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SUPPORTING INDIVIDUALS WITH DISABILITIES

President Obama is committed to fostering a society that values the contributions of all people, including 

individuals with disabilities. Although we have made advances in education, employment, and civil rights 

for individuals with disabilities, we must do more to fulfill the promise of equal access and opportunity. 

Educational, economic, and health outcomes for people with disabilities are still much lower than their 

peers without disabilities, and ensuring that individuals with disabilities are achieving to the highest levels 

possible is a national imperative.

The Administration has proposed changes to the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) to 

ensure that the needs of students with disabilities are addressed throughout ESEA, and has continued to 

include students with disabilities in all of its education reform efforts. The Administration is also working 

to improve the participation of individuals with disabilities in our nation’s public workforce system and 

increase the employment of individuals with disabilities, including by providing grants to States and other 

entities to create innovative models for service delivery that are likely to improve their employment 

outcomes.

The President’s fiscal year 2015 budget request provides increased investments in education for children 

with disabilities as well as targeted investments that encourage innovation and advance the employment 

and independence of individuals with disabilities.

 IDEA Part B Grants to States ($11.6 billion). These formula grants support States and 

districts in providing special education and related services to students with disabilities. The

grants are critical to the efforts of states and districts to provide the more than 6.5 million

students with disabilities ages 3 through 21 served by Part B a free appropriate public education 

(FAPE) that meets their unique needs. By maintaining significant support for Part B, the 

Administration is helping to ensure that students with disabilities receive the special education 

and related services necessary to participate in the general education curriculum to the maximum 

extent possible and are prepared for college and careers. 

o Results Driven Accountability (RDA) Incentive grants ($100 million): Within the 

IDEA Grants to States program, this request includes $100 million for RDA grants to 

improve special education services for children with disabilities served under Parts B and C 

of IDEA while also building State and local capacity to continue to improve outcomes for 

those children in the long-term. States receiving incentive grants would have a demonstrated 

commitment to using results data in their IDEA-required LEA determinations, consistent 

with the Department’s RDA system, to support their efforts to implement evidence-based 

practices that have a demonstrated positive impact on results for children with disabilities.

 IDEA Part C Grants for Infants and Families ($442 million). These formula grants help

States implement statewide systems of early intervention services to assist all eligible infants and 

toddlers with disabilities from birth through age two and their families. The request would 

increase the average State allocation by over $60,000 to help States serve an estimated 340,000 

infants and toddlers. 

 IDEA Part B Preschool Grants ($353 million). These formula grants help States provide

FAPE in the least restrictive environment to all children with disabilities ages 3 through 5. This 

request, supplemented by the funds requested for the IDEA Part B Grants to States program, 
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would help ensure that 750,000 young children with disabilities will be ready to succeed when 

they enter school. 

 National Activities under IDEA ($225 million). These funds would be used to improve

services and supports for children with disabilities and advance the field through funding for

technical assistance, personnel development and preparation, parent information centers, and 

educational technology, media, and materials. The National Activities programs link States, 

school systems, and families to best practices to improve results for infants, toddlers, and 

children with disabilities.

 Improving the achievement of students with disabilities. The Administration believes

strongly that all students, including students with disabilities, should enter school ready to learn 

and have access to high-quality interventions and effective teachers. The President’s 2015 budget 

request includes funds for programs that would support these goals, such as:

o College- and Career-Ready Students program ($14.4 billion). This program would 

strengthen school, district, and State accountability by continuing to require disaggregated 

reporting of achievement data for students with disabilities, asking States to implement 

meaningful interventions in schools with the largest achievement gaps, and measuring 

student growth as well as achievement.

o Preschool for All ($1.3 billion). This new initiative would provide universal access to 

high-quality preschool for four-year-old children from low and moderate income families, 

including children with disabilities. The program would give more children with disabilities 

and developmental delays the opportunity to participate in inclusive, high-quality preschool 

programs to prepare them for success in school and in life.

o Preschool Development Grants ($500 million). This program would pave the way for 

the successful implementation of Preschool for All by providing competitive grants to 

States and localities to build or enhance high-quality preschool program infrastructure or to 

scale up high-quality programs in targeted communities that could serve as models for the 

Preschool for All initiative.

