Southeast Comprehensive Center eBulletin, Volume 3, Number 4: SECC RtI Funding

As states implement the Response to Intervention (RtI) framework, questions on how to fund RtI initiatives are of increasing importance for decision makers. Building principals, district superintendents, and state education agencies (SEAs) are challenged with how to fund RtI in a manner that complies with funding regulations guiding various federal and state programs.

On February 25–26, 2009, SECC convened key leaders from SEAs in six southeastern states to discuss various approaches to funding RtI during a summit held in Atlanta, GA. Participants attended an interactive session by representatives of various offices in the U.S. Department of Education (Title I, Title III, and the Office of Special Education Programs) to gain insight into fiscal policies that support the implementation of RtI and what is allowable under specific provisions of federal law. In addition, states and local education agencies (LEAs) that have extensive practical experience with RtI implementation, such as Iowa, Oregon, and Pennsylvania, as well as experts that are nationally recognized for their work with RtI systems (e.g., National Center on Response to Intervention) discussed the fiscal aspects of RtI implementation. SEA staff also networked with colleagues who are implementing RtI in the southeast region and participated in meaningful discussions around using various funding methods to implement RtI.

Based on information from SECC's evaluation and debriefing session on the summit, this edition of the SECC eBulletin discusses important lessons that were learned.