Action Alert SAVE IDEA !! CONTACT YOUR SENATORS
May 2003

From: Disability Rights Education and Defense Fund

Please call or fax your Senators and tell them why the House (HR 1350) version of IDEA is a bad law. Use personal stories to show how the law would affect your child.

The bill is being discussed in the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee. Members of the Committee need to hear parents say in a loud and unified voice that this version of IDEA harms our children.

If you listened to the IDEA debate in the House on April 30, you heard Representatives say they'd heard from school boards and school administrators but NOT FROM PARENTS. It is IMPERATIVE that parents speak out NOW, loudly and in one voice, to explain why the House bill WILL NOT WORK FOR OUR KIDS.

The Senate is drafting an IDEA bill, and we hope it will be better than the House bill. We need to urge them to ensure that it IS better. They are trying to introduce the bill before Memorial Day; it remains to be seen if that will occur.

Even if an improved IDEA passes in the Senate, it will have to be negotiated with the House version afterwards.

Washington lobbyists WILL NOT GET A GOOD IDEA ENACTED. We need you to work locally, in your communities, with your Representatives and Senators. Over the Memorial Day recess, visit members' offices, corner them at picnics and barbecues, and TELL THEM ABOUT YOUR CHILDREN.

It is critical that we raise our voices.

You can find a brief list of objections to the House version of IDEA and a list of the HELP Committee members and contact numbers below. A more detailed analysis of the bill's objectionable provisions is at the bottom of this Alert.

Grassroots organizing is the only hope for stopping damaging changes to IDEA that will hurt our kids. We thank the thousands of you who wrote, faxed, or called your Representatives. Please now target your Senators.

We want to keep track of the number of calls and faxes, so please email us and let us know which Senators you contacted.

WHAT TO DO TODAY:

1. Call the Congressional switchboard at 202-224-3121 and ask to be connected to your Senator's office or send a fax to your Senators.
2. State your objections to the House bill, misleadingly called: "Improving Education Results for Children with Disabilities Act," with your own child's story-how would these changes affect your child? How would they have affected your child had they been in place earlier? You don't need to cover all the issues discussed below-focus on those issues closest to your situation.

Key issues:

• Elimination of short-term objectives and benchmarks
• Change from annual to three-year IEPs
• Limiting the availability of lawyers to represent parents
• Changes in discipline provisions that punish kids for their disabilities: schools can remove a student unilaterally for infractions of any school rule even if the behavior is caused by the child's disability. The bill eliminates all attempts to identify and remediate the behavior such as requirements for manifestation determinations, functional behavior assessments, and behavior intervention plans contained in the current law.
• A companion bill includes a voucher program for public schools to send children to private schools that are not accountable under IDEA.
• There is no full funding, and 15% of the inadequate funding there is can be diverted to programs for non-IDEA-eligible children.
• Procedural changes cut back forcefully on the ability of parents to participate in or monitor the process: voluntary binding arbitration, a one-month waiting period, a one-year statute of limitations.
• 10 states will be given "paperwork reduction" incentives that allow them to change documentation requirements without public review.
• Send a fax or call the members of the HELP Committee (list below).

Note: Calls and faxes are more powerful than emails. Surface mail to Congress is very slow following the anthrax scare, and there may not be time for mailed letters.

CONTACT INFORMATION: THE HELP COMMITTEE

Note: All members of the Senate need to hear from parents, but it is especially crucial that Republicans hear our voices. The vote in the House fell largely along party lines, with Republicans supporting the bill and Democrats opposing it.

