§1443 Allocation of Funds

Summary

The Secretary must set aside specific shares of the yearly money for different places and groups. Up to 1 percent can be held for Guam, American Samoa, the U.S. Virgin Islands, and the Northern Mariana Islands based on their needs, and the rules that let those areas combine grants under Public Law 95–134 do not apply to these funds. The Secretary must also send 1.25 percent of the total amount available to all States each year to the Secretary of the Interior. The Interior will split that money among tribes, tribal organizations, or consortia by using the number of infants and toddlers on each reservation divided by the total for all eligible tribes. Tribes must give the Interior the information needed for that split and must report every two years on activities, contracts, how many children were contacted and served each year, and how many will likely need services in the next two years. The tribal funds must be used for finding and screening children under 3, parent training, and early intervention services. Tribes may work directly or hire the Bureau of Indian Affairs, local school districts, or nonprofit groups, and they are encouraged to involve parents and refer families for more services. The Interior may not use these tribal funds for its own administrative work, child counts, or technical help. After the reservations and tribal payment, the Secretary must divide the rest among the States by the number of infants and toddlers in each State compared to all States. No State gets less than the greater of 1/2 of 1 percent of that remainder or $500,000. If the total money is too small to pay all those amounts, the Secretary must cut each State’s share proportionally, and must restore shares proportionally if more money later becomes available. If a State refuses its share, the money is reallotted to the other States. If yearly appropriations are more than $460,000,000, the Secretary must set aside 15 percent of that amount for grants to States carrying out the policy in section 1435(c). Those grants are split by the same ratio of infants and toddlers, but no State gets more than 20 percent of the reserved amount. Money not obligated by the start of the first fiscal year after it was allotted remains available for that first year; money still not used by the start of the second fiscal year is returned and used for State grants under section 1433 from their allotments. Definitions: infants and toddlers — children under 3 years of age; State — the 50 States, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico.