Funding
Most curriculum decisions are not lost on the merits. They are lost because nobody could answer which pot of money pays for it. Here is the short version.
In most districts, a special education curriculum is bought with IDEA Part B funds. Title I can support foundational-skills instruction in high-poverty schools when it is part of a schoolwide program, state programs such as Texas PDSES put money directly in parents' hands, and competitive grants are the usual route for a single classroom or a pilot. Allowability for any particular purchase is decided by your district's federal programs officer — this page explains what each fund is for so that conversation starts in the right place.
The main federal special-education funding stream. Flows by formula to every district, and pays for specially designed instruction and the materials that deliver it.
Supports students at risk of not meeting state standards. In a schoolwide program, funds can support instruction reaching all students — not only those identified.
Competitive grants from foundations, service organizations and corporate giving programs — the route most often used for a first classroom set.
Our own grant program, awarding ARIS curriculum and materials to classrooms that would not otherwise be able to fund them.
Generally yes. IDEA Part B funds pay for the specially designed instruction described in students' IEPs, and for the instructional materials used to deliver it, provided the purchase is reasonable and necessary for that purpose and benefits students with disabilities. Allowability for any specific purchase is determined by your district's federal programs officer, not by a vendor.
Title I is not a special-education fund, but in a schoolwide program a school may use its Title I funds to upgrade the whole instructional program, which can include foundational-skills instruction that reaches students with and without IEPs. Title I cannot be used to meet an obligation the district already owes a student under IDEA.
Federal funds must add to, not replace, the state and local money a district would otherwise have spent. In practice a district demonstrates it has a documented, non-federal methodology for allocating its own funds, and that the federal purchase is additional to that baseline.
The district's federal programs or business office, applying its own policies and its state education agency's guidance. A vendor can describe how a product is typically funded; it cannot approve a use of federal money, and you should be wary of any that says otherwise.
This page describes federal programs in general terms. It is not legal or grants advice, and it cannot tell you that a specific purchase is allowable in your district — only your own federal programs officer, applying your state's guidance, can do that.
We can provide a quote, a purchase-order-ready W-9, and a written description of ARIS mapped to the language your business office needs to see.
