The Department of Education last week released final regulations for a section of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act that grants scholarship money to school personnel, including administrators, teachers, and paraprofessionals, who want to improve their skills in dealing with students in special education. These scholarships are authorized under Part D of the education law.
The regulations were published in the June 5 edition of the Federal Register.
People who receive the scholarships are required to work with infants, toddlers, or students with disabilities for at least two years for every academic year for which they received a scholarship. The new regulations now allow scholarship recipients an additional five years to complete their service, rather than the three years they had under previous regulations.
In addition, the rules allow a scholarship recipient to work in fields such as policy, program development, or administration, as long as 51 percent of his or her time is spent performing work in the field for which the scholarship was received.
The regulations take effect July 5.
