On April 2, the House Education and the Workforce Subcommittee on Education Reform approved, by voice vote, legislation (H.R. 1350) that would reauthorize the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), a measure that guarantees disabled students free public education in the “least restrictive environment.” The Subcommittee also voted, 9-11, against designating as mandatory rather than discretionary, funding for the federal program that regulates special education.
The subcommittee rejected an amendment sponsored by Ranking Member Lynn Woolsey (D-CA) that would have made Congress guarantee it would contribute 40 percent of the funds needed for special education programs within six years and would have made such funding mandatory. The federal contribution stands now at 18 percent ($8.9 billion), which means states and school districts have to come up with the difference; full funding would require federal funding for 40 percent of the costs of the program.
“This is the granddaddy of federal unfunded mandates,” said Rep. Ed Case (D-HI). Democrats maintained that the funding should be guaranteed as mandatory spending so it could not later be cut at the whim of appropriators.
“I don’t care what authorization levels are put in this bill,” said Rep. Woolsey after the amendment failed. “If the funding is not mandatory, I don’t believe it will happen.”
Subcommittee Chairman Mike Castle (R-DE), who sponsored the bill, disagreed with the “unfunded mandate” analogy. “It’s not an unfunded mandate. One might argue that it’s an underfunded law, and that argument can go on forever.”
Rep. Tom Osborne (R-NE) raised concerns about oversight if IDEA became an entitlement program. “Once something becomes mandatory, it is seldom reviewed, it is seldom improved,” he said.
Rep. Castle advised Democratic subcommittee members not to get distracted by how the money is labeled, saying, “the commitment is there.”
Democrats also objected to language concerning student discipline. The Castle bill would allow schools to treat disabled students the same as non-disabled students in discipline cases, but would allow schools to “consider unique circumstances on a case-by-case basis.”
Rep. Woolsey called the provision “outrageous” because it would not require schools to consider whether a student’s actions were the result of a disability, a provision that is in the current law.
Rep. Woolsey teamed with Rep. Jim DeMint (R-SC) on an amendment that would permit states to give parents the option of using IDEA funds in the school of their choice until their child reaches kindergarten age. Rep. Woolsey added a provision that would provide parents with protections under IDEA, regardless of where they send their child to preschool. The DeMint-Woolsey amendment was adopted by voice vote.