THE HELP COMMITTEE

Judd Gregg, Chairman (R-NH)
393 Russell Senate Office Building
Washington, DC 20510
T 202-224-3324
F 202-224-4952
E-mail: mailbox@gregg.senate.gov

Edward M. Kennedy, Ranking Member (D-MA)
315 Russell Senate Office Building
Washington, DC 20510
T (202) 224-4543
F (202) 224-2417
E-mail: senator@kennedy.senate.gov

DEMOCRATS

Tom Harkin (D-IA):
731 Hart Senate Office Building
Washington, DC 20510
T (202) 224-3254
F (202) 224-9369
TDD (202) 224-4633
E-mail: tom_harkin@harkin.senate.gov

Christopher Dodd (D-CT):
SR-448 Russell Building
Washington D.C., 20510
T (202) 224-2823
F (202) 224-1083
E-mail: Web Form: dodd.senate.gov/webmail/

Barbara Mikulski (D-MD)
Suite 709, Hart Senate Office Building
Washington, D.C. 20510
T (202) 224-4654
F (202)224-8858
E-mail: Web Form: mikulski.senate.gov/mailform.htm

James Jeffords (I-VT)
728 Hart Senate Office Building
Washington, D.C. 20510
T (202) 224-5141
F (202) 228-0776
E-mail: vermont@jeffords.senate.gov

Jeff Bingaman (D-NM)
703 Hart Senate Office Bldg. United States Senate
Washington, D.C. 20510
T (202) 224-5521
TDD: (202) 224-1792
F (202) 224-2852
E-mail: senator_bingaman@bingaman.senate.gov

Patty Murray (D-WA)
173 Russell Senate Office Building
Washington, D.C. 20510
T (202) 224-2621
F (202) 224-0238
E-mail: senator_murray@murray.senate.gov

Jack Reed (D-RI)
320 Hart Senate Office Building
Washington, DC 20510
T (202) 224-4642
F (202) 224-4680
E-mail: jack@reed.senate.gov

John Edwards (D-NC) United States Senate
225 Dirksen Office Bldg.
Washington, DC 20510
T (202) 224-3154
F (202) 228-1374
E-mail: Web Form: edwards.senate.gov/contact.html

Hilary Clinton (D-NY) United States Senate
476 Russell Senate Office Building
Washington, DC 20510
T (202) 224-4451
F (202) 228-0282
E-mail: Web Form: clinton.senate.gov/email_form.html

REPUBLICANS

Bill Frist (R-TN)
416 Russell Senate Office Building
Washington, DC 20510
T 202-224-3344
F 202-228-1264
E-mail: Web Form: frist.senate.gov/contact.cfm

Mike Enzi (R-WY)
290 Russell Senate Office Building
Washington, D.C. 20510
T (202) 224-3424
F (202) 228-0359
E-mail: senator@enzi.senate.gov

Lamar Alexander (R-TN)
Dirkson Senate Office Building
Washington, DC 20510
T (202) 224-4944
F (202) 228-3398
E Web Form: alexander.senate.gov/contact.cfm

Jeff Sessions (R-AL)
493 Russell Senate Office Building
Washington, D.C. 20510-0104
T (202) 224-4124
F (202) 224-3149
E-mail: senator@sessions.senate.gov

Mike DeWine (R-OH)
140 Russell Senate Building,
Washington, DC 20510
T (202) 224-2315
F (202) 224-6519
TDD: (202) 224-9921
E-mail: senator_dewine@dewine.senate.gov

Lindsey Graham (R-SC)
290 Russell Senate Office Building
Washington, DC 20510
T (202) 224-5972
F (202) 224-1189
E Web Form: lgraham.senate.gov/email/email.htm

John Warner (R-VA)
225 Russell Building
Washington, D.C. 20510
T (202) 224-2023
F (202) 224-6295
E-mail: senator@warner.senate.gov

Christopher Bond (R-MO)
274 Russell Senate Office Bldg.
Washington, DC 20510
T (202) 224-5721
F (202) 224-8149
E-mail: kit_bond@bond.senate.gov

John Ensign (R-NV)
364 Russell Senate Office Bldg.
Washington, DC 20510
T (202) 224-6244
F (202) 228-2193
E: Web Form: ensign.senate.gov/contact_john/contactjohn_email.html

Pat Roberts (R-KS)
302 Hart Senate Building
Washington, DC 20510
T (202) 224-4774
F (202) 224-3514
E Web Form: roberts.senate.gov/email.htm

DREDF ANALYSIS OF THE HOUSE IDEA BILL

The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) is the most important piece of civil rights legislation for children with disabilities ever passed in this country. Prior to its passage in 1975, at least one million children with disabilities in the United States were denied any public education, and at least 4 million more were segregated from their non-disabled peers.

