APPROPRIATIONS. On February 13, Congress passed Joint Resolution
2 to provide funds for the Federal government for the balance of
FY 2003. Conferees agreed to an across-the-board cut of 0.065% for
nearly all programs. More below…
HOUSE IDEA BILL 1350. On March 19, the Education Reform
Subcommittee of the Committee on Education and the Workforce introduced
their version of the Reauthorization of IDEA (HR 1350). The bill,
which is 282 pages long, makes so many changes to Parts B and D
that advocacy groups have asked their members to request that the
House delay action on the bill until those concerned have a chance
to study it. More below…
WIA, THE WORKFORCE INVESTMENT ACT. On March 27, the Education
and the Workforce Committee marked up HR 1361, the reauthorization
of the Workforce Investment Act, which includes One Stop Centers,
Adult Education and Family Literacy and Vocational Rehabilitation.
LDA was one of many disability organizations that sent out an alert
asking members to ask the House to reject the bill. More
below…
TANF, TEMPORARY ASSISTANCE TO NEEDY FAMILIES. In early February
the reauthorization of TANF, now called the Personal Responsibility,
Work and Family Promotion Act of 2003 (HR 4) was sent directly to
the floor of the House, where it passed on partisan lines. The bill
would require 70 percent of a state’s welfare recipients to
work 40 hours a week by 2008. There is no flexibility to allow education
and training to count towards those 40 hours.
FAMILY OPPORTUNITY ACT OF 2003. On March 13, The Family
Opportunity Act of 2003 was introduced in the Senate. The bill would
allow states to extend Medicaid to working families with a child/children
with special health needs, and also establishes family-to-family
health information centers where parents of children with special
needs, as well as professionals, would provide information to families
trying to arrange health services for their children.
WELLSTONE MENTAL HEALTH EQUITY ACT. On March 27, the Senator
Paul Wellstone Mental Health Equitable Treatment Act of 2003 was
introduced in both the Senate (S 486) and the House (HR 953). The
bills require health insurance coverage of mental disorders to be
equal to coverage of medical and surgical benefits.
Also…President’s Budget for 2004; Wellstone Mental
Health Equity Act; Guidelines for Qualified Teachers, and more…
CONGRESSIONAL ACTIVITIES
Appropriations
On February 13, Congress passed Joint Resolution 2 to provide funds
for most departments of the Federal government for the balance of
FY 2003 (October 1, 2002-September 30, 2003). Conferees agreed to
an across the board cut of O.065% for all programs except Head Start,
WIC, NASA space shuttle and a veterans’ program. With the
0.065% cut, total appropriations for Education are $53.099 billion,
or an increase of 6.3% over Fiscal Year 2002.
Congressional Budget For 2004
The week of March 31, the House and the Senate will debate their
respective budget proposals. Neither the House (H. Con. Res. 95)
nor the Senate (S. Con. Res. 23) budget bill provides adequate funding
for education. The House bill would cut funding 2.9% below the President’s
2004 request. The Senate bill has an increase of 2%, which is below
inflation and fails to restore funding for the 46 programs targeted
for elimination in the President’s 2004 request.
House IDEA Bill 1350
On March 19, the Education Reform Subcommittee of the Committee
on Education and the Workforce introduced their version of the Reauthorization
of IDEA (HR 1350). The bill, which is 282 pages long, makes so many
changes to Parts B and D that advocacy groups have asked their members
to request that the House delay action on the bill until those concerned
have a chance to study it. Issues of major concern to LDA include:
Under Part B
- Allowing a school system to avoid finding that a child with
normal ability who demonstrates unexpected underachievement and
a disorder in psychological processing is a child with a specific
learning disability in need of special education. The heading
specific learning disabilities states “(A) the local educational
agency SHALL NOT BE REQUIRED to take into consideration whether
the child has a severe discrepancy between achievement and intellectual
ability…” and (B) “a local educational agency
may use a process which determines if a child responds to scientific,
research-based intervention”(Section 612(6))
- Allowing local educational agencies to use up to 15% of IDEA
funds for “pre-referral educational support services for
students K-12 who have not been identified as needing special
education /related but who need additional academic and behavioral
support to succeed in the general education environment”
(Section 613(f))
- Eliminating the short term objectives in determining measurable
annual goals in the IEP(Section 614(d)(A)(ii)
- Allowing the local education agency to offer the parent the
option of developing a three year IEP, with a “streamlined
“ annual review of the child’s progress. (Section
614(d)(5)
- Requiring that only one regular education teacher be on the
IEP team. (Section 614(d)(1)(B)
- Requiring the local educational agency meet with parents prior
to their filing a due process complaint (Section 615(f)(B).
- Limiting the time for which a parent can file a complaint to
a violation that occurred not more than one year before a complaint
is filed. (Section 205(b)(6)(B)
- Allowing school personnel to order a change of placement for
a child who violates a code of student conduct. (Section 615(k)(1)(A)
- Eliminating the requirements for functional behavior assessments
and behavior intervention plans
- Eliminating manifestation determination hearings
- Reducing the time for comments on proposed regulations from
90 days to 30 days (Section 605)
Under Part D
- Moving research to the new Office of Education Science (formerly
the OERI).
- Prohibiting Parent Training Centers not only from lobbying
but also from “federal relations,” a term so broad
that it could be construed to prohibit grantees from speaking
with their project officers at the Department of Education.
