H.R. 1350: A BAD IDEA.
On April 30, six weeks after it was first introduced, the House
of Representatives passed its version of the reauthorization of
IDEA. Despite a national call-in day supported by LDA and dozens
of other disability groups opposing passage of H.R. 1350 as “a
bad IDEA,” the Improving Education Results for Children with
Disabilities Act of 2003 passed by a vote of 251-171, primarily
on party lines. More below…
WAITING FOR THE SENATE BILL.
The Senate HELP Committee hopes to introduce their bipartisan bill
by mid May. Advocates will have two weeks to respond to the bill
when it is introduced. It will then be marked up by the committee
and passed to the Senate floor. The controversial issues of full
funding and vouchers will not be in the bill but will be decided
on the Senate floor.
HR 1261, THE WORKFORCE REINVESTMENT AND ADULT EDUCATION ACT
OF 2003.
On May 8, the House passed the reauthorization of the Workforce
Investment Act by a vote of 220-204. The bill still contains issues
of concern to the disability community. More
below…
TANF, TEMPORARY ASSISTANCE TO NEEDY FAMILIES.
In early February the bill for the reauthorization of TANF, H.R.
4, which had passed the House but not the Senate in the 107th Congress,
was sent directly to the floor of the House, where it passed on
partisan lines. The bill (now called the Personal Responsibility,
Work and Family Promotion Act of 2003) 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 that 40 hours. More bills related
to TANF below…
THE WOMEN'S HEALTH ENVIRONMENTAL RESEARCH CENTERS AND HORMONE
DISRUPTION RESEARCH ACT OF 2003.
Introduced by Rep. Louise Slaughter, H.R. 852 would require the
National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS) to establish
a comprehensive research program on the impact of hormone disrupting
chemicals as they affect human, ecological, and wildlife health.
Also…Proposal to dismantle ERIC Clearinghouse; GAO Report
on Juvenile Justice & More
CONGRESSIONAL ACTIVITIES
H.R. 1350: A BAD IDEA
On April 30, six weeks after it was first introduced, the House
of Representatives by a vote of 251 to 171 passed its version of
the reauthorization of IDEA –H.R. 1350, the Improving Education
Results for Children with Disabilities Act of 2003. The vote was
primarily on party lines. Only seven Republicans voted against the
bill and 34 Democrats voted for it.
The lopsided vote may have been due, in part, to an Education and
the Workforce Chairman’s Dear Republican Colleague letter
which warned that “a national call in day has been organized
for today, Tuesday, April 29, 2003 by opponents of improving the
nations special education law.” Attached to the letter was
a “fact sheet that addresses inaccurate information being
circulated about H.R. 1350”. The “fact sheet”
did not address many of the concerns expressed by parents and advocates,
including changing the eligibility for specific learning disabilities,
allowing local school districts to use up to 15% of IDEA funds for
services to students not yet found eligible for IDEA services, and
changing the content and participants in the IEP process. This letter
is posted on http://edworkforce.house.gov/issues/108th/education/idea/dcfacts042903.htm.
The White House press release in support of H.R. 1350 can be found
by checking H.R. 1350 at http://www.whitehouse.gov/omb/legislative
The bill which was sent to the floor postponed the elimination
of short term objectives in the IEP (except for students taking
alternate assessments) until school year 2005/06; increased the
time for responding to proposed regulations from 30 to 60 days;
and eliminated the restrictions on the Parent Training Centers (Part
D.) However, it did include amendments which would 1) let the governor
set a cap on attorney’s fees and 2) not require an evaluation
of a child with a disability prior to graduation if the IEP team
agrees.
The House Rules Committee allowed only 14 amendments to be offered
on the floor. One of these would have required a medical diagnosis
to determine the existence of a specific learning disability. Fortunately
it failed by a vote of 54-367. Two amendments to allow Part B money
to be used for private school tuition also failed. The most dangerous
of the amendments that passed was the Shadegg amendment, which expressed
the sense of Congress that students should not be classified as
disabled without being certified by a physician. A summary of the
final bill is on the LDA website. The full text of H.R. 1350, including
all of the amendments added during last week can be found by going
to http://thomas.loc.gov
and entering "H.R. 1350."
Although the bill has passed the House, Representatives will again
be asked to vote on a final bill which will be crafted by a Conference
Committee made up of members of the House and Senate Committees
which drafted the original bills.
OTHER BILLS RELATED TO IDEA
Parental Choice Bill (H.R. 1373, Rep DeMint) failed when
offered as an amendment to H.R. 1350 on the House floor.
Paperwork Reduction Act (H.R.464 Rep Keller) Most of the
provisions of this bill were incorporated in H.R. 1350.
Improved Instructional Material Access Act (H.R. 490, Rep
Petri) The bill, which would improve access to printed instructional
materials used by blind or other persons with print disabilities
in elementary and secondary schools, was incorporated into H.R.
1350.
Full Funding for Assistance for Education of all Children with
Disabilities Act. (H.R. 283, Rep Larson) There are few specifics
in this bill.
To Amend The Individuals With Disabilities Education Act
to fully fund 40 percent of the average per pupil expenditure for
programs under part B of such Act. (S. 133 Sen. Dayton).
IDEA Full-Funding Act Of 2003 (S. 939 Sens Hagel and Harkin)
This bill would fully fund IDEA, by paying 40 percent of the per
pupil costs, in eight years through mandatory annual allocations
of $2 billion, until the federal contribution reaches $24.6 billion
in 2011. Local education agencies would be allowed to use 100% of
each annual increase for programs other than IDEA. This percentage
would replace the 20% allowed under current law.
WORKFORCE INVESTMENT ACT
On May 8, the House passed H.R. 1261, The Workforce Reinvestment
and Adult Education Act of 2003 by a vote of 220-204. The closeness
of the vote may be due to the fact that it would allow faith-based
providers to engage fully as service providers in the One-Stop Career
Centers without relinquishing their ability to hire on a religious
basis.
The bill still contains issues of concern to the disability community
such as:
- the Governor would have “unrestricted authority”
to take funds from a variety of programs for people with disabilities,
including Vocational Rehabilitation, Adult Education, and TANF,
to pay for the infrastructure of the One Stop Centers with no
assurance that the One Stops would provide access or provide services
to individuals with disabilities;
- funding for the Adult, Dislocated Worker and Wagner-Peyser (Employment
Services) would be consolidated into one funding stream; and
- funding for youth programs would be focused on out of school
youth only.
BILLS RELATED TO TANF
- A bill to amend part A of Title IV of the Social Security Act
to exclude child care from the determination of the 5-year limit
on assistance under the TANF program (S. 251 Sen.Bingaman).
- A bill to amend the TANF program to improve the provision of
education and job training under that program (S. 252 Sen Bingaman).
- A bill to amend Part A of Title IV of the Social Security Act
to allow up to 24 months of vocational educational training to
be counted as a work activity under the TANF program. (S. 327
Sen. Levin).
OTHER BILLS
The Child Medication Safety Act (H.R 1170) would require
states, as a condition of receiving federal education funds, to
establish policies and procedures prohibiting school personnel from
requiring a child to take medication in order to attend school.
The ADA Notification Act (H.R. 728) would amend the ADA
to require that an individual alleging a business is inaccessible
provide written notice to the business about the specific ADA violation
ninety days before bringing suit, and will not allow for attorneys'
fees and costs.
Department Of Defense Authorization Bill For Fiscal Year 2004
(H.R. 1588) would exempt the Department of Defense (DOD) from public
health and environmental laws, including the Clean Air Act, the
Resource Conservation and Recovery Act, Superfund (CERCLA), the
Endangered Species Act, and the Marine Mammal Protection Act.
EXECUTIVE BRANCH
PROPOSAL TO DISMANTLE ERIC
In its draft Scope of Work for the next round of competitions for
the system, the Education Department would dismantle the current
16 Clearinghouses, including the ERIC Clearinghouse on Disabilities
and Gifted Education.
ASSESSMENT OF ACADEMIC ACHIEVEMENT
On March 20th, the U.S. Department of Education issued a proposed
rule to amend Title I under No Child Left Behind, as it relates
to State, LEA, and school accountability for the academic achievement
of students with the most significant cognitive disabilities.
GAO REPORT ON JUVENILE JUSTICE
The Government Accounting Office report “Federal Agencies
Could Play a Stronger Role in Helping States Reduce the Number of
Children Placed Solely to Obtain Mental Health Services” (GAO-03-397,
April 21) can be found at http://www.gao.gov/cgi-bin/getrpt?GAO-03-397.
NATIONAL COLLABORATIVE ON WORKFORCE AND DISABILITY
One of two technical assistance centers funded by the US Department
of Labor to assist the workforce development community address issues
affecting the employment of people with disabilities has a new website
at www.ncwd-youth.info.
The site contains useful information and resources for youth with
disabilities and their families, service providers and other front
line workers, administrators, policy makers, and employers.
ODEP WORKFORCE RECRUITMENT
The Department of Labor's Office of Disability Employment Policy
(ODEP), in cooperation with the Department of Defense, now offers
a database of more than 1,600 job seekers with disabilities through
its Workforce Recruitment Program (WRP). Through WRP's complimentary
CD-ROM database, employers can search for potential applicants by
field of study, state or school, in disciplines ranging from computer
sciences and business, to communications engineering and office
administration. Searches generate candidate profiles, academic and
demographic data, and contact information from applications recruited
by the program from more than 180 colleges and universities in over
40 states and territories. The CD-ROM and additional information
are available from www.wrpjobs.com, or by contacting ODEP at (202)
693-7880.
The Job Accommodation Network (JAN) is a toll-free information
and referral service on job accommodations for people with disabilities.
It can be reached at 1-800-526-7234 or at www.jan.wvu.edu.
EARN, a national toll-free telephone and electronic information
referral service, helps employers locate and recruit qualified workers
with disabilities. EARN can be reached at 1-866-Earn Now (1-866-327-6669)
or via its Website (www.earnworks.com).
OTHER ISSUES
On April 29, the National Association of Secondary School Principals
and the Alliance for Excellent Education held a press conference
to announce the release of a new report, Left Out and Left Behind:
NCLB and the American High School, which says “For high schools
there is little or no federal support for students at this age level.”
The report is available at www.all4ed.org.
The April 17 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine reported
that blood lead concentrations, even those below 10 µg per
deciliter, are inversely associated with children's IQ scores at
three and five years of age, and associated declines in IQ are greater
at these concentrations than at higher concentrations. These findings
suggest that more U.S. children may be adversely affected by environmental
lead than previously estimated.
In May, LDA signed onto a letter to President Bush which pointed
out that “Despite the growing body of evidence that mercury
poisoning is much more widespread than previously believed, it's
indisputable that your ‘Clear Skies’ would allow more
mercury pollution from power plants than existing law.”
LDA News from Washington is published monthly by
the Learning Disabilities Association of America, written by Washington
Representative Justine Maloney, Jane Browning, Editor. Copies by
mail are available free to LDA members upon request.
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