During his 2008 campaign, President Barack Obama emphasized federally funding the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) to the promised target -- 40 percent of each state's "excess cost" of educating children with disabilities -- but it came nowhere close to that level.

In 2011, we rated this Promise Broken, as funding hovered between 17 and 20 percent. In 2016,  $12.98 billion was appropriated for IDEA -- not much higher than the 2011 level of  $12.53 billion.

IDEA was enacted in 1975 under President Gerald Ford, as the then-Education for All Handicapped Children Act. It strove to provide 40 percent of IDEA funding, making public schools more inclusive to students with disabilities.

Thanks to the bill, 60 percent of students with disabilities spend 80 percent of their time in general education classrooms today. The bill also provided early intervention services and programs to meet individual needs. But federal funding never reached the 40 percent mark.

However, there are two bills making their way through Congress that might change that.

If passed, the IDEA Full Funding Act would reauthorize and make appropriations for the grant program. It would increase the grant money each fiscal year from 2016 to 2025, until funding reaches the maximum amount each state is allowed to receive.

The IDEA High Cost Pool Funding Act would amend IDEA to provide fund "pools" to schools for special education programs that are three times or more the average cost per student, reimbursing local schools.

But there is no guarantee either of these will pass through Congress, or if the states will receive the full 40 percent of funding promised. The promise remains Promise Broken.

President Barack Obama stood firmly alongside special education advocates during his 2008 campaign, supporting the full funding Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA).

Obama's budget proposals have included gradual increases to funding the state grants for special education – including a small bump to $12.86 billion for 2012– but Congressional budget battles have made the prospects for full federal funding of the IDEA bleaker than ever.

Congress's promise to shoulder 40 percent of each state's "excess cost" of educating children with disabilities has dogged the act's supporters since it was passed in 1975. Actual federal commitment to the costs has recently hovered between 17 percent and 20 percent of the total in recent years.

That's certainly not going to change anytime soon, said Joel Packer, the executive director of the Committee for Education Funding, a nonprofit coalition of education funding advocates.

"We support full funding, but the chance of that happening is close to zero,” said Packer. "They haven't said let's cut IDEA, but they haven't proposed significant increases in IDEA. The problem overall is that Congress is fixated on cutting funding for everything.”

Senator Tom Harkin, D-Iowa, introduced legislation in July 2011 to fully fund IDEA at 40 percent, but it never left the Senate Finance Committee.

Without full funding, special education costs are shifted to state and local governments, where budgets are also shrinking.

Although Obama does not control Congressional purse strings, he emphasized his support of the full funding as part of his campaign. With long-term budget deficit issues, no one expects the appropriations to ever reach Obama"s goal, and since we rate the promises based on results rather than intent, we rate this Promise Broken.

The stimulus package passed by Congress in February and signed by President Barack Obama provided a massive infusion of money to the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act: $12.2 billion to be exact.

According to an April 1, 2009, news release from the Education Department, "The IDEA funds under (the stimulus) will provide an unprecedented opportunity for states, (local educational agencies), and early intervention service providers to implement innovative strategies to improve outcomes for infants, toddlers, children, and youths with disabilities while stimulating the economy."