For the last several years, Congress has pledged to do just about anything to support special education – anything, that is, except actually fund its share of the mandate that requires “free and appropriate public education” to all handicapped children. Governors go to Washington to demand the money, members of Congress tell voters they support full funding, presidential candidates pledge to deliver on the issue and still nothing, or next to nothing, happens. It may be the single most supported yet unsupported issue around.

The taxpaying public, whose state and local tax dollars have gone to covering the federal shortfall, may wonder why a subject as popular as paying for special education isn’t quickly passed in Congress and enthusiastically endorsed by the president. There are a handful of theories about this, and one of the more reasonable holds that Congress can get just as much praise for a small increase to special education – officially called the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act or IDEA – as for a major increase. By boosting the funds just a bit each session, politicians “win” on special education year after year.

The federal funding goal for IDEA is 40 percent of the total cost; it now covers almost 15 percent nationally, a little less than 11 percent in Maine. Maine Sens. Olympia Snowe and Susan Collins have joined Vermont Sen. Jim Jeffords to put an end to the incremental-funding strategy. Their bill would raise IDEA funding by $2.5 billion every year for six years, until it hit the 40 percent goal. Rep. John Baldacci has introduced similar legislation in the House that would take a decade to reach this goal.

Local school districts might prefer the full 40 percent immediately, but even in these times of surplus that isn’t likely to happen, and the fight to achieve it would put members of Congress back in the same place of declaring victory if they got even a small portion of the total. The six-year plan sets out expectations of significant funding increases each year – if politicians wanted extra credit, they would have to beat the annual $2.5 billion. The long-term funding proposal lets states and school districts plan, saves districts significant local money yet the protects IDEA from becoming blamed if other federal education programs aren’t fully funded.

For Maine, the difference between the current level of IDEA funding and the full federal share is about $68 million, bringing the total federal contribution to $90 million. For a sense of scale, the figure represents about 50 percent more than the proposed increase next year in General Purpose Aid to Education, the state’s overall funding for K-12 education. It would make a large difference in Maine, providing needed services and holding the line on local tax increases.

To get the money, however, Maine and all other states need Congress to stop praising the thought of increasing funds to special education and start actually increasing them.