H.R. 1350-the "Improving Education Results for Children with Disabilities Act"-passed out of the House Subcommittee on Education Reform and the House Committee on Education and the Workforce and was approved on the floor on April 30 in a vote of 251 - 171, with 34 Democrats voting for the bill and 7 Republicans and 1 Independent member voting against it.

The IDEA bill as passed by the House contains dangerous provisions that will weaken the law and damage the civil rights of children with disabilities in every school district in the United States. The Disability Rights Education and Defense Fund (DREDF) is working with parents and advocates across the country to defeat H.R. 1350. DREDF is a national cross-disability law and policy center and a Parent Training and Information Center (PTI). DREDF has worked with over 3000 parents a year over more than two decades, as well as with special educators, school administrators, and advocates and attorneys for children with disabilities.

The provisions in H.R. 1350 and in its companion bill, H.R. 1373, the IDEA Parental Choice Act of 2003, jeopardize educational quality for the most vulnerable children in our public schools. In this era of "Leave No Child Behind," the House is proposing to do just that: to leave behind children with disabilities.

The changes contained in H.R. 1350 will have a lasting impact on the lives of students with disabilities and their families, and parents are overwhelmingly opposed to the bill. This bill weakens services and supports for children and undermines their protections and rights.

These are some of the reasons that the disability community finds this bill to be dangerous and to curtail the hard-won civil rights protections children with disabilities have enjoyed since 1975:

