By Anne L. Bryant
5/20/03 -- On April 30, the House of Representatives overwhelmingly passed the Improving Education Results for Children with Disabilities Act of 2003. This probably did not make its way onto the front pages of your local newspapers, but it is big news for readers of School Board News.
The reason we are so encouraged by H.R. 1350 is that it reflects most -- but not all -- of the 43 recommendations NSBA submitted to Congress on various aspects of the Individuals With Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) that need improvement.
As many School Board News readers know, NSBA has made special education a priority for decades, going all the way back to when the original special education legislation was drafted. But over time, we have seen layer upon layer of increasingly onerous administrative bureaucracy added to this legislation.
Over the past 18 months, NSBA has reached out to our state associations and to school board members individually, and our staff has hosted meetings across the country to get your direct input on which parts of IDEA need to be fixed or changed.
Literally hundreds of you -- school board members, superintendents, and state association leaders -- contributed to the document that we submitted to Congress with our recommendations. This document also included the wonderful work of members of our Council of School Attorneys (COSA) who drafted legislative language to make Congress' job easier.
As I said, we didn't get everything we wanted. The bill passed by the House does not include mandatory funding for special education. But it does contain some very important provisions.
School board leaders told us districts need more flexibility and more authority, and the bill clearly meets these concerns.
The bill approved by the House contains provisions to streamline the Individualized Education Plan process, limit parents' attorney fees, give school districts more flexibility over parent notification requirements, and give districts more authority over private placements.
Another area that our members told us really needs work is due process.
The bill takes our concerns into account, giving districts more authority over due process hearings. It requires hearings to center around the issue of whether a free and appropriate education was provided, sets new requirements for hearing officers, establishes a one-year statute of limitations, and requires states to provide mediation and assume the costs.
One of the benefits of having COSA within our family is that we have direct knowledge of how litigation detracts from the work of school districts and how IDEA promotes a climate of litigation and bureaucracy that is expensive and harmful to both students and special education staff.
One of the more controversial parts of IDEA is how students with special needs are handled differently in terms of discipline. NSBA has put forward some excellent proposals to simplify the discipline procedures, including the elimination of IDEA-based manifestation hearings. The House bill adopts these changes, giving school officials the authority to make alternate placement determinations on a case-by-case basis.
We believe, as do many of the disability organizations, that in no case should a child with a disability be placed outside of the educational system. In other words, it is our responsibility to ensure that all children continue to receive educational services.
Regarding the issue of funding, we are pleased that H.R. 1350 at least tackles the concept that IDEA is an underfunded mandate. School Board News readers are aware that Congress has never come close to meeting its original promise to pay 40 percent of the overall cost of educating special education children. Currently, the federal government is paying no more than 18 percent.
So although the bill doesn't make the funding mandatory, it does authorize annual increases of $2.4 billion for fiscal years 2004 though 2010, which would bring the federal government's share up to 40 percent.
We also are pleased that the bill doesn't include vouchers. An earlier draft would have allowed parents of special education students to receive vouchers to send their children to private schools, and two voucher amendments failed to pass.
But we cannot rest on our laurels on any of these provisions. Special education legislation has not yet been introduced in the Senate, and although we do expect the Senate bill will be similar to the measure passed by the House, the voucher issue could resurface. We will be working hard with your help to make sure voucher amendments are not passed.
The reason for devoting this column to this important piece of legislation is not just because it is an NSBA priority, but because it is a story about teamwork.
The teamwork starts with our staff reaching out to the state association leaders. It's about school board leaders giving their time and expertise and offering their personal experiences so we could make concrete recommendations to improve the law.
It's the story of our National Affiliate school districts who contacted their members of Congress via e-mail, letter, and phone call. It's also the story of our Federal Relations Network, a strong group of leaders across the country who keep on top of important federal issues and work with us consistently until we get it right.
And it's an example of the teamwork we have with our school attorneys, who have been with us every step of the way, drafting language, suggesting ideas, and in the end, making the law better so that their job defending school districts is fairer and easier.
It takes a team to move Congress, and in this case, we actually might have made a difference.