- Prohibiting Parent Training Centers from having a board member
who is a member of an organization that conducts lobbying, whether
or not that specific individual is actually involved in those
activities.
DeMint Parental Choice Bill
On March 20, 2003, Education and the Workforce Committee Chair
John Boehner and Rep. Jim DeMint held a press conference to announce
the introduction of the IDEA Parental Choice Act of 2003 (HR 1373)
which would encourage states to develop “choice” programs
for children with disabilities and allow federal funds to follow
children placed in such programs; allow districts to use federal
funds to provide accommodations for children with disabilities in
schools designated for improvement under NCLB; and allow states
to expand eligibility for children with disabilities in Part C from
age two to 5.
Workforce Investment Act - WIA
On March 27, the Education and the Workforce Committee marked up
HR 1361, the reauthorization of the Workforce Investment Act, which
includes One Stop Centers, Adult Education and Family Literacy and
Vocational Rehabilitation.
The bill would give Governors the authority to tap into funds for
Vocational Rehabilitation, Adult Education, TANF, Ticket to Work,
Independent Living Centers, Mental Health, Mental Retardation, and
Developmental Disabilities Councils to pay for the infrastructure
(building, maintenance, but not salaries) of the One Stop Centers
(Sec 121(b)(1). The Governor could decide how much to take from
each organization. He/she would have unrestricted authority to strip
critically needed funds from a variety of programs for people with
disabilities and other vulnerable populations and gives no assurance
that these funds will be used to increase access or provide services
to these individuals. LDA was one of many disability organizations
that sent out an alert asking members to ask the House to reject
the bill.
EXECUTIVE BRANCH
President’s Proposed 2004 Budget
On February 3, 2003, President Bush published his proposed budget
for fiscal year 2004 (October 1, 2003 – September 30, 2004).
As expected, in order to pay for Homeland Security and war with
Iraq, funding for domestic programs was sharply reduced. The complete
budget is at www.whitehouse.gov/nes/usbudget-fy2004/budget.html.
Department of Labor. Almost every program of interest at
the Department of Labor would be reduced. Adult and dislocated employee
programs under Workforce Investment Act and the Employment Service
would be consolidated into a $3.1 billion block grant to the states.
Several youth programs would be significantly reduced. Only the
Job Corps would receive an increase. The Office of Disability Employment
Policy would get $47 million in funding. Work Incentive Grants for
persons with disabilities under employment services would continue
at $20 million. Funding for running One Stop Career Centers under
the Workforce Incentive Act would go down to $110 million from the
current level of $113 million.
Department of Health and Human Services. The budget proposes
moving Head Start from HHS to the Department of Education. The focus
would move from play and social interaction to literacy and numerical
and phonetic skills. Governors would be given the option of controlling
their own Head Start programs or continuing to allow the federal
government to manage them.
Department of Education. The budget for the Department of
Education proposes increases of $1.9 billion for Pell Grants; $1
billion for Title I of NCLB; $1 billion for Part B of IDEA; $50
million for Reading First State Grants; and $26 million for a Choice
Incentive Fund. These increases are offset in part by elimination
of funding for 47 programs, reduction of funding for 19 programs,
and level funding of 51 programs. Funding is increased for 24 programs,
including Title I (Grants to LEAs), Reading First, and Early Reading
First from No Child Left Behind; Parts B (State Grants) and C (Infants
and Toddlers Grants) of IDEA; Demonstration and Training, and Protection
and Advocacy Grants of Vocational Rehabilitation; National Institute
for Literacy; and Adult basic and literacy education state grants
(a new program designed to replace the current adult education state
grant programs).
The budget calls for “sweeping vocational and adult education
reforms” and a close examination of vocational rehabilitation
programs, which are due for renewal in 2005.
Programs under the Carl Perkins Vocational and Technical Education
Act would be replaced by a new Secondary and Technical Education
state grant with reduced funding. The proposal would eliminate the
targeting of Perkins funds to secondary and postsecondary career
and technical education programs, redirecting funding to “secondary
and technical” programs that “support and extend the
achievement and accountability goals of Title I of the Elementary
and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) by requiring States and school
districts to focus more intensively on improving student outcomes,
such as academic achievement, and ensuring that students are being
taught the necessary skills to make successful transitions from
high school to college and college to the workforce.” This
initiative would support block granting the funds with NCLB to support
Title I initiatives.
Guidelines On Qualified Teachers
The U.S. Education Department recently released an updated version
of its guidance on the Improving Teacher Quality Program, including
standards for highly qualified teachers, to help states and schools
comply with the new provisions of the No Child Left Behind Act.
The new teacher quality provisions, which took effect for new hires
at the start of the school year, require all educators in core academic
areas to be licensed by the state, hold a bachelor's degree, and
demonstrate competence in their subject area by the end of the 2005-06
school year. At the beginning of each school year, school districts
must notify parents of children attending Title I schools that they
can request information regarding their children's teachers, including,
at a minimum, information on (1) completion of state requirements
for licensure and certification; (2) emergency or other provisional
status; (3) educational background; and (4) whether paraprofessionals
are serving the child and, if so, their qualifications. The guidance
is at www.ed.gov/offices/OESE/SIP/TitleIIguidance2002.doc
LDA: News from Washington is a monthly publication
of the Learning Disabilities Association of America, Inc. Written
by LDA’s Washington Representative, Justine Maloney; Jane
Browning, Editor. LDA members wishing to be added to the mailing
list may contact LDA. |
