Nashville, TN – Tennessee State Senator Bill Powers (R-Clarksville) announced today that Montgomery County, Houston County and Stewart County school districts will receive a total of $164,356 in grants to provide compensatory services and support innovative approaches to the remediation of students with disabilities due to extended COVID-19 Coronavirus related school closures.
“It is extremely important for our education system to ensure the needs of students with disabilities are met, and I am pleased these grants are going to our local school districts” said Powers. “As the parent of a child with disabilities, I understand the necessity of compensatory services for students with disabilities.”
” The COVID-19 Coronavirus pandemic has taken a significant toll on us all, but especially the disabled population. These funds will help students with disabilities stay on track when they return to school this fall by providing essential supports,” Powers stated.
Compensatory services are services that should be provided to a student, when needed, to elevate the student to the position they would have otherwise occupied had services not been delayed or postponed. It is a remedy designed to deliver services that a student should have received in order to be provided a free appropriate public education (FAPE).
The Clarksville-Montgomery County School System (CMCSS) will receive $147,000; Stewart County School District will receive $10,722; and Houston County School District will receive $6,634.
The funds will be administered by the Tennessee Department of Education. These one-time, compensatory grant funds will be disbursed to districts July 1st as an increase in districts’ federal IDEA part B formula funding. Allocations are based on each district’s relative share of the state’s IDEA part B allocations for the most recent year for which the department has final allocations (FY20).
Districts will then be able to budget these additional funds in concert with their FY21 allocation for IDEA part B for the purposes of providing compensatory services required by law.
