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LDA News from Washington
December 13 2004
PRESIDENT BUSH SIGNS IDEA INTO LAW. On December 3, President Bush signed The Individuals With Disabilities Education Improvement Act (HR 1350) into law. The provisions of this act go into effect on July 1, 2005, except for those relating to highly qualified instructors, which go into effect immediately, and certain provisions in part D. Attorney Pete Wright reminds parents that IEP's written before July 1 will probably comply with IDEA '97. Those who want their child's IEP to comply with the new law will need to request another IEP meeting after that time. Much more below...
DETAILS OF IDEA POSTED ON WEBSITE. A side-by-side comparison of IDEA 1997 with the newly reauthorized IDEA of 2004 prepared by LDA's D.C. Consultant Myrna Mandlawitz is posted on LDA's website, www.LDAAmerica.org, along with a narrative summary highlighting key changes in the new law.
FEDERAL REGULATIONS AND LETTERS OF CLARIFICATION. Passing the law is not the end of the process. "Statutes" are the law. Regulations clarify details consistent with the law. Within a year, the Office of Special Education Programs (OSEP) must issue final regulations which cannot "violate or contradict any provision of the statute or procedurally or substantively lessen the protections provided to children with disabilities." Before adoption of the final regulations, proposed regulations must be published with at least a 75 day opportunity for public comments. More below...
APPROPRIATIONS UPDATE. On November 20, Congress passed the $388 billion, 3,000 page Consolidated Appropriations Act for 2005 (HR 4818). All programs included in the omnibus bill were cut across-the board by 0.83%. As a result, several programs that were frozen at last year's funding levels in the omnibus bill will effectively be cut. Title 1 of NCLB and Part B of IDEA were not cut, but their increases were $513 million, not the $1 billion in the original bill. More below...
CONGRESSIONAL ACTIVITIES
STATE RESPONSIBILITIES
States must review their statutes and regulations to ensure that they are in compliance with the new law. (State laws may have stricter provisions than the federal law. State laws may also have provisions, such as standards for teacher licensure and certification, class size, and class mix, which are not in the federal law.)
A new section of the law requires states to "identify in writing to local education agencies and the Secretary any State rule, regulation, or policy that is not required" by federal law and to "minimize the number of rules, regulations, and policies to which the local education agencies and schools in the State are subject." The consequences of these requirements are unknown.
PART C: INFANTS AND TODDLERS
- When appropriations for Part C reach $460 million, states can adopt an optional program to allow children with disabilities who are eligible for FAPE under Section 619 of Part B (at age 3) to continue to receive services under Part C until they are eligible for kindergarten.
- A child under the age of 3 who has been abused, neglected or exposed to illegal drugs must be referred for eligibility for early intervention services.
PART D
State Personnel Development Grants: Grants will be made to help State Education Agencies, working with other state agencies and organizations, to improve systems for personnel preparation and development in early intervention, educational, and transition services.
A National Center for Special Education Research: Research in the education of children with disabilities is moved from the Office of Special Education Programs to the Institute of Education Sciences.
Personnel Development to Improve Service and Results for Children with Disabilities: Grants will be made to encourage a focus on academics and core content areas, to ensure that all special education teachers are highly qualified, to incorporate scientifically based research into training activities as well as providing support to beginning special educators and helping special and general educators work in collaboration.
Parent Training Institutes (PTIs): In addition to traditional require-ments, the bill encourages PTIs to improve parent school collaboration and help parents understand early effective dispute resolution.
CLARIFICATION ON ATTORNEYS FEES
Parent attorney Pete Wright (www.wrightslaw.com) reassured parents that the language in IDEA 2004 that permits fees against an attorney "who files a complaint or subsequent cause of action that is frivolous, unreasonable, or without foundation, or a parent or attorney who continued to litigate after the litigation clearly became frivolous, unreasonable, or without foundation..." is very similar to the standard of Rule Eleven which prohibits litigation for "any improper purpose, such as to harass or to cause unnecessary delay or needless increase in the cost of litigation..." The intent of this provision is to reduce the number of parents who shoot from the hip, request a due process hearing out of anger and emotion, do not prepare their case, and simply want to get back at the school district for perceived wrongs. Parents, advocates, and parent attorneys will benefit if this occurs.
On November 20, Congress passed the $388 billion, 3,000 page Consolidated Appropriations Act for 2005 (HR 4818). Further action on the bill was delayed due to the furor over a provision which could have allowed Congressional Appropriations Committee staff to view personal data in the IRS files. The Senate rescinded that provision before leaving for Thanksgiving. The House did the same on December 6.
All programs included in the omnibus bill were cut across-the-board by 0.83%. As a result, several programs that were frozen at last year's funding levels in the omnibus bill will effectively be cut. Title 1 of NCLB and Part B of IDEA were not cut, but their increases were $513 million, not the $1 billion in the original bill.
The conference agreement includes funding for the Striving Readers program which will make competitive grants to develop, implement, evaluate and bring to scale reading interventions for middle- or high-school students who are reading significantly below grade level, prioritizing services to those schools and districts with one or more high or middle schools that include a significant number of students reading below grade level.
EXECUTIVE BRANCH
DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION
Federal Regulations and Letters of Clarification
Passing the law is not the end of the process. "Statutes" are the law. Regulations clarify details consistent with the law. Within a year, the Office of Special Education Programs (OSEP) must issue final regulations which cannot "violate or contradict any provision of the statute or procedurally or substantively lessen the protections provided to children with disabilities." Before adoption of the final regulations, proposed regulations must be published with at least a 75 day opportunity for public comments.
Organizations or individuals may write to the Office of Special Education Programs for further clarification of the law or the regulations. The new IDEA makes it very clear that any written response by the Secretary regarding a policy, question, or interpretation under part B shall include an explanation that the response gives informal guidance only and is not legally binding. A list of correspondence from the Department of Education is to be published quarterly in the Federal Register.
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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