§ 7901 — Maintenance Of Effort

(a) A local educational agency may receive funds under a covered program 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 agency and the State with respect to the provision of free public education by the agency 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, subject to the requirements of subsection (b). (1) The State educational agency shall reduce the amount of the allocation of funds under a covered program in any fiscal year in the exact proportion by which a local educational agency fails to meet the requirement of subsection (a) of this section by falling below 90 percent of both the combined fiscal effort per student and aggregate expenditures (using the measure most favorable to the local agency), if such local educational agency has also failed to meet such requirement (as determined using the measure most favorable to the local agency) for 1 or more of the 5 immediately preceding fiscal years. (2) No such lesser amount shall be used for computing the effort required under subsection (a) of this section for subsequent years. (c) The Secretary may waive the requirements of this section if the Secretary determines that a waiver would be equitable due to— (1) exceptional or uncontrollable circumstances, such as a natural disaster or a change in the organizational structure of the local educational agency; or (2) a precipitous decline in the financial resources of the local educational agency.