Special Education

Making Money Matter (M3): Fund Use

District decisions regarding M3 use of funds are based on the results of your district's root cause analysis (RCA) as well as your action plan (approved during the "Year 1" technical assistance (TA). M3 funds must be allocated to activities included in your district's action plan and/or directly aligned to your RCA outcomes.

As emphasized in the Department's TA content and process, M3 funded evidence-based practices (EBPs) for students with IEPs must target improved:

  • outcomes for students with IEPs,
  • effectiveness of local special education services,
  • adherence to the district standards and indicators definitions, as applied to special education policies and practices, and
  • cohesion with district improvement priorities for all students.

DESE expects that all district administrators (general and special) will collaborate to identify overlapping strategic objectives and initiatives in order to best use district resources for all students. Blending and braiding funds to establish/maintain high impact environments and evidence-based practices for all students is strongly encouraged. (Blending and braiding are processes for using multiple funding streams to support a common initiative. Blending refers to wrapping together multiple resources toward a common goal, and braiding refers to coordinating and tracking multiple funding sources toward the project.)

For example, M3 funds could be used to:

  1. Engage in additional self-assessment in order to uncover system gaps, with an emphasis on identifying gaps related to the intersectionality of ableness with historically underserved student groups. Toward this goal, participating LEA's can use data teams to collect and examine qualitative and quantitative data across schools, including teacher, home caregiver, and student perceptions, for differences that may be related to institutional bias in identification, placement, IEP objectives and services, service implementation, resource allocation, discipline, attendance, access to high quality, grade level evidence-based curriculum in the least restrictive environment, behavior management, extra-curricular participation, cultural relevance, WIDA standards support for multi-lingual learners, student sense of belonging to the school community, and academic performance across identifiable groups of students with IEPs; examine the root causes for differences; and develop methods for eliminating differences across student groups and providing equitable and academically rigorous services for all students with IEPs to thrive regardless of race, gender, ethnicity, primary language, family income, trauma experience, gender identity, gender expression, sexual orientation, or any other historically underserved student characteristic

  2. Identify and implement culturally and linguistically sustaining, high impact, asset and evidence-based practices to close gaps, which emphasize Tier 1 inclusive instructional practices, services, and supports for all students with IEPs, interrupting inequitable practices and ensuring inclusive school environments and opportunities for all students

  3. Build capacity and implement sustainable structures and systems for high quality, culturally relevant, academic and nonacademic services to all students with IEPs with fidelity and at scale, with an emphasis on building IEP service equity across student groups that addresses root causes of disparities through an equity conscious continuous improvement approach

  4. Seek to ensure equity in education by supporting individual cultures, identities, talents, abilities, languages, and interests of each student with an IEP to ensure that they receive the opportunities, resources, and academic rigor to meet their unique needs and aspirations and to reach their full potential, prioritizing racial equity because students of color have been historically prohibited and structurally excluded from educational opportunities

Last Updated: August 6, 2025

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