On June 25, the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee approved, 21-0, legislation (S. 1248) that would reauthorize the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), a federal special education program. The new legislation includes provisions that would reduce paperwork, cut down on misidentification of disabilities in children, and encourage mediation and arbitration to reduce litigation. The House approved its version of the bill, H.R. 1350, on May 1 (see The Source, 5/2/03).
Committee Chair Judd Gregg (R-NH) said the bill “empowers parents and teachers to focus their time and energy on ensuring each special education student reach their full potential instead of being bogged down by paperwork and litigation.” He went on to declare that the reauthorization “contains initiatives that are designed to ensure that children with special needs, and students who may have been misidentified in the past, obtain the same opportunity to succeed as all other students.”
Committee Ranking Member Edward Kennedy (D-MA) also praised the legislation, but said that the program is still underfunded. “Schools urgently need resources to make IDEA a reality. It is not enough to provide some of the promised federal aid. We must find a way to fully fund IDEA, because every dollar lost is another child that slips through the cracks.”
The full Senate is expected to consider the bill in July.
