Committee rejects voucher amendment
4/22/03 -- The House Committee on Education and the Workforce has approved a bill that would greatly improve the Individuals With Disabilities Education Act (IDEA).
The Improving Education Results for Children with disabilities Act (H.R. 1350) includes many of the recommendations proposed by NSBA, including provisions to give local school districts more flexibility, eliminate unnecessary administrative requirements, improve due process requirements, and simplify the discipline procedures.
"Substantive parts of the bill realistically address the current needs in special education in a way that will improve services for children, protect their rights, and shift the emphasis from bureaucracy and legal processes to the effective use of teachers and funding to benefit children," says NSBA Associate Executive Director Michael A. Resnick.
"Congress understands that the compliance-driven, administration-based special education program created in 1975 needs to be improved by placing more of an emphasis on student outcomes and financial resources to serve children," he says.
According to Resnick, the bill could enable school districts "to redirect substantial funds each year by reducing unnecessary paperwork and streamlining administrative procedures."
The Senate is expected to introduce a bill on IDEA after the spring recess.
The original House bill contained a seven-year plan to fully fund the federal share of the cost of educating children with disabilities. However, it also contained a provision that would cap the amount of funding Congress could provide each year with no obligation on Congress to ever fund the plan at those levels.
During the committee mark-up, an amendment was passed to increase the authorized funding level for IDEA to $2.2 billion and remove the cap on funding increases. The bill does not make IDEA funding mandatory, and several amendments to do so failed to pass during the mark-up.
Securing full, mandatory funding for IDEA is one of NSBA's top priorities. Full funding is necessary so local districts can meet their obligations to provide special education services to all eligible children without having to reduce other parts of their budgets.
A voucher amendment was proposed during the committee mark-up but was withdrawn when its sponsor, Rep. Jim DeMint (R-S.C.), realized there weren't enough votes to pass it. DeMint is expected to introduce the voucher amendment on the House floor.
That measure, which NSBA opposed, would have required public schools to pay for children with disabilities to go to unregulated private schools without any guarantees that the private schools would provide the services necessary for such children. It is based on a program under way in Florida.
NSBA believes vouchers for special education children are unnecessary because IDEA already allows parents and school districts to place children with disabilities in private schools if the district is unable to meet their needs.
Following are some of the key provisions of the bill, as passed by the House committee:
• School districts would be given expanded authority to use federal funds to support pre-referral services, risk-sharing pools for high-cost services, and supplemental services and schoolwide programs under the No Child Left Behind Act.
The bill allows districts to use up to 15 percent of their IDEA funds for pre-referral services for children who have not been identified for special education but need additional academic and behavioral support. These funds could be used for professional development, including scientifically based reading instruction.
The bill's sponsor, Rep. Michael Castle (R-Del.), chair of the education reform subcommittee, says this provision and other early intervention measures would reduce the overidentification of nondisabled children in special education, particularly minorities.
• Increased flexibility would be allowed in the design of Individual Education Plans (IEPs), the procedures for convening IEP meetings, the use of multiyear IEPs, the determination of who can attend IEP meetings, and the evaluation of students.
Under the bill, parents could agree to meet via videoconference or conference call, and classroom teachers would only need to participate in IEP meetings related to the regular classroom.
The bill requires the IEP to give greater consideration to the academic and developmental needs of the child.
• Several provisions would improve due process. The bill directs school districts to convene a meeting with the parents and the IEP team within 15 days of receiving the parents' complaint. A due process hearing would occur only if the issue isn't resolved to the parents' satisfaction within 30 days.
A hearing officer would not be allowed to have a professional or personal interest in the matter, and must base his or her decision on whether the child received a free and appropriate public education.
The bill includes new options for mediation and voluntary binding arbitration.
• Procedures relating to the discipline of special education students would be simplified, including the elimination of "manifestation hearings," which are held to determine whether a student's behavior is a manifestation of a disability.
The bill clarifies that local school officials are allowed to make determinations regarding discipline on a case-by-case basis. The bill states there can be no cessation of educational services for students with disabilities.
• During the committee mark-up, an amendment was passed to allow governors to set limits on attorney fees.
This amendment, along with other provisions, would help school districts, because the high cost of paying for parents' legal fees drains money from districts' education programs. School officials often agree to provide services that might not be needed because of the greater costs involved in litigation.
One change that NSBA had pushed for -- which is not in the bill -- is a requirement to increase the responsibility of other state and local agencies to fund or provide for "related services."
NSBA believes that social service or health agencies -- not school districts -- should pay for non-educational services for students with disabilities, such as nursing services, psychotherapy, and life skills training and medical devices, such as wheelchairs.
By failing to formally identify other agencies as financially responsible for related services, IDEA places additional strains on local school district budgets.
An amendment to reduce districts' costs for related services was proposed during the mark-up but was withdrawn, so its sponsors could work out the details for possible floor action.
NSBA will urge Congress to approve an amendment on related services on the House floor.
Another amendment, supported by NSBA, would have required mediation as a necessary precondition for due process.
The committee passed amendments to clarify the definition of high cost, allow online professional development, promote the progress of limited-English-proficient children, and prohibit linguistic discrimination.