|
IDEA Reauthorizing Briefing #23
from the Disability Rights
Education and Defense Fund (DREDF), April 4, 2003
For more articles like this
visit
https://www.bridges4kids.org
Calling on parents, advocates, and friends of children with
disabilities to mobilize to defeat H.R. 1350, the "Improving
Education Results for Children with Disabilities Act," the
Disability Rights Education and Defense Fund (DREDF) called the
act "harmful to children with disabilities."
H.R. 1350 was approved by the House Subcommittee on Education
and Reform on April 2, 2003. It is scheduled to go to the full
House Committee on Education and the Workforce on Wednesday,
April 9.
Opponents of the legislation cite the following as limiting
options and programs for children:
1. Requiring that an individual educational program (IEP) need
only be designed once every three years instead of every year
and the elimination of short-term objectives and benchmarks. It
is at the IEP where parents are guaranteed involvement in
determining their child's educational program. The requirement
of short-term objectives and benchmarks allow for a measurement
of progress.
2. 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. The bill diverts funds away from
direct services to children with disabilities and allows 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.
Advocates support prevention and "pre-referral" programs, but
point out that adequate money is not currently provided by the
federal government to support needed "post-referral" programs.
3. The discipline provisions of H.R. 1350 punish children with
disabilities for disability-related behaviors, remove the civil
rights protections of IDEA for children with disabilities, and
deny children with disabilities the appropriate supports they
need to succeed in school.
4. The bill permits the development of state voucher programs
that would send some students with disabilities to private
schools that are not accountable under the law.
5. Voluntary binding arbitration, forced settlement discussions
without an attorney, waiting periods, and 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.
Advocates are particularly concerned about H.R. 1350's
discipline provisions. The bill would allow schools to
unilaterally expel any child with a disability who is determined
to have violated any school "code of conduct," regardless of
severity, and to place the child in an alternative interim
setting for up to 45 days. Under this provision, a student could
be expelled for chewing gum, shouting out in class, or carrying
a plastic eating utensil in their lunch box.
The bill eliminates the "manifestation determination" review
process altogether, which protects students from being unfairly
punished for actions that are beyond their control because they
are a "manifestation" or result of student's disability.
The bill eliminates the requirement for functional behavioral
assessments and positive behavioral interventions.
In essence, advocates argue, the bill punishes students for
behavior which they cannot control and does nothing to require
schools to address and help students manage their behavior. The
bill allows school district personnel to remove a disabled child
from his or her current placement for the violation of any
school rule so long as the same duration of discipline would
apply to non-disabled students. Advocates are concerned that in
addition to unfairly punishing student's for having a
disability, the bill also gives schools an excuse to remove
students and close programs. |
