For a Local Educational Agency (LEA) to receive Federal Special Education funds, it must meet a Maintenance of Effort (MOE) requirement. Learn about the concepts of MOE in just 10 minutes with this MOE Primer. 

Meeting the Requirement

To meet MOE, the LEA must spend the same amount or more in the test year as it did in the comparison year. For example, if the LEA had expenditures of $126,000 in the test year, and had $120,000 in the comparison year, it met its MOE requirement (as $126,000 is greater than $120,000):

Note the Following MOE Details:

• There are two MOE test years.
• Each test year has four MOE tests.
• The comparison year depends on the MOE Subsequent Years Rule.
• There are up to five MOE reports.
• There are certain costs included and excluded in MOE Expenditures. 
• An LEA may be able to reduce its level of effort using the following:
  • MOE Exempt Reductions
  • MOE Federal Reductions
• Not meeting MOE could have penalties.