CONGRESSIONAL ACTIVITIES
Most of the legislation of concern to individuals with disabilities,
there families and those who support them was not completed before
Congress left for its August recess. The first session of this Congress
is scheduled to end on October 4, but that time is sure to be extended.
Even so, the timing of passage of these bills and their final provisions
is uncertain. Here are the latest developments.
EDUCATION APPROPRIATIONS
The full House passed its Health and Human Services, and Education
Appropriations bill (HR 2660) on July 10. The House bill provides
only a $2.3 billion, or 4.3% increase over FY '03, for a total of
$55.4 billion for the Education Department. This is the smallest
increase in eight years, and freezes 67 programs. It specifically
falls $1.2 billion short of what was promised for IDEA and $334
million below what was promised for Title I of NCLB (No Child Left
Behind) in the FY '04 Budget Resolution
The Senate Appropriations Committee passed its Labor, Health and
Human Services, and Education Appropriations for fiscal year 2004
(S 1356) on June 26. Because the spending ceiling for the Senate's
Labor-Health and Human Services and Education Appropriations bill
is $445 million below the House ceiling, the Senate totals for education
are lower than the levels reported out of the House subcommittee.
On September 5, S 1356 went to the floor for debate. A Democratic
press conference was held on September 3 to generate support for
several amendments, including one to "Honor the Federal Commitment
to Special Education" by increasing IDEA funding by $2.2 billion
over current year funding. This amendment made no mention of mandatory
full funding. Senate rules require that most amendments to increase
education funding must pass by at least 60 votes.
IDEA REAUTHORIZATION
The Senate HELP committee passed its version of IDEA (S 1248) in
late July. Although HELP Committee Chairman Judd Gregg has expressed
his desire to pass the bill by mid-September, there are rumors that
the Administration would like to postpone action on the bill until
the next year. Currently, negotiations are going on to reduce the
number of amendments that can be offered on the Senate floor. The
only Democratic amendment being discussed is the Harkin/Hagel full funding amendment. Republicans are expected to
offer amendments on full funding, vouchers, and caps on attorney's
fees. In addition, Lamar Alexander (R-TN) may offer an amendment
which would repeal the No Child Left Behind requirement that the
scores of students with disabilities be counted in the accountability
for AYP (Adequate Yearly Progress) because of the scores of students
with disabilities to substitute students’ progress on meeting
IEP goals as a measure accountability instead.
THE CHILD MEDICATION SAFETY ACT (HR 1170) (S 1390)
On July 10, Senator John Ensign (R-NV) introduced S 1390 - a Senate
version of the House bill, which would require every state to develop
and implement policies and procedures to prohibit school personnel
from requiring a student from taking medication as a condition of
attending school.
THE PATHWAYS FOR STUDENTS TO SUCCEED ACT (PASS) (S 1554)
On August 1. Senator Patty Murray (D-WA) introduced the PASS (Pathways
for Students to Succeed Act).which would help secondary schools
hire literacy coaches to strengthen essential reading and writing
skills and would provide grants for high-quality academic counselors
to ensure each student has an individualized plan and access to
services to prepare for college and a good job. The bill creates
a $1 billion ``Reading to succeed'' grant program to establish effective, research-based reading and writing programs for students
in middle and high schools, including children with limited English
proficiency and children with disabilities.
REAUTHORIZATION OF THE WORKFORCE INVESTMENT ACT (WIA) (HR 1261)
The Employment, Safety and Training Subcommittee of the Senate
Help Committee is working on a bipartisan bill to reauthorize WIA
and hopes to introduce it in early September. Hopefully this bill
will be an improvement over the House bill, H.R. 1261, which was
opposed by disability organizations because it would take money
from One Stop partners, including vocational rehabilitation, to
pay for the expenses of running the One Stop Centers.
