SECTION XVII: USE OF FUNDS
Policy Statement
The Special Education Program in Palau is funded primarily through the IDEA ’04 Part B formula grant. Unlike states, however, a child count is not required to establish funding levels, and the direct relationship between allocated funds and services to individual children in the formula for states is not applicable. The MOE, as a unitary SEA/LEA, directly administers the public education programs for children and youth with disabilities aged birth to 21 in Palau. The MOE assures as a condition of receipt of its IDEA ’04 Part B funds, that such funds are used to either deliver or support services to children and youth with disabilities, or to enhance the MOE’s capacity to provide FAPE to children with disabilities.
Implementation Procedures
A. Policies and Procedures for Use of Part B Funds. In order to receive grant funds, the MOE assures that it will comply with the requirements of Part B of IDEA ’04. All expenditures are initiated or reviewed by the Special Education Coordinator and are also reviewed by the Federal Grants Manager and other respective offices appropriate in the MOE and Ministry of Finance. All funds are used to either provide direct services to children with disabilities, or to enhance the Special Education Program’s capacity to provide FAPE to children with disabilities.
B. Prohibition Against Commingling. ROP assures that it will not commingle funds received under IDEA ’04 with other Republic funds and annually submits an assurance statement to the Secretary of DOE to this effect. The MOE maintains a separate accounting system for all IDEA ’04 funds for administrative, accounting and audit purposes. The Ministry ensures that proper fiscal control and fund accounting procedures are employed in disbursing of and accounting for Federal funds.
C. State Level Non-Supplanting. The Republic of Palau assures that funds received under IDEA Part B will be used to supplement the level of other Republic funds expended for the education of children with disabilities and in no case to supplant local funds.
D. Maintenance of State Financial Support. Annually, the Ministry makes available in-kind local support to special education programs. The MOE will not reduce the amount of local support for special education and related services for children with disabilities, or otherwise make available a lower amount of support than that of the preceding fiscal year.
If for any fiscal year, Palau fails to meet the above requirement, the financial support required in future years shall be the amount that would have been required in the absence of that failure and not the reduced level of the Republic’s in-kind support.
E. Sub-grants to LEAs. The MOE is a unitary SEA/LEA, which means that it is the sole recipient of Federal IDEA ’04 Part B funds. There are currently no LEAs in Palau and no sub-grants.
F. Recovery of Funds for Misclassified Children. As a Freely Associated State, IDEA ’04 stipulates that the ROP receives a fixed amount of funds annually through Part B of the Act, and a child count is not used to establish this funding level for IDEA ’04 funds. The direct relationship between allocated funds and services to individual children in the formula applied to states is not applicable to the Freely Associated State and their current funding stream. However, as noted above, the MOE must otherwise comply with the requirements of Part B, and assures as a condition of receipt of IDEA ’04 funds, that such funds are used to either provide direct services to children with disabilities or to enhance the MOE’s capacity to provide FAPE to children with disabilities.