WASHINGTON - Maine Sen. Susan Collins says the Senate budget for education programs passed earlier this summer has a small increase in funding for special education programs.
Maine currently gets about $59 million a year and that would likely go up slightly under the proposal. Collins welcomes the increase, but says it falls short of the federal funding goal.
"If there is one thing we could do that would help every school district in this state and in this country it would be for the federal government to meet its obligation."
Decades ago that obligation was set at 40 percent of the cost of special education programs, a goal that has never been met.
Collins says the Senate funding level is higher than what has been approved in the House and there has yet to be a conference committee to work out budget differences.
The current federal budget runs out at the end of September.
