Center for IDEA Fiscal Reporting

Center for IDEA Fiscal Reporting

Local Educational Agency (LEA) Maintenance of Effort (MOE) Organizer

expend and budget process cycle

State educational agencies (SEAs) and LEAs can use this Organizer to review regulations and identify technical assistance tools and resources to help them understand and implement federal LEA MOE requirements. An LEA receiving an IDEA Part B subgrant must budget and expend at least the same amount of local, or state and local, funds for the education of children with disabilities as it did in the previous year. LEAs must meet the:

  • Eligibility (Budget) Standard
  • Compliance (Expenditure) Standard

To get started, click on the relevant topic below.

Meeting the Eligibility (Budget) Standard Meeting the Compliance (Expenditure) Standard Reporting LEA MOE Data to OSEP
Federal Requirements Federal Requirements Federal Requirements
State Procedures State Procedures
Four Methods for Calculating MOE

  • Total Local Funds
  • Total State & Local Funds
  • Local Per Capita
  • State & Local Per Capita

Subsequent Years rule

 Preparing and
Submitting Your Data

Data Elements

Writing Data Notes
Calculating Exceptions

Intervening years
Calculating Adjustments

Intervening years
Planning for, Using, and Tracking Freed-up Funds
Consequences of
Not Meeting the
Eligibility Standard		 Consequences of
Not Meeting the
Compliance Standard

If you have questions about the contents of this resource guide, please contact us.

Acknowledgements:
Many CIFR staff contributed to this work. Sanay Abraham led the development team. Sara Doutre, Laura Johnson, Deb Morrow, Tom Munk, and Steven Smith were contributing authors. Vanessa Schreier was visual designer and Sanjay Pardanani was production coordinator. CIFR co-directors Cecelia Dodge, Jenifer Harr-Robins, and Dave Phillips guided its development.

Suggested Citation:
Center for IDEA Fiscal Reporting. (2017). Local educational agency maintenance of effort organizer. San Francisco, CA: WestEd.