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News from Washington
Fall 2003
APPROPRIATIONS. An Omnibus appropriations bill was passed in the House but deferred by the Senate until they return from the holiday recess in January. A Continuing Resolution (CR) will maintain funding for federal programs at current levels through January 31, 2004. More below…
IDEA ELIGIBILITY FOR SPECIFIC LEARNING DISABILITIES. Thanks to all who contacted their Senators, the new S 1248 changes Eligibility For Specific Learning Disabilities, requiring the local education agency to use a variety of assessment tools and strategies to gather relevant information; prohibiting the use of a single procedure, measurement or assessment as the sole criterion for determining whether a child is a child with a disability; and requiring the use of technically sound instruments to assess the relative contribution of cognitive and behavioral factors in addition to physical or developmental factors. More below…
HOUSE AND SENATE CONFERENCE COMMITTEE ON IDEA. Once the bill passes the Senate, House and Senate conferees will be named to iron out differences between HR 1350 and S 1248. Advocates must be prepared to urge adoption of the more positive proposals of the Senate bill!
PERSONNEL CHANGES. Assistant Secretary for the Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services Dr Robert Pasternack has announced his resignation as of January 2, 2004. Because his replacement must be confirmed by the Senate, an acting Assistant Secretary may be named. More below…
CONGRESSIONAL ACTIVITIES
As of Thanksgiving, 5 appropriation bills, including that for Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and Related Agencies, had not been passed. Before taking a break,
Congress passed a fifth continuing resolution to maintain funding for these programs until January 31, 2004. The House returned on December 8 and the Senate on December 9 to try to pass an Omnibus Appropriations Bill before then: the House did pass the bill but the Senate deferred it for action in January.
The final bill includes a O.59% across the board cut for all programs. Funding for Title I grants would increase by 6% (to $12.4 billion) and for Part B of special education by 13% (to $10.1 billion). Vocational Rehabilitation State Grants would be funded at $2.6 billion.
Eligibility for Specific Learning Disabilities
On November 3, Senator Judd Gregg introduced the latest version of IDEA for consideration by the full Senate. Thanks to all who contacted their Senators, the new S 1248 changes ELIGIBILITY FOR SPECIFIC LEARNING DISABILITIES (Section 614(b)(6)(B)) from “In determining whether a child has a specific learning disability, a local education agency may use a process that determines if the child responds to scientific, research-based intervention” to “In determining whether a child has a specific learning disability, a local educational agency may use a process that determines if the child responds to scientific, research-based intervention as a part of the evaluation procedures described in paragraphs (2) and (3).”
LDA had feared that the original wording, which is also in the House bill, could be interpreted to mean that a child’s failure to respond to the intervention would be the sole criterion for determining the existence of a learning disability. This should not happen if Congress accepts the Senate language.
Paragraph (2) requires the local education agency to use a variety of assessment tools and strategies to gather relevant information; prohibits the use of a single procedure, measurement or assessment as the sole criterion for determining whether a child is a child with a disability; and requires the use of technically sound instruments to assess the relative contribution of cognitive and behavioral factors in addition to physical or developmental factors.
Paragraph (3) requires the local education agency to ensure that tests and other evaluation materials are not discriminatory on a racial or cultural basis, are administered in the child’s native language, are valid and reliable, and are administered by trained and knowledgeable personnel.
In addition, the report (108-185) which accompanies S 1248 notes that although “a local educational agency is not required to take into account a severe discrepancy between IQ and achievement,” the use of the model would not be prohibited. “Section 614(b)(3)(A)(iii) will require that all procedures, including alternate procedures, be valid and reliable for the purpose for which they are used.”
Defining “Highly Qualified” Teachers
The bill also includes a detailed definition of “highly qualified” which tries to distinguish between a new and an experienced teacher. The definition states that:
- A special education teacher must have state certification, may not have an emergency, temporary or provisional license, and must demonstrate knowledge of special education
- A new elementary school special education teacher must demonstrate, by passing a rigorous state test, knowledge of subject matter and teaching skills in reading, writing, math, and other areas of the elementary school curriculum
- A new middle school and secondary school special education teacher must demonstrate a high level of competency in each of the academic subjects to be taught or successfully complete coursework in each of the academic subjects to be taught
- A veteran special education teacher must have met the above standards or have demonstrated competence in the academic subjects which the teacher teaches
However, a special education teacher who provides only consultative services to a highly qualified regular education teacher is only required to meet the standards for a special education teacher. In addition, a middle or secondary school special education teacher who teaches elementary school curriculum to students with significant cognitive disabilities need only meet the requirements for an elementary special education teacher.
These provisions apply to the bill as presented only. They can be changed or eliminated either in the Senate action on the bill, or during the conference to draft the final bill. The Senate proposal and the accompanying report can be downloaded from the Thomas website.
Amendments
HELP committee members had hoped that the Senate would vote on their bill before 2004. The best that they could do was to get a unanimous consent agreement by which the Senate agrees to consider the bill with only four amendments each from the Republicans and the Democrats. The Republican amendments are expected to be on attorney’s fees, paperwork reduction, IDEA funding (probably discretionary and not mandatory) and one placeholder. The Democratic amendments are expected to be on mandatory full funding (Harkin), provision for homeless/foster children (Murray) and research into environmental causes of developmental disabilities (Clinton) and one placeholder. No amendment removing children with disabilities from the annual yearly progress provisions of the NCLB has been suggested. Details on these amendments are not available. The unanimous consent agreement is binding on the second session of the 108th Congress.