REAUTHORIZATION OF THE TEMPORARY AID TO NEEDY FAMILIES ACT (TANF)
(HR 4) (1523)
On July 31, 2001, Senator Gordon Smith (R OR) introduced S. 1523,
the Pathways to Independence Act of 2003, Unlike the House Bill
(HR 4), which places a cap of three months on the amount of time
states could count rehabilitative services as meeting the full work
requirement and counts the hours an individual participated in rehabilitative
services as meeting the work requirements only if the individual
also completed 24 hours of countable work activities. S 1523 would
also: (1) allow states to count participation in rehabilitative
services as meeting the work requirement for more than three months
if the TANF recipient is progressively increasing participation
in core work activities; and (2) allow states to count as a work
activity the time spent by the adult in the TANF family caring for
a child with a disability or an adult relative with a disability.
REAUTHORIZATION OF HEAD START (HR 2210) (S1483)
On July 25th, the U.S. House of Representatives narrowly passed
H.R. 2210, the School Readiness Act by a vote of 217 to 216. Twelve
Republicans, one independent and all the Democrats voted against
the bill, which authorizes a controversial 8-state block grant demonstration
program On July 29 Senator Chris Dodd (D-CT) introduced S.1483,
the Head Start Coordination and School Readiness Act, which makes
no mention of block grants, but would require stronger education
credentials for Head Start teachers and wages more comparable to
public school pre-kindergarten and kindergarten teachers; improve
Head Start's academic focus, particularly in pre-literacy instruction;
promote better coordination across all state early care and education
programs; and expand Head Start to more children, including more
younger children through the expansion of Early Head Start.
THE READY TO TEACH ACT (HR 2211)
On July 9, the House passed the Ready to Teach Act (H.R. 2211)
which aligns teacher training programs under the Higher Education
Act with the definitions and provisions for highly qualified teachers
in the No Child Left Behind Act, coordinating activities under the
two Acts and bringing the accountability found in NCLB into teacher
training programs. The bill was sent to the Senate HELP committee
on July 10.
THE ENVIRONMENTAL HEALTH RESEARCH ACT OF 2003 (HR 852) (S 1588)
On September 5, Senator Mary Landrieu (D-LA) introduced the Environmental
Health Research Act (S 1588), which, like HR 852,, would require
the Director of the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences
to develop comprehensive multidisciplinary research centers on women’s
health and disease prevention and conduct and coordinate a research
program on possible human health effects of hormone-disrupting chemicals,
with emphasis on exposures to low does of individual chemicals and
chemical mixtures during critical life stages of development, particularly
effects of prenatal exposures on children’s health.
Public Agencies
EPA EXEMPTS PLANTS FROM CLEAN-AIR RULE
On August 27, the Environmental Protection Agency revised its rules
to allow older power plants, refineries, and factories up to 20%
of the costs of replacing their production system to be considered
"routine maintenance" which does not require expensive
anti-pollution controls. They can do so even if the upgrades increase
emissions, and with no apparent restrictions on time intervals between
modernization. Mercury compounds, which are known to cause birth defects and disabilities are among the pollutants generated by these
plants.
DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION APPOINTMENTS
The Department of Education Institute of Education Sciences (IES)
Director Grover (Russ) Whitehurst has announced that Phoebe Cottingham
has been named commissioner of the National Center for Education
Evaluation and Regional Assistance, which is part of the Institute
of Education Sciences established by the Education Sciences Reform
Act of 2002. The National Center for Evaluation and Regional Assistance
oversees the Regional Labs, ERIC, What Works Clearinghouse, Math
and Science Clearinghouse, and key Federal program evaluations like
Title I.
Education Under Secretary Gene Hickok will be named acting deputy
secretary of education, replacing Bill Hansen, who left the Department
earlier this month for a position in the private sector
Ronald Tomalis, former executive deputy secretary of the Pennsylvania
Department of Education will be named Acting Assistant Secretary
For Elementary And Secondary Education.
Susan Sclafani, former counsel to Education Secretary Paige, has
been named Assistant Secretary for Adult and Vocational Education.
