"It's high time the federal government kept its statutory commitment to fund 40 percent of the costs for the education of students with disabilities," said Ramstad.

"This bill would add $2 billion a year for the next 10 years to fully fund the federal share of special education promised by the 1975 federal law that required public schools to educate students with disabilities," said Ramstad.

"In fact, the federal government has never funded more than 13 percent of special ed costs, and that's why the bill we passed today is the single most important federal contribution to public education in two decades," said Ramstad.

"This legislation will free up state and local revenues for reducing class size, teacher training, school construction, technology or other education needs," said Ramstad.

"Local school districts in Minnesota currently spend an average of 20 percent of their total budgets on special education because of the unpaid Federal share of the mandate. The bill we passed today is a giant step toward our goal of improving the education of our children."