Once the bill passes the Senate, House and Senate conferees will be named to iron out differences between HR 1350 and S 1248. A comparison of the original S 1248 and HR 1250 can be found in the June-July News from Washington. Advocates must be prepared to urge adoption of the more positive proposals of the Senate bill!
THE WORKFORCE INVESTMENT ACT (WIA, HR 1261, S1627)
On November 17, the Senate passed their version of the reauthorization of the Workforce Investment Act. When Congress returns in mid-January, Conferees will begin to iron out differences between that and the House Bill.
TEMPORARY AID TO NEEDY FAMILIES REAUTHORIZATION (TANF, HR 4, S 1523)
Because Congress had not acted on TANF and it has no automatic extension, a six month extension of the law was passed in October.
BILLS TO BE CARRIED OVER TO THE SECOND SESSION
- HEAD START ( HR 2210) (S1483)
- THE READY TO TEACH ACT (HR 2211)
- THE CHILD MEDICATION SAFETY ACT (HR 1170)(S 1390)
- PASS (PATHWAYS FOR STUDENTS TO SUCCEED) (S 1554)
- GRADUATION FOR ALL ACT (HR 3085) which would provide resources for schools to improve adolescent literacy and improve graduation rates. This bill is more targeted than the Senate PASS bill.
- THE ENVIRONMENTAL HEALTH RESEARCH ACT OF 2003 (HR 852, S 1588)
EXECUTIVE BRANCH
- Susan Sclafani, former counsel to Education Secretary Paige, has been named Assistant Secretary for Adult and Vocational Education.
- Assistant Secretary for the Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative
Services Dr Robert Pasternack has announced his resignation as of January
2, 2004. Because his replacement must be confirmed by the Senate, an acting
Assistant Secretary may be named. Scuttlebut about possible candidates
for the position include:
- Troy Justesen, Acting Deputy Assistant Secretary, whose permanent position is Deputy Commissioner of the Rehabilitation Services Administration. Justesen was Deputy Executive Director of the President’s Commission on Excellence in Special Education.
- Todd Jones, Deputy Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights. Jones was Executive Director of the President’s Commission on Excellence in Special Education.
- Doug Carnine, Director of the National Center to Improve the Tools of Educators and a professor at the University of Oregon. Dr. Carnine testified before the House Committee on Education and the Workforce on the topic of specific learning disabilities and appropriate methods of identifying children with these disabilities.
- Jack Fletcher, the University of Texas Medical School, is a recipient of an NICHD grant to identify critical research needs in LD and to implement comprehensive studies to address issues relevant to identification, prevention, etiology, and treatment. Dr. Fletcher was a member of the President’s Commission on Excellence in Special Education.
- Stephanie Lee, Director of the Office of Special Education Programs.
ANNUAL REPORT ON IDEA
The Annual Report To Congress On The Status Of IDEA is now available. It can be downloaded from www.ed.gov/offices/OSERS/OSEP. To order copies of this report, write to: ED Pubs, Education Publications Center, U.S. Department of Education, P.O. Box 1398, Jessup, MD 20794-1398; fax your request to(301) 470-1244; e-mail your request to edpubs@inet.ed.gov or call in toll-free: 1-877-433-7827
OTHER ACTIVITIES
National Leadership Summit On Improving Results For Youth
In September over 250 state leaders and policymakers, representing secondary education, transition, workforce development, vocational rehabilitation, youth, families, and others, came together in Washington, DC, for the first National Leadership Summit on Improving Results for Youth, hosted by the National Center on Secondary Education and Transition (NCSET).
The purpose of the Summit was to help states build capacity to create a result-driven secondary education and transition system that supports an improved secondary school experience and school completion, a higher rate of postsecondary school enrollment and completion, and successful adult outcomes including competitive employment and community living. The NCSET website is www.ncset.org.
American High School Conference
On November 17-18, the Alliance for Excellent Education held its first annual invitational conference on the American high school to discuss some of the most difficult challenges facing the nation's secondary schools: literacy, adequacy, and equity. The conference brought together congressional staff, key decision-makers from the administration, policymakers, and other leaders from the education community to think about ways to assure that every American child has the opportunity to graduate from high school with the knowledge and skills needed for a successful transition into college or a rewarding job.
The first day of the conference focused on the adolescent literacy challenge that confronts high schools and the role of the literacy coach in meeting this challenge. On the second day, participants examined the adequacy and equity debate surrounding education funding and the shared responsibility that local, state, and federal governments have in resolving funding differences among school districts.
The conference also featured the release of four papers that delve more deeply into these topics: Adolescents and Literacy: Reading for the 21st Century; The Literacy Coach: A Key to Improving Teaching and Learning in Secondary Schools; Needs Improvement: 2003 Progress Report on American High Schools; and lastly, Investing in the Education of Older Students: A Summary of the Evidence. To download these documents go to www.all4ed.org.
Learning Disabilities Association of America
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Phone (412) 341-1515 Fax (412) 344-0224
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© 2004 LDA of America