RESTRUCTURING ERIC
Despite more than 3000 comments opposing the Department of Education's
proposal to consolidate the current clearing houses in the ERIC
(Education Resource Information Center) to a single center run by
one contractor, only minor changes were made in the final draft
that went out for bid in June. As a result, the Clearinghouse on
Disabilities and Gifted Education will be merged with Centers focusing
on 15 other areas of education, including Adult/Vocational Education,
Technology, Assessment and Evaluation, Reading, Elementary/Early
Education, Urban Education, Environmental Education and Higher Education.
WRITING 2002 AND STUDENTS WITH SPECIAL NEEDS
The National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) and the National
Assessment Governing Board (NAGB) released The Nation's Report Card:
Writing 2002 on July 10, 2003. Disaggregated achievement data is
provided for various subgroups (e.g., gender, race/ethnicity), but
not for students with disabilities. However, data is provided on
numbers of students with disabilities and/or limited English proficient students
identified, excluded, and assessed at each grade level. Details
on inclusion of students with special needs are available at http://nces.ed.gov/nationsreportcard/writing/results2002/natexclusion.asp
*The full report can be downloaded from http://nces.ed.gov/nationsreportcard/
NATIONAL COUNCIL ON DISABILITY REPORT ON EMPLOYMENT FOR PEOPLE
WITH DISABILITIES
On August 1, the National Council on Disability (NCD) released
an excerpt from its annual report, National Disability Policy: A
Progress Report which highlights a number of issues related to the
challenges for advancing employment opportunities across the nation
for people with disabilities. Recommendations were made for the
Reauthorization of Workforce Investment Act (WIA) and the Rehabilitation
Act:, Tax Incentives, the Ticket to Work and Work Incentives Improvement Act: and the Office of Disability Employment Policy
(ODEP), U.S. Department of Labor. The report can be downloaded from
http://www.ncd.gov/newsroom/publications/progressreport_final.html
NATIONAL DISABILITY MENTORING DAY OCTOBER 15, 2003
Secretary of Labor Elaine Chao has designated Oct. 15, 2003 as
National Disability Mentoring Day. Begun in 1999, National Disability
Mentoring Day promotes career development for students and job seekers
with disabilities through one-on-one job shadowing, group visits
to public and private employers, and hands-on career exploration.
The American Association of People with Disabilities (AAPD) is coordinating
this program for the Department of Labor. For further information visit http://www.aapd-dc.org
MENTAL HEALTH COMMISSION ISSUES REPORT
The President's New Freedom Commission on Mental Health delivered
its report to the President. Achieving the Promise: Transforming
Mental Health Care in America, is a comprehensive year-long study
representing expert health care testimony and consumer comments
from over 2,300 people across the nation. The report may be downloaded
from http://www.mentalhealthcommission.gov/reports/reports.htm
Printed copies of this publication online, may be found at http://store.mentalhealth.org/publications/ordering.aspx
(Order Item Number SMA 03-3832, Final Report for the President's
New Freedom Commission on Mental Health)
Private Agencies
REPORT ON KEY LEGISLATION AFFECTING YOUTH
The Center on Law and Social Policy issued a report which reviews
several key programs up for reauthorization this year, i.e.,the
Adult Education and Family Literacy Act, the Higher Education Act,
the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, the Runaway and
Homeless Youth Act, the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families
program, and the Workforce Investment Act. The report can be downloaded
from http://www.clasp.org/DMS/Documents/1057083505.88/Disconnected_Youth.pdf
REPORT ON IMPLEMENTATION OF IDEA
An Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development's (ASCD)
has issued a report on the implementation IDEA by states. This report
can be found at http://www.ascd.org/publications/infobrief/index.html.
REPORT ON USE OF PESTICIDES BY SCHOOLS
THE SCHOOL PESTICIDE REFORM COALITION AND BEYOND PESTICIDES issued
a guide for Safer Schools: Achieving a Healthy Learning Environment
Through Integrated Pest Management.. The guide lists strategies schools may use to decrease
pesticide use while implementing more effective pest management
strategies. It can be downloaded at http://www.beyondpesticides.org/schools
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