Replaces State program improvement grants for children with disabilities with grants to State education agencies for professional development of both special education and regular education teachers of children with disabilities.

Revises reporting requirements to reduce paperwork for special education teachers.]]>

(Sec. 102) Revises requirements relating to employment of qualified individuals with disabilities in IDEA programs to emphasize employment as teachers, related services personnel, early intervention providers, and administrators.

Revises requirements for prescribing regulations, including policy letters, statements, and correspondence. Limits the Secretary of Education's authority to prescribe regulations to those that are reasonably necessary to ensure compliance with specific requirements of IDEA. Reduces the minimum required public comment period for part B or C regulations from 90 to 60 days.

(Sec. 103) Requires States receiving IDEA funds to: (1) ensure that relevant State rules, regulations, and policies conform to IDEA purposes, as well as support and facilitate local educational agency (LEA) and school-level systemic reform designed to enable children with disabilities to meet challenging State student academic achievement standards; and (2) minimize the number of rules, regulations, and policies to which LEAs and schools are subject under IDEA.

(Sec. 104) Directs the Comptroller General (GAO Review) to review and report on IDEA-related matters concerning: (1) Federal, State, and local paperwork requirements, with recommendations to reduce or eliminate excessive paperwork burdens; (2) biennially on disability definitions and evaluation processes, including variations among States and conformance with scientific, peer-reviewed research; (3) distance learning professional development programs for special education personnel; and (4) services for limited English proficient children with disabilities.

Title II: Assistance for Education of All Children With Disabilities - Amends IDEA part B to revise requirements and permanently reauthorize funds for assistance for education of all children with disabilities (programs for those aged three through five and those aged six through 21).

(Sec. 201) Reauthorizes appropriations for part B programs in specified amounts for FY 2004 through 2010 and in necessary amounts for FY 2011 and each subsequent fiscal year. (Thus providing for permanent authorization of funds for part B of IDEA.)

Revises requirements for grants for States, outlying areas, and Indian schools.

Increases the part B set-aside funding cap to $7,500,000.

Sets the maximum amount which a State may use for cost or risk sharing funds, consortia, or cooperatives to assist LEAs in providing high cost special education and related services at 40 percent of the funds the State may retain for administration and other State-level activities.

Requires States to allocate increases in their IDEA funding above FY 2003 levels to LEAs, with specified exceptions.

(Sec. 202) Revises State eligibility requirements. Requires a State to reasonably demonstrate to the Secretary (currently, demonstrate to the satisfaction of the Secretary) that it has in effect policies and procedures to ensure that it meets certain conditions. Conforms IDEA with NCLBA requirements relating to State personnel standards, performance goals and indicators, and LEA permitted uses of funds for additional expenses for providing supplemental educational services for children with disabilities who are being educated in a school identified for school improvement.

Revises requirements relating to children with disabilities in private schools. Requires completion of the child find process for children in private schools in a time period comparable to that for public school students. Prohibits reimbursement from being reduced or denied to parents of children with disabilities in private schools on the basis of their noncompliance with a specified notice requirement if: (1) the school prevented the parent from providing a required notice, (2) the parents had not received notice from the LEA; (3) compliance would likely result in physical harm to the child; or (4) in the discretion of a court or a hearing officer, if the parent is illiterate or cannot write in English or compliance would likely result in serious emotional harm to the child.

Requires for State eligibility for IDEA: (1) State adoption of a national instructional materials accessibility standard in providing such materials to blind persons or other persons with print disabilities and a State purchase requirement for publishers of instructional materials to prepare and supply electronic files with such materials' contents using such standard; (2) State policies and procedures to prevent overidentification or disproportionate representation by race and ethnicity of children as children with disabilities, including identification of children as children with a particular impairment; and (3) State educational agency (SEA) development and implementation of policies and procedures prohibiting school personnel from requiring a child, as a condition of attending school or receiving services, to obtain a prescription for a controlled substance in schedule II under specified requirements of the Controlled Substances Act (thus prohibiting school personnel from coercing children to receive, or their parents to administer, psychotropic medication).

(Sec. 203) Revises LEA eligibility requirements for part B assistance, including a reasonable demonstration to the State (rather than a demonstration to the satisfaction of the State) that LEA policies, procedures, and programs are consistent with State policies and procedures. Revises requirements for supplementing and not supplanting other special education funds, and for maintenance of effort. Requires (currently permits) an SEA, if authorized by State law and if it determines that an LEA is unable to establish and maintain programs of free appropriate public education, to prohibit the LEA from counting a portion of the increase in its IDEA grants from one year to the next as meeting such requirements. Allows other LEAs to use their own increased IDEA funds for ESEA programs.