• ELIMINATING SHORT-TERM OBJECTIVES: The rationale for this provision is that No Child Left Behind (NCLB) makes short-term objectives and benchmarks unnecessary, yet NCLB nowhere provides for measuring progress toward IEP goals. Short-term objectives give parents useful information about their student's progress on important academic and non-academic goals. Without them, no reporting mechanism exists to mark a student's progress. The idea to eliminate short-term objectives was debated during the 1997 reauthorization discussions and defeated. It should be defeated again.
• THREE-YEAR IEPS: Three-year IEPs remove school accountability for educating children with disabilities. Children change and grow rapidly and their educational programs need to be thoroughly reviewed at least annually. Waiting three years for a comprehensive program evaluation is indefensible. The bill uses the phrase "paperwork reduction" to gut the core provisions of IDEA. While this is an optional choice for parents, many parents will either be confused by it or feel coerced to accept this option. We believe that an annual IEP is necessary to review the child's progress and to make necessary modifications. If parents are pressured to accept a three-year IEP, parental participation and the school's accountability to parents will decrease. This proposal purports to "streamline" the annual review, but given the cursory nature of most IEP reviews currently, the proposal panders to "paperwork" complaints with no benefit, and a likely detriment to children. There are better ways to make the IEP process and paperwork more user-friendly for parents, teachers, and administrators.
• DILUTION OF FUNDS: H.R. 1350 diverts funds away from direct services to children with disabilities and allows 15% of the money to be used for a new pre-referral program, to supplant local education funds, to provide "supplemental services," and to be used for purposes other than the provision of services for children with disabilities. Given that IDEA funding is woefully inadequate, this proposal takes already scarce funding from IDEA-eligible students, the very students the law was enacted to serve. In addition, H.R. 1350 does not contain full funding for IDEA and thus does nothing to ensure that additional resources will accompany these major changes to the law. And nothing in the bill precludes schools from keeping children in a pre-referral category indefinitely, whereas those with disabilities should receive the full protections of IDEA as soon as possible.
• DISCIPLINE PROVISIONS: The discipline provisions of H.R. 1350 punish children with disabilities for disability-related behaviors, remove manifestation determination reviews, and deny children with disabilities the appropriate supports they need to succeed in school by removing functional behavior assessments and positive behavior support plans. This bill allows school personnel to unilaterally remove a disabled child from his or her current placement for the violation of ANY school rule, EVEN IF the behavior is a manifestation of the child's disability; manifestation determinations are eliminated. The bill punishes children for behaviors they cannot control (for example, a child with Tourette Syndrome who shouts out in class). This is a repudiation of everything IDEA stands for. By also removing the requirement to develop positive behavior support plans, the bill lacks even the pretense of concern for the well-being of children with disabilities. Many of these proposals were brought forward in 1997 and replaced with a compromise that unilateral actions and alternative placements can occur only in the most serious situations, those involving weapons and drugs. In no other arena are there proposals to make procedures for students with disabilities exactly the same as those for non-disabled students, whether or not the student can control the behavior or understand its consequences. Current law contains provisions for functional behavioral assessments and behavior intervention plans, and these provisions are crucial for children with disabilities.
• VOUCHERS: H.R. 1350 permits the development of state voucher programs that would send some students with disabilities to private schools that are not accountable under the law. This bill allows local public school districts to use federal IDEA funds to give partial "scholarships" for use in private schools, including those that are faith-based. The funds may also be used for tutoring and other private services for students in schools deemed to be failing. DREDF and People for the American Way have co-authored a detailed analysis of the McKay voucher program in Florida and the ways in which it has failed students with disabilities and their families. The report is entitled "Jeopardizing a Legacy: "A Closer Look at IDEA and Florida's Disability Voucher Program" (pdf).
• PAPERWORK REDUCTION: The 10-state "demonstration" project allows the Secretary to waive IDEA statutory and regulatory provisions with no public review process.
• PROCEDURAL CHANGES: The House version of IDEA contains several provisions that significantly weaken parent involvement and the ability of parents to ensure that their children receive an appropriate education.

• Voluntary binding arbitration means that parents will be asked to give up their right to appeal. Civil rights advocates have been arguing against binding arbitration in a variety of contexts. The bargaining positions of the parties are too unequal to rely on binding arbitration.
• Forced settlement discussions without an attorney: The bill requires all parents who file for due process to go to a meeting to explain their complaint. The purported reason for this is to see if resolution can be reached without going to hearing. Yet in most cases the district is not only well aware of the problem, but has also refused to take the requested action. So why should a parent have to go to another (most likely unpleasant) meeting to discuss the complaint? To add insult to injury, the bill does not allow for attorney fees for these meetings. So, the bill is forcing a parent to go to a settlement negotiation underrepresented (unless they happen to have enough money to pay an attorney out of pocket).
• The bill mandates a one-month waiting period before any parent complaint can go to due process regardless of the problem or issue.
• The bill establishes a one-year statute of limitations on complaints for violations. This term can expire before parents even realize that a service is not being provided or that a student has not been receiving appropriate accommodations. Many children with disabilities cannot communicate these things to their parents. Statutes of limitations make it impossible for parents to participate in the process, to monitor school services and supports, or to adequately protect their children. Each of these provisions makes it more difficult for parents to work with school districts to obtain services for their children.

• GOVERNORS SET ATTORNEY FEE RATES: The Case amendment to regulate fees for attorneys who represent parents and prevail, makes it clear that H.R. 1350 is not looking out for the rights of families. There is no concomitant regulation of what school districts can pay the attorneys they retain. It is already difficult for many parents to find representation and this provision makes it even harder. It severely restricts the availability of lawyers to represent parents and children while having no affect on school districts' ability to find and pay legal counsel.

Children with disabilities deserve civil rights protections so that they have an equal opportunity to an education that can help them to become contributing citizens.

Thanks for your help, The DREDF Staff

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