 Race to the Top Equity and Opportunity ($300 million). This new initiative is designed to 

drive comprehensive change in how States and Local Educational Agencies identify and close 

educational opportunity and achievement gaps, including for students with disabilities. Building 

on previous Race to the Top competitions, RTT-Equity and Opportunity (RTT-Opportunity) 

aims to support, spotlight, and drive systemic changes at the state and local level. Grantees 

would enhance their data systems to place sharp focus on the districts, schools, and student 

groups with the greatest disparities in opportunity and academic performance, while also being 

able to identify the most effective interventions. They would develop thoughtful, 

comprehensive strategies for addressing these gaps, and use the data to continuously improve. 

Grantees would invest in strong teaching and school leadership, using funds to develop, attract,

and retain more effective teachers and leaders in high-need schools through strategies such as 

individualized professional learning and career ladder opportunities. States would collect data on 

school level expenditures, make that data transparent and accessible, and use it to improve the 

effectiveness of resources and support continuous program improvement. Participating districts 

would be required to ensure that their state and local funds are distributed fairly by 

implementing a more meaningful comparability standard based on this school level expenditure 
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data. Grant funds could also be used, for example, to provide rigorous coursework; improve 

school climate and safety; strengthen students’ non-cognitive skills; develop and implement fair 

and appropriate school discipline policies; expand learning time; provide mental, physical, and 

social emotional supports; expand college and career counseling; and identify and carry out 

strategies that help break up and mitigate the effects of concentrated poverty. The program also 

will help states and districts to improve the use and effectiveness of resources from other federal 

programs. 

 Vocational Rehabilitation (VR) State Grants program ($3.3 billion). These grants help 

States and tribal governments increase the participation of individuals with disabilities in the 

workforce. The $33 million increase over the fiscal year 2014 mandatory level would offset the 

reduction in funds resulting from the Administration’s proposal to eliminate separate funding 

authorities for smaller VR-related programs that can be carried out by the VR State Grants 

program. Eliminating these separate funding authorities would reduce duplication of effort and 

administrative costs and streamline program administration at the Federal and local levels. The 

Department recognizes the need to improve employment outcomes for individuals with 

disabilities, particularly individuals with significant disabilities and transition-age youth with 

disabilities. In order to improve the effectiveness of the VR program, we are moving forward on 

a number of fronts, including revising our accountability framework to strengthen the focus of 

monitoring and technical assistance efforts on improving employment and transition outcomes

and on how State VR agencies use their funds to improve performance and results of the VR 

program. 

 Disability Innovation Fund. The FY 2015 request includes language that would allow the

Secretary to use funds that remain available after the reallotment of funds to States under the VR 

State Grants program to support innovative activities aimed at improving services and

employment outcomes for individuals with disabilities, including activities under the Promoting 

Readiness of Minors in Supplemental Security Income (PROMISE) program. After paying 

continuation costs of the PROMISE program, the Administration proposes to use funds that 

remain available at the end of fiscal year 2015 for a new Transition Model System initiative that 

would support the development and testing of a coordinated model system of transition 

planning, services, and supports in order to improve postsecondary results for youth with 

disabilities. 

 National Institute on Disability and Rehabilitation Research (NIDRR). The 

Administration’s request includes an increase of $4.0 million over the 2014 level for NIDRR 

research activities, including support for research in the employment domain under a new 

regulatory framework that NIDRR intends to have in place for its research activities in fiscal year 

2015. Based on NIDRR’s revised Long-Range Plan, published in final in an April 2013 Federal 

Register notice, NIDRR established three domains—employment, health and function, and 

community living and participation. In light of the need to learn more about employment 

practices that improve outcomes for people with disabilities, the Administration will expand 

NIDRR’s employment portfolio.