Requires LEAs to: (1) serve children with disabilities attending public charter schools in the same manner as they do in their other public schools, including providing supplemental and related services on site if they have such a policy or practice; and (2) provide part B funds to public charter schools on the same basis as they do to their other public schools (including, at LEA option, proportional distribution based on relative enrollment of children with disabilities) and at the same time as they distribute other Federal funds to those schools, consistent with the State's charter law.

Includes among permissible uses of part B funds by LEAs: (1) prereferral educational support services; (2) cost or risk sharing funds, consortia, or cooperatives to assist them in providing high cost special education and related services; (3) case management and administration technology; and (4) supplemental educational services for children with disabilities in schools designated for improvement. Allows LEAs to use up to 15 percent of a part B grant for prereferral educational support services for students who have not been identified as needing special education or related services but who need additional academic and behavioral support to succeed in a general education environment. Provides for such services from kindergarten to 12th grade, with emphasis on kindergarten through third grade.

(Sec. 204) Revises requirements for evaluations, assessments, and Individualized Education Programs (IEPs), and educational placements.

Allows LEAs to pursue an initial evaluation if the parent does not provide consent or respond to an LEA request for such consent. Provides that, if the parent does not provide consent for IDEA services or fails to respond to an LEA request for such consent, the LEA shall not: (1) provide special education and related services to the child through specified procedures; (2) be obligated to hold an IEP meeting or prepare an IEP; or (3) be considered to be in violation of any part B requirement (including the requirement to make available a free appropriate public education).

Revise requirements for IEPs to eliminate, as of the beginning of the 2005-2006 school year, a requirement for benchmarks and short-term objectives. Limits certain IEP information to what is specifically required. Allows regular education teachers to be excused from attendance at IEP team meetings under certain circumstances. Allows the parents and the LEA to agree to: (1) excuse any IEP team member from attending a meeting when such member's attendance is not necessary; (2) not reconvene the IEP team and instead develop a written document to amend or modify the current IEP; and (3) use alternate means of meeting participation, such as video conference and conference calls. Authorizes LEAs to offer parents the option of developing a comprehensive multi-year IEP, of not more than three years, designed to cover natural transition points for the child.

Requires an LEA to ensure that certain assessments of a child are provided and administered in the language and form most likely to yield accurate academic and developmental data, unless it is clearly not feasible to do so. (Current law requires that this be done to the extent practicable).

Expresses the sense of Congress that: (1) students who have not been diagnosed by a physician or other person certified by a State health board as having a disability (as defined under IDEA) should not be classified as children with disabilities for purposes of receiving services under IDEA; and (2) students with behavioral problems who have not been diagnosed by a physician or other person certified by a State health board as having a disability should be subject to the regular school disciplinary code.

(Sec. 205) Revises requirements for procedural safeguards, including those for notices.

Establishes a statute of limitations on complaints, allowing a complaint only with respect to violations that occurred within one year before the complaint's filing.

Requires mediation procedures to be available for matters arising prior to, as well as after, the filing of a complaint. Requires alternative voluntary binding arbitration procedures to be available when a due process hearing is requested.

Allows due process hearings to be requested by either parents or LEAs (currently by the parents only). Requires such hearings to be conducted by the SEA. (Currently the SEA or the LEA, as State law provides, may conduct such a hearing, with a right of appeal to the SEA if the LEA conducts it.) Requires the LEA, prior to the due process hearing, to convene a resolution session, meeting with the parents and a team of qualified professionals, to which certain procedural safeguards would not apply. Prohibits, unless both parties agree otherwise, allowing any party to raise issues at the due process hearing that were not raised in the complaint, discussed in the resolution session meeting, or properly disclosed under requirements for evaluations and recommendations.

Directs the State Governor or other appropriate State official to set, and publish annually, the attorneys' fees that may be awarded in actions or proceedings under IDEA (currently such fees are set by the court that hears the case).

Authorizes school personnel to change the placement of a child with a disability who violates a code of student conduct to an appropriate interim alternative educational setting selected so as to enable the child to continue to participate in the general education curriculum and to progress toward IEP goals. Allows such change for: (1) not more than 45 school days, to the extent such alternative and such duration would be