Title 20 › Chapter CHAPTER 55— - EDUCATION OF THE DEAF › Subchapter SUBCHAPTER II— - GENERAL PROVISIONS › § 4357
Creates permanent federal endowment funds for Gallaudet University and for the National Technical Institute for the Deaf (NTID) to help each school become more financially independent. The Secretary can put federal money into these funds and will match, dollar-for-dollar, nonfederal contributions made to a fund in the same fiscal year, as long as money is available. Each school must invest the federal portion and any income in low-risk investments offered through certain educational service groups or in safe investments allowed for insurance companies under the state law where the school is located. Schools must act prudently, may not buy real estate or invest in companies controlled by their own officers or trustees, and may not pledge the fund without the Secretary’s written OK. Schools may not touch the fund’s principal (corpus) except in rare cases. They may spend fund income for necessary school operations (like maintenance, staff, building work, student and community programs, technical help, and research), but not for commercial uses. Schools must keep records of prior-year income and may spend no more than 50 percent of the current year’s income each year unless the Secretary allows more or lets them use corpus because of a verified emergency (insolvency, life-threatening disaster, or other urgent event). After 10 fiscal years following a matched federal payment, that payment’s corpus and its income are free of the special investment and withdrawal limits. The Secretary can recover federal payments after notice and a hearing if funds are misused or not properly accounted for. Appropriations were authorized as needed for fiscal years 2009 through 2014 and remain available until spent. Effective as if included on August 4, 1986. Key terms (one line each): corpus = federal payments plus nonfederal contributions and gains; Federal endowment fund = the fund set up to support the school; income = dividends and interest the fund earns; institution involved = Gallaudet University or NTID.
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Education — Source: USLM XML via OLRC
Legislative History
Reference
Citation
20 U.S.C. § 4357
Title 20 — Education
Last Updated
Apr 6, 2026
Release point: 119-73