Individuals with Disabilities Education Act & Maintenance of Effort

According to the Individuals with Disabilities Education Improvement Act (IDEA) of 2004, Sec.613 (a)(2) (A)(iii), and federal regulation 34 C.F.R. section 300.203, states must ensure that all districts budget and expend for the education of children with disabilities in local, or state and local funds, an amount which is at least the same in total or per capita, as the amount spent in the most recent fiscal year for which information is available. This is known as Maintenance of Effort (MOE).

The Office for Exceptional Children (OEC) is responsible to ensure each district meets IDEA MOE on an annual basis, in order to be eligible for IDEA Part B funding. With certain exceptions, IDEA Part B funds must not be used by a district to reduce the level of expenditures for the education of children with disabilities made by the district from local funds below the level of those expenditures for the preceding year. 34 CFR §300.203(b)

To determine if MOE has been met ODE annually compares the total district local or state and local expenditures as reported by the district to EMIS.

Maintenance of Effort calculations take place after districts have completed submitting their Period H and Period S EMIS data. Districts that appear to have failed MOE will be contacted by the Office for Exceptional Children for follow-up and next steps. To access the MOE system, districts should log into their CCIP menu and click on “MOE Home” located in the Funding flyout menu on the left side of the screen. Instructions for the use of the system are available via the User Manuals tab at the top of the MOE system page. 
 

§ 300.204 Exception to maintenance of effort

Notwithstanding the restriction in § 300.203(b), a district may reduce the level of expenditures by the district under Part B of the Act below the level of those expenditures for the preceding fiscal year if the reduction is attributable to any of the following:
(a) The voluntary departure, by retirement or otherwise, or departure for just cause, of special education or related services personnel.
(b) A decrease in the enrollment of children with disabilities.
(c) The termination of the obligation of the agency, consistent with this part, to provide a program of special education to a particular child with a disability that is an exceptionally costly program, as determined by the State Education agency, because the child—
(1) Has left the jurisdiction of the agency;
(2) Has reached the age at which the obligation of the agency to provide FAPE to the child has terminated; or
(3) No longer needs the program of special education.
(d) The termination of costly expenditures for long-term purchases, such as the acquisition of equipment or the construction of school facilities.
(e) The assumption of cost by the high cost fund operated by the State Education agency under § 300.704(c).

(Approved by the Office of Management and Budget under control number 1820–0600) (Authority: 20 U.S.C. 1413(a)(2)(B))

Other considerations regarding MOE

1. Errors in reporting Expenditures and/or ADM via EMIS to ODE.
2. Adjustments (also called Local Replacement)- § 300.205 Adjustment to local fiscal efforts in certain fiscal years.
(a) Amounts in excess.
Notwithstanding § 300.202(a)(2) and (b) and § 300.203(a), and except as provided in paragraph (d) of this section and § 300.230(e)(2), for any fiscal year for which the allocation received by a district under § 300.705 exceeds the amount the district received for the previous fiscal year, the district may reduce the level of expenditures otherwise required by § 300.203(a) by not more than 50 percent of the amount of that excess.
(b) Use of amounts to carry out activities under ESEA.
If a district exercises the authority under paragraph (a) of this section, the district must use an amount of local funds equal to the reduction in expenditures under paragraph (a) of this section to carry out activities that could be supported with funds under the ESEA regardless of whether the district is using funds under the ESEA for those activities.
(c) State prohibition.
Notwithstanding paragraph (a) of this section, if a State Education agency determines that a district is unable to establish and maintain programs of FAPE that meet the requirements of section 613(a) of the Act and this part or the State Education agency has taken action against the district under section 616 of the Act and subpart F of these regulations, the State Education agency must prohibit the district from reducing the level of expenditures under paragraph (a) of this section for that fiscal year.
(d) Special rule.
The amount of funds expended by a district for early intervening services under § 300.226 shall count toward the maximum amount of expenditures that the district may reduce under paragraph (a) of this section.

(Approved by the Office of Management and Budget under control number 1820–0600) (Authority: 20 U.S.C. 1413(a)(2)(C))

Allowable Replacement of Local Expenditures

A district receiving an increased allocation over the prior year’s allocation may use 50% of the increased amount to replace its local expenditures. 

Benefits include: reduction of local expenditures and reduction of the district's Maintenance of Effort (MOE) amount. 

Exercising this MOE flexibility requires that a district separately account for its use of the freed-up state or local funds to assure the replaced amount was still used for the purpose of supporting activities related to ESEA. Typically, simply using a separate job code in the accounting details provides a sufficient audit trail.
 

COMBINING MOE FLEXIBILITY WITH CEIS

Districts may choose to implement both MOE Flexibility and CEIS in the same fiscal year.  In doing so, a district must be attentive to the fiscal restrictions that each program has on the other.  The IDEA Part B Use of Funds Guidance document provides a description of how one program impacts the other as well as offering several examples of the amounts of Part B funds that may be used to implement these two programs simultaneously. 

Last Modified: 8/18/2022 3:35:56 PM