§1443 Allocation of Funds

Summary

The Secretary of Education may hold back up to 1 percent of the yearly money for Guam, American Samoa, the U.S. Virgin Islands, and the Northern Mariana Islands based on their needs. The rule that lets those territories combine some grants does not apply to this money. The Secretary must also send 1.25 percent of the total State-available funds each year to the Secretary of the Interior. The Interior Secretary will split that money among tribes, tribal groups, or consortia by each group’s share of infants and toddlers living on their reservations. To get money, tribes must give the Interior Secretary the information needed to count children. The money must help find and screen Indian children under age 3, train parents, and can pay for early intervention services. Tribes can work directly or hire the Bureau of Indian Affairs, local school agencies, or nonprofits. Tribes should involve parents and make referrals when more services or diagnoses are needed. Tribes must report every two years about contracts, how many children were contacted and served each year, and how many children will likely need services in the next two years. The Interior Secretary will share a summary with the Secretary of Education. The Interior may not use these funds for its own administrative costs, child counts, or technical help. After those set-asides, the Secretary of Education divides the remaining money to States based on each State’s share of infants and toddlers. No State gets less than the larger of ½ of 1 percent of that remainder or $500,000. If there is not enough money to pay full shares, the Secretary will lower each State’s amount proportionally, and raise them back proportionally if more money appears. If a State gives up its share, the money is redivided to the other States. If annual appropriations under the related funding law are more than $460,000,000, the Secretary must set aside 15 percent for State incentive grants for States doing the policy in section 1435(c). Those grants are split by each State’s share of infants and toddlers, but no State can get more than 20 percent of the reserved amount. Unspent incentive grant money can be used in the first year after it was awarded. If still unspent by the second year after award, it returns to the Secretary and is used for regular State allotments. Definitions: “infants” and “toddlers” = children under 3 years old; “State” = the 50 States, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico.