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News from Washington
March-April 2003
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
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.
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.
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