Dani Lane, assistant professor in the School of Education, recently published a peer-reviewed chapter entitled "What’s in the Budget?: A Look at Finding for Inclusive Initiative in ESSA and IDEA in Resourcing Inclusive Education."
Dani Lane, assistant professor in the School of Education, recently published a peer-reviewed chapter entitled “What’s in the Budget?: A Look at Finding for Inclusive Initiative in ESSA and IDEA in Resourcing Inclusive Education.”
This chapter, co-authored by Nicholas Catania (University of South Florida), Sarah Semon (University of South Florida), Sharlene Smith (Rutgers University), and Phyllis Jones (University of South Florida), explores two policies guiding the education and funding related to students with and without disabilities in the United States.
The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) of 2004, which serves as the nation’s primary legislation outlining policies, procedures and funding for the education of students with disabilities and The Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) of 2015, which is regarded as the primary educational legislation concerned with funding to provide all students with access to a well-rounded education. The chapter provides an overview of the laws in relation to inclusion and funding for teacher professional development (PD) and argues in support of funding specifically aimed at the PD of highly effective classroom teachers.
This chapter also examines budgets from the most recent five years available and makes connections to issues related to funding for inclusive programming, including professional development of teachers. While ESSA does not guide PD of teachers, it guides the funding for said programmers. Through budget evaluations and analysis of the President’s rationale for decreasing funding under Title II of ESSA, this chapter demonstrates that the past President decreased funds for PD, recruitment, preparation and more on the basis that Title I funding of ESSA covers these activities. With the recent election in mind, this chapter explores how the budgets have impacted funding for inclusive programming while looking to the future and its impact on the preparation and development of teachers.
Lane joined the Elon faculty in 2018 as a pre-doctoral fellow. In 2019, she was promoted to assistant professor of education after earning her doctorate in curriculum and instruction with a concentration in special education from the University of South Florida in the spring of 2019. Her research focuses on global understandings of disabilities in various cultural contexts. Specifically, she is interested in centralizing the importance of inclusive practices in educational provisions that are provided to students with disabilities. Lane teaches courses in special education at the undergraduate level and serves as a university supervisor for pre-service teacher candidates. She also serves as the co-editor for the International Journal of Whole Schooling.