What is maintenance of effort (MOE)?
Maintenance of Effort means that a funding recipient is required to maintain a specified level of state and local funding as a condition for receiving a continued level of federal funding. Typically, a local educational agency (LEA) may receive federal funds for any fiscal year only if the State educational agency finds that either the combined fiscal effort per student or the aggregate expenditures of the LEA and the State with respect to the provision of free public education by the LEA for the preceding fiscal year was not less than 90 percent of the combined fiscal effort or aggregate expenditures for the second preceding fiscal year. (NCLB, Section 9521). (The MOE requirements may vary depending upon the specific federal program. Consult the applicable federal program statute.
Any state or school district/local education agency (LEA) that receives any federal IDEA funds must agree each year to pay the same share of the state and local cost of special education that they paid the previous year. For example, if the LEA spent $100,000 of state and local funds for special education services in FY2008, it must spend at least $100,000 in FY2009 to be eligible to receive IDEA funding in FY2009. The level of state and local expenditures that must be maintained by the LEA to continue to receive federal funding is called maintenance of effort (MOE). Failure to meet MOE requirements may result in a reduction of federal funding. Funds provided to an LEA under Part B of this Act must not be used to reduce the level of expenditures for the education of children with disabilities made by the LEA from local funds below the level of those expenditures for the preceding year.
