act directs the
Secretary of Education to allocate funds19 (if funds for that fiscal year are greater than
funds for the preceding fiscal year) to states20 based on the following principles:
16(...continued)
school-age children. To the maximum extent possible these children must be served with their
nondisabled peers. However, this does not require that a state provide free public education
to all preschool children in order to meet this requirement. The least restrictive environment
(LRE) can be met by serving disabled preschoolers “in a variety of settings, including public
or private preschool programs, regular kindergarten, Head Start programs, or childcare
facilities.” U.S. Department of Education Budget Justifications for FY2002, p. H-21.
17According to the FY2002 ED Budget Justifications (p. H-24), about two-thirds of the states
and outlying areas use funds from the grants to states program to serve preschoolers with
disabilities.
18For further information, see CRS Report RL30810, Individuals with Disabilities Education
Act (IDEA): Issues Regarding “Full Funding” of Part B Grants to States, by Richard N.
Apling.
19The Act specifies that the Secretary shall allocate remaining funds after reserving funds for
studies and evaluations under Section 674(e), which permits the Secretary to reserve up to
one-half of 1% from funds for Parts B and C to carry out studies and evaluation and limits
this amount, once it reaches $20 million, to amounts based on inflation-adjusted increases. In
recent years, the Secretary has reserved somewhat less than $20 million for these purposes.
Apparently all of this reserve is taken from appropriations for Part B grants to states. Thus
the Secretary allocates the total appropriation for Section 619 to the states.
20Section 619 defines ‘state’ as the 50 states, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico.
There is no set aside for outlying areas, such as American Samoa or the U.S. Virgin Islands.
Section 619 requires the Secretary to increase the 1998 allotments for outlying areas under
Section 611 (the grants to states program) by the amount they received in FY1997 under
Section 619. According to the House Report accompany the bill (H.R. 5), the intent is to
(continued...)

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! Each state first receives the amount it received in 1997 (when the program was
last substantially revised) as a base grant;21
! 85% of remaining funds are allocated to states based on states’ shares of
population ages 3 to 5;
! 15% of remaining funds are allocated based on states’ shares of all children
ages 3 to 5 living in poverty;
! These initial allocations are then adjusted to ensure that no state receives less
than a series of hold harmless and minimum amounts and that no state receives
more than a maximum grant amount. A major limit on how much a state gains
when funds increase from one year to the next year is that no grant increase is
more than the percentage growth in overall appropriations plus or minus 1.5
percentage points.22
Since overall appropriations for the preschool grants have increased only modestly
since FY1997, most of the amounts for subsequent fiscal years are based on the 1997
grant amounts, which in turn were based on numbers of children with disabilities ages
3 to 5 in the various states. In addition, since appropriations have not changed over
the last 3 fiscal years, state grants have remained unchanged.
States are allowed to reserve certain amounts from their grants for administration
and other state-level activities. The Secretary calculates and reports these amounts
to each state. The overall amount for each state is calculated by increasing the state’s
prior year amount by: the rate of inflation or the percentage increase from the prior
year in the state’s overall Section 619 grant whichever is less.23 The state may use not
more than 20% of the reserve for administering the grant. The remaining 80% of the
reserve is used for other state-wide activities.
20(...continued)
“eliminate funding for the Outlying Areas under the Preschool Grants program and add an
amount equivalent to the amount they received in fiscal year 1997 to the fiscal year 1998
allocations the Outlying Areas would otherwise receive under the Grants to States program.
This would maintain overall funding for the Outlying Areas while eliminating paperwork
associated with their allocations under the Preschool Grants program, which is unduly
burdensome for the Outlying Areas given the nominal amount of funding involved.” H.Rept.
105-95, p. 115.
21This provision differs from the grants to states formula, which had a trigger appropriation
for the new formula. The trigger for that formula was exceeded in FY2000. Thus the base
grant for the Part B grants to states formula is each state’s FY1999 grant.
22For example, if overall appropriations were to grow by 20% from one fiscal year to the next,
state grant increases would most likely fall between 18.5% (20%-1.5%) and 21.5% (20% +
1.5%).
23The base amount for the state set-aside was 25% of the FY1997 grant. Since appropriations
have grown relatively minimally since FY1997 and not at all in the last 3 fiscal years, state’s
set-aside amounts presumably have changed very little.

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The state allocates the remaining amount (after subtracting the reserve for state
activities) to eligible local educational agencies (LEAs)24 based on a formula similar
to the federal-to-state formula:
! First the state determines a base grant for each LEA based on what the LEA
would have received under the prior-law version of Section 619 as if the state
had allocated 75% of its grant to the local level;
! 85% of the remaining funds are allocated based on each LEA’s share of public
and private school enrollment in the LEA’s jurisdiction;
! The remaining 15% is allocated based on each LEA’s share of children in
poverty, “as determined by the State.”; and
! There are no minimum or maximum LEA grant amounts.
State-Level Activities. As noted above, states are limited to using 20% of
the state-activities reserve for administrating Section 619. This includes coordination
with and providing technical assistance to other programs providing services to
children with disabilities. If the state educational agency (SEA) is the lead agency for
the Part C program (see above), administrative funds from Section 619 may also be
used for administering that program.
Section 619 directs states to use the remaining reserved funds for:
! Support services for children with disabilities,
! Certain direct services for preschool children with disabilities,
! Development of a state improvement plan, as required under Subpart 1 of Part
D,
! Activities related to performance goals required for all of Part B under Section
612(a)(16), and
! Development and implementation a statewide coordinated services system.25
Characteristics of Children Served. According to ED, nearly 600,000
children with disabilities are being served by the Preschool Grants program.
Participation in the program grew rapidly during the early and mid 1990s from about
370,000 to its current level, presumably as a result of more states qualifying for and
taking advantage of the program. More recently, growth in participation has leveled
off. For example, ED reported an increase of 2.5% in 2000 over the prior year.
ED reports the following breakdown of preschoolers with disabilities:
! 55% are children with speech or language impairments,
! 12% have learning disabilities,
24LEAs are eligible if they are eligible under the Part B grants to states as established by
Section 613.
25These systems are more fully described in Section 613(f) with respect to local eligibility
under the grant to state program. A major purpose of these systems is to coordinate services
provided under IDEA with services provided under other relevant federal programs, such as
Vocational Rehabilitation and Medicaid. The state may use not more than 1% of its grant for
this purpose.

