New Mexico may be spending too little on special education to qualify for perhaps as much as %93 million in aid this year from the federal government.
Legislators were recently told by state education officials that $43 million to $93 million in grants could be withheld in future years by the Feds.
Officials say the problem is that the state failed to abide by a requirement to not reduce its own spending on federally funded programs and so far has failed to obtain a waiver from the federal Department of Education. The deadline to resubmit the waiver request is this Friday February 1.
Legislators say they're still trying to sort out exactly what happened and why.
Meanwhile, they express concern about what the situation means for the state's education budget.