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LD News Special Report:
IDEA Reauthorization moves forward in U.S. Congress
Almost one year after the Senate Health Education Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee unanimously approved its bipartisan bill to reauthorize IDEA (S. 1248), the full Senate acted on the bill on May 12 and 13, 2004.
Following the consideration of six amendments, the Senate adopted S. 1248, (substituted as HR 1350), with 95 Senators voting yes and 3 opposed (Senator Jeffords (I-VT), Senator Leahy (D-VT) and Senator Stabenow (D-MI).
The following amendments were adopted during the two-day debate:
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Federal Funding
An amendment offered by Senator Gregg (R-NH) authorizes appropriations that
will increase discretionary federal funding with the goal of federal funds
contributing 40 percent of the average per pupil cost (generally considered
to be 40 percent of the excess cost of serving a student in special education)
by 2011. Unfortunately, IDEA contained such an authorization at its original
passage yet the funding level has never been achieved. Current federal funding
contributes less than half of the authorized amount. The Gregg funding amendment
was adopted following the defeat of a funding amendment offered by Senators
Harkin (D-IA) and Hagel (R-NB) that would have provided mandatory funding
increases of $2.2 billion each year over the next six years in order to
reach the authorized federal funding level.
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Attorneys' Fees
An amendment offered by Senators Gregg (R-NH), Enzi (R-WY) and Grassley
(R-IA) to conform the IDEA to other civil rights laws, allowing school districts
to collect fees if a court finds that the parents' claim is frivolous or
groundless or brought with improper purpose. While availability of attorneys'
fees to parents remains the same, this amendment could have a chilling effect
on a parent's right to challenge the appropriateness of their child's educational
program.
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Participation in the National Children's Study
An amendment offered by Senator Clinton (D-NY) will require the U.S. Department
of Education to participate in the long-term child development study authorized
under the Children's Health Act of 2000 to determine the relationship between
environmental health factors and the development of disabilities in childhood.
The National Children's Study represents a very expansive view of "environmental
influences" and the inclusion of the Department of Education and its
various areas of expertise will enable the study to take a much more complete
view of the child and provide for the inclusion of valuable school-based
data that is already provided by the nation's schools.
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Homeless, Foster and Children in Transition
An amendment offered by Senator Murray (D-WA) will make it easier for schools
to provide services to homeless and foster children with disabilities services
and will smooth the transition for all disabled children, including children
with parents in the military, who move to new schools.
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Paperwork Reduction
An amendment offered by Senator Santorum (R-PA) will authorize 15 states
to participate in pilot demonstration projects to reduce the amount of paperwork
associated with special education. The amendment includes a specific provision
that states may not waive civil rights protections and makes clear that
the paperwork reductions may not impair the right of a child to receive
a free appropriate public education or infringe upon any procedural safeguards.
The Senate bill includes important new provisions that will significantly
improve the timeliness that students with learning disabilities may receive
much needed services. These provisions will:
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Eliminate of the requirement that schools must find a severe discrepancy
between a student's ability and achievement in order to provide special
education services under the "specific learning disability" category.
This "IQ-ability discrepancy" requirement is an out-of-date approach
that forces struggling learners to fail for one year or more before providing
the crucial instruction and support they need to succeed.
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Allow for the development of new approaches to determine whether
students have specific learning disabilities, including the use of a process
involving response to research-based interventions, as part of the evaluation
process for specific learning disabilities. Such an approach can help provide
early intervention efforts and build collaboration between general and special
educators.
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Allow schools to use a portion of IDEA funds to provide early intervention
services for students who are not receiving special education services but
who require additional academic and behavioral support to succeed in a regular
education environment, and who may be likely referrals to special education
programs and services at a later time. These activities have the promise
of benefiting both the regular education environment and the special education
program by reducing academic and behavioral problems in the regular education
environment and the number of referrals for special education and the intensity
of special education services required for some students.
Advocates for students with learning disabilities sent more than 80,000
messages to Congress in support of these new provisions over the past several
months. During Senate consideration, several Senators spoke about the need
to improve early educational services for students.
Next, the two versions of IDEA reauthorization bills passed by the House
and Senate must be reconciled during a joint House and Senate conference
committee. This process must be completed prior to the end of the 108th
Congress, which ends in December 2004. If a final bill is not sent to the
President this year, the bills will need to be re-introduced and the process
starts over with the 109th Congress in January 2005.
NCLD will continue to watch the Congressional developments and keep you
informed. We invite you to join our LD
Advocates E-Action list in order to receive regular updates on these
and other important policies activities.
Laura Kaloi
Director of Public Policy
NCLD
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