10/26/04 — When Congress returns for its lame duck session after the election, one of its first orders of business will be passage of a bill to reauthorize the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA). An omnibus appropriations bill that includes funding for the federal education programs also is on the agenda.
Before Congress adjourned for the elections, the House and Senate appointed members of a conference committee to work out differences between the IDEA bills passed by both houses.
Staff members of the education committee chairs, Rep. John Boehner (R-Ohio) and Sen. Judd Gregg (R-N.H.), the ranking Democrats on the committees, and the other conferees will work to develop a compromise bill during the recess, so a bill will be ready for a vote by the conference committee when Congress returns Nov. 16.
One of the key differences in the bills from NSBA’s perspective is the language on manifestation hearings. NSBA favors the provision in the bill passed by the House, which eliminates the requirement for manifestation hearings.
Whenever a student in special education exhibits dangerous and disruptive behavior, a manifestation hearing is held to determine whether the behavior is a result of the child’s disability. If it is, school officials face certain limitations in disciplining that student, including placement in an alternative setting for no more than 45 days.
The House bill would grant authority to local school districts to determine discipline on a case-by-case basis — with appeal rights as offered to students without disabilities.
The Senate bill would retain these hearings. The IEP (individualized educational program) team would determine whether a manifestation hearing should take place.
“NSBA believes that the burden of proof should be placed on the parents, not the school district,” says Reggie Felton, director of federal relations at NSBA.
The current system punishes the school and allows a potentially disruptive or dangerous child to stay in school, especially if he or she has already used up the annual 45-day maximum for alternative services, he says.
NSBA believes school officials should be able to make discipline decisions for all children — those with disabilities and those without disabilities — in the same manner.
Another key issue for the conferees has to do with related services.
NSBA supports the provision in the Senate bill that requires states to specify which agencies are financially responsible for related services to children with disabilities. These services include those provided by psychologists and nurses, as well as medical devices, such as wheelchairs. The House bill does not include a provision on related services.
Both bills strengthen the academic standards for students with disabilities, strengthen teacher qualifications, eliminate or reduce burdensome paperwork requirements, simplify due process requirements, and limit attorney fees — although there are some differences in some of these areas.
Unfortunately, neither bill includes provisions to make IDEA funding mandatory, one of NSBA’s key advocacy priorities.
Before Congress adjourned, it approved a continuing resolution, which extends current funding levels through Nov. 20.
The fiscal 2005 appropriations bills under consideration in the House and Senate fall far short of NSBA’s recommendations: a $2.5 billion increase for Title I and a $2.2 billion increase for IDEA.
An appropriations bill passed by the House Sept. 9 would provide a $1 billion increase for each of those programs.
The full Senate has not passed a funding bill for education but a bill approved Sept. 15 by the Senate Appropriations Committee would increase Title I funding by $1.1 billion and IDEA by $1.26 billion.
Title I funding, which is used to raise student achievement among disadvantaged children, is the largest program authorized under the No Child Left Behind Act. A $1 billion increase for this program would bring Title I funding to $13.3 billion for 2005, which would be $7 billion less than the amount authorized by Congress when it enacted NCLB.
The House proposal to increase IDEA funding by $1 billion is consistent with the President’s request of $11.1 billion for 2005. That amount, however, is still $11 billion below the federal commitment to fund 40 percent of the cost of educating students with disabilities.
NSBA is urging members of Congress to provide sufficient funding for those programs in the omnibus appropriations bill and also restore full funding to Title V grants for innovative education programs.
The House initially eliminated Title V but passed an amendment on the floor by Rep. John Shadegg (R-Ariz.) to restore $20 million. The Senate bill would zero out funding for this program.
NSBA is working with a coalition of education organizations to push for full funding ($296.5 million) for Title V, which gives school districts the flexibility to fund various education strategies to meet local needs, such as class-size reduction, professional development, and intervention programs for struggling students.
Local school board members across the nation are getting the word out that the failure of Congress to provide adequate funding for IDEA, NCLB, Title V, and other programs means local communities either must raise taxes or cut services to meet their federal mandates under NCLB and IDEA.
One of many who joined this advocacy effort is John Pennycuff, president of the Winton Woods City School District near Cincinnati, Ohio. When he wrote an op-ed piece in the Cincinnati Enquirer stating that local residents are “paying a hidden tax” to offset the shortfalls in federal funding for IDEA and NCLB, U.S. Education Department Associate Deputy Secretary C. Todd Jones responded that “schools are awash in funds.”
Todd also says NCLB is not a federal mandate because school districts can choose not to participate and “are free to walk away from the money.”
Pennycuff set the record straight with another article to the Cincinnati Enquirer titled “An Urban Legend in D.C., a Nightmarish Reality in Ohio.”
“Ohio receives about $386 million in federal funding for the education of children with disabilities, which does not even come close to paying for the cost of this federally mandated program,” he wrote. “But Washington promised to provide Ohio with $772 million this year. That means the federal government shortchanged Ohio by $386 million.”
Pennycuff’s district, far from being “flush with cash” as Todd claims, has had to reduce staff by 8 percent, eliminate busing for high schools, and still faces the potential for 8 percent more in budget reductions.
“I think most parents, teachers, school administrators, and taxpayers here in Ohio would agree that we need more money and less rhetoric from the U.S. Department of Education,” Pennycuff says.