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! 7% are identified with developmental delays,
! 2% are mentally retarded,
! 2% have serious emotional disturbance,
! 2% have other health impairments,
! 2% have physical impairments,
! 2% are autistic,
! 2% have multiple disabilities,
! 1% have hearing impaired, and
! 14% could not be identified using the study sample.26
Other Federal Programs Serving Preschoolers and/or Infants
and Toddlers27
Other federal programs support early childhood services. Since IDEA requires
coordination with many of these programs, it is useful to briefly consider several of
them. These programs currently provide funding for education and care, services to
education and care facilities, and tax credits to families for child care. Only the largest
programs which explicitly permit funds to be used in part for early education and care
are discussed here.28
Title I, Part A of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) is
the largest federal program serving disadvantaged children, particularly school-aged
children. In addition, after Head Start, it is the largest program providing early
education and care to young children. In the 1999-2000 school year, Title I funded
approximately $407 million in preschool services (total Title I funding was
approximately $7.9 billion during that period). School districts that received this
funding served approximately 313,000 preschool children (8% of the future
kindergarten population in this age group). However, preschool services are not
separately funded under Title I — such spending occurs if local educational agencies
(LEAs) choose to use some of their Title I funds for this purpose.
The William F. Goodling Even Start Family Literacy Programs provide
education and related services jointly to parents lacking a high school diploma (or
equivalent) and to their young children. Even Start services include basic academic
instruction and parenting skills training for the adults, and early childhood education
for their children through age 7 (children 8 and older may receive services if they are
provided in collaboration with ESEA Title I, Part A), along with necessary
supplementary services such as child care or transportation. Even Start received $250
million in funding for FY2002.
26The U.S. Department of Education FY2002 Budget Justifications, p. H-25. Total may
exceed 100% due to rounding.
27This section was prepared by Gail McCallion, based on her CRS Report RL31123, Early
Childhood Education: Federal Policy Issues.
28Tax credits and programs without early education as a primary focus, are not discussed here.
For a discussion of all federal childcare programs including tax credits, see CRS Report
RL30944, Child Care Issues in the 107th Congress, by Melinda Gish.

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The new initiative Early Reading First, authorized by Title I, Part B Subpart
2 of the No Child Left Behind Act, will provide competitive grants to LEAs and
community based organizations (CBOs) from the Secretary of Education to: provide
preschool age children (particularly those from low income families) with greater
opportunities for exposure to high-quality language and literature-rich environments,
support professional training, support acquisition of scientifically-based instructional
material on reading for preschoolers, and promote integration of these materials into
existing programs serving preschoolers. This new program received $75 million in
funding for FY2002.
The largest federal program with early education and care as its primary mission
is Head Start. The program is authorized through FY2003. For FY2002, Head
Start’s appropriation is $6.5 billion ($5.1 billion available in FY2002, $1.4 billion
available in FY2003.)29 The Head Start program provides educational services as well
as health, nutrition and other services to low income children to prepare them to enter
kindergarten. Grantees are required to reserve at least 10% of their slots for children
with disabilities. In 1994 Early Head Start was established so that children younger
than 3 could be served in greater numbers by the program. The law mandates that
certain amounts of the total Head Start appropriation be set-aside each year for Early
Head Start; in FY2002 and FY2003 the set-asides will be 10% each year.
The Child Care and Development Block Grant (CCDBG) is primarily a
program to provide child care subsidies to low-income parents and welfare recipients,
but also contributes to early education. It is administered by the Department of
Health and Human Services (HHS) and is distributed as block grants by formula to
the states. FY2002 funding for the program is $2.1 billion.30 This program’s
authorization expires at the end of FY2002.
The Social Services Block Grant (SSBG), authorized by Title XX of the
Social Security Act, is a block grant to states. States are authorized to use SSBG
funds for social services, including child care. SSBG is administered by HHS. It is
a capped entitlement, with state allocations based on population.31 FY2002 funding
for the program is $1.7 billion. In 1999, approximately 13% of SSBG funds were
used for child care.
A new program, the Early Learning Opportunities Act, proposed by the
Clinton Administration was authorized by the FY2001 Consolidated Appropriations
Act (P.L. 106-554). This program provides grants to communities to enhance school
readiness for children under 5 which is administered by HHS; specifically by funding
29 For information on Head Start, see CRS Report RL30952, Head Start: Background and
Funding, by Alice Butler and Melinda Gish.
30See CRS Report RL30785, The Child Care and Development Block Grant: Background
and Funding, by Alice Butler and Melinda Gish.
31States are entitled to their share, according to a formula, of a nationwide funding ceiling or
‘cap’ which is specified in the statute. See CRS Report 94-953, Social Services Block Grant
(Title XX of the Social Security Act), by Melinda Gish.

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efforts to improve the cognitive, physical, social, and emotional development of these
children. This program received $25 million in funding for FY2002.