BoardBuzz

« Autism becoming major cost for schools | Main | T+L2: Turn up the power »

September 24, 2004

Senate names IDEA conferees

At long last, the U.S. Senate has named conferees to negotiate with the House of Representatives over the reauthorization of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA). Now the House needs to do the same. Here's an Action Alert from NSBA's Advocacy crew asking for your help in urging the House to act. It has a form and info to make it easy for you to contact your representative.

The naming of conferees does not guarantee that Congress will finish its work in time to avoid having to start all over again next year, let alone that it will get the job done before it adjourns for the election. Only continued pressure will convince lawmakers that they really have a political interest in addressing the controversy now.

One of the most contentious issues in the IDEA bill is how to handle disciplinary situations involving special education students. For a good overview, see this article from School Board News. Advocates for the disabled argue passionately that special rules and many legal safeguards are needed to protect students with disabilities from high-handed disciplinary actions when the misbehavior is a result of a disability. The law is the way it is for a reason, they say. In the past schools misused discipline rules to get rid of students who were difficult and very expensive to educate.

Educators worry that the intensely legalistic and adversarial system that has resulted sometimes gets in the way of common sense school discretion and puts the safety of other students and school staff at risk. Both Senate and House IDEA bills would change this system in different ways, but under either bill there will still be plenty of safeguards against abuse. Here again is NSBA's side-by-side of the bills, with NSBA's positions. Special education practitioners in NSBA's Council of School Attorneys have been very helpful and influential in shaping the legislation.

Posted September 24, 2004 12:00 AM