Kansas Instructional Resource Center (KIRC)

Federal Quota Funds

The federal Act to Promote the Education of the Blind mandates an annual Federal Registration of all legally blind students. The Kansas Department of Education, which is responsible for the accurate reporting of Kansas’s students, has designated the Kansas Instructional Resource Center for the Blind and Visually Impaired (KIRC) to conduct the statewide census.

The number of eligible legally blind students registered with the American Printing House for the Blind (APH) determines the federal allocation to the Kansas State Department of Education's Federal Quota Account. The fund is used to purchase educational materials from the American Printing House for the Blind for eligible registered students.

Registration occurs in January of each year.

In order for students to be eligible for registration in the Federal Quota Program, they MUST meet the following requirements:

• The student must meet the definition of blindness--"central visual acuity of 20/200 or less in the better eye with best correction; a peripheral field so contracted that the widest diameter of such field subtends an angular distance no greater than 20 degrees; or visual performance reduced by a brain injury or dysfunction when visual function meets the definition of blindness as determined by an eye care specialist or neurologist." If neither of these definitions are met, a school-aged child may be eligible because they "qualify under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) definition of blindness: an impairment in vision, that, even with correction, adversely affects a child’s educational performance."
• The student must be enrolled in a formally organized public or private nonprofit educational program of less than college level.
• The student must be enrolled with the registering school or agency on the first Monday in January of each year.
• The student must have a written education plan on file with the registering school or agency.
• The student must have a current eye report on file with the registering school or agency.

Materials ordered with Federal Quota dollars are the property of the State of Kansas and must be returned to the KIRC after the student has finished using them (with the exception of consumable materials such as paper, stickers, notebooks, coloring books, etc.).

For more information regarding the Federal Quota program and eligibility, please visit: https://www.aph.org/about-federal-quota/