34 CFR § 300.204 - Exception to maintenance of effort.

---
identifier: "/us/cfr/t34/s300.204"
source: "ecfr"
legal_status: "authoritative_unofficial"
title: "34 CFR § 300.204 - Exception to maintenance of effort."
title_number: 34
title_name: "Education"
section_number: "300.204"
section_name: "Exception to maintenance of effort."
chapter_name: "OFFICE OF SPECIAL EDUCATION AND REHABILITATIVE SERVICES, DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION"
part_number: "300"
part_name: "ASSISTANCE TO STATES FOR THE EDUCATION OF CHILDREN WITH DISABILITIES"
positive_law: false
currency: "2026-03-24"
last_updated: "2026-03-24"
format_version: "1.1.0"
generator: "[email protected]"
authority: "20 U.S.C. 1221e-3, 1406, 1411-1419, and 3474; Pub. L. 111-256, 124 Stat. 2643; unless otherwise noted."
regulatory_source: "71 FR 46753, Aug. 14, 2006, unless otherwise noted."
cfr_part: "300"
---


# 300.204 Exception to maintenance of effort.

Notwithstanding the restriction in § 300.203(b), an LEA may reduce the level of expenditures by the LEA under Part B of the Act below the level of those expenditures for the preceding fiscal year if the reduction is attributable to any of the following:

(a) The voluntary departure, by retirement or otherwise, or departure for just cause, of special education or related services personnel.

(b) A decrease in the enrollment of children with disabilities.

(c) The termination of the obligation of the agency, consistent with this part, to provide a program of special education to a particular child with a disability that is an exceptionally costly program, as determined by the SEA, because the child—

(1) Has left the jurisdiction of the agency;

(2) Has reached the age at which the obligation of the agency to provide FAPE to the child has terminated; or

(3) No longer needs the program of special education.

(d) The termination of costly expenditures for long-term purchases, such as the acquisition of equipment or the construction of school facilities.

(e) The assumption of cost by the high cost fund operated by the SEA under § 300.704(c).

(Approved by the Office of Management and Budget under control number 1820-0600)

(Authority: 20 U.S.C. 1413(a)(2)(B))

[71 FR 46753, Aug. 14, 2006, as amended at 80 FR 23667, Apr. 28, 2015]