Modify ADA, IDEA

[Pamela Wilson]

WLVBarbara at aol.com, hosting the Special Needs/Education Chat Friday at 
7pm on AOL in the Women's Interest Area Chat Room writes: 

>>>I received this information from one of the special needs listserves 
to which I subscribe:

<<On Wednesday, January 24 the Advisory Commission on Intergovernmental 
Relations (ACIR) released their first comprehensive review of existing 
federal mandates on state, local, and tribal governments. ACIR, as a result 
of the Unfunded Mandates Reform Act of 1995, was charged by the 104th 
Congress to make recommendations to the President and the Congress to 
retain, suspend, revise, or terminate specific mandates.>>

What does that mean for us?  One of the mandates under review is IDEA 
(Individuals with Disabilities Education Act).   

<<The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA):
 
ACIR made the following recommendations:
 
1. Retain the provisions of the IDEA, but examine and
MODIFY the funding structure. IDEA has allowed millions of students 
with disabilities access to a free and appropriate public education. 
The goals, purposes, rights, and protections offered by the act justify 
its mandate requirements. IDEA should be modified to remove funding 
provisions that encourage and reward the overclassification and 
segregation of students with disabilities.
 
2. Provide funding assistance to state and local governments for 
compliance. The federal government should increase funding for 
IDEA. Only about 8% of a special education student's cost is repaid 
by the federal government, well below the 40% intended by Congress 
when the law was enacted. The intergovernmental financial partnership 
in special education has been weakened by this funding problems.
 
ACIR recommends that the act be amended to RELAX some of the most 
costly requirements if the federal government fails to meet its funding 
commitments.
 
3. Defer implementation decisions to the state and local governments. 
State and local education agencies are better equipped than the federal 
government to determine an "appropriate education," and how to specially 
meet a student's needs through an individualized education program (IEP) 
that is nondiscriminatory and beneficial. The federal government should 
provide state and local education agencies the flexibility to administer 
their special education programs in a manner that is effective in their 
own jurisdiction and good for their own children. The federal Department 
of Education should retain a formal monitoring presence.
 
4. Eliminate the statutory right of individuals to bring court actions or 
require alternate dispute resolution alternatives before use of due 
process procedures. IDEA provides a procedural structure for determining 
how the educational needs of each student should be met by state and 
local educational agencies. The decisions of the agencies may be challenged 
in either state or federal court, and in some cases, parents bringing actions 
on behalf of their children may be entitled to reimbursement for their costs, 
including attorney and court fees. Alternative dispute resolution practices 
should be required and any challenge in state or federal court should be 
brought by state or federal agencies, not by individuals.>>

Food for thought, no?  There are more recommendations with regard 
to the Family and Medical Leave Act and the Association of Disabled 
Americans.   The public has until March 15 to comment before Congress 
acts on the recommendations.  I have the names of the people who are 
on the Intergovernment Commission that made the recommendations.>>

WLVBarbara at aol.com
========
forwarded by pmwilson at aol.com

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bb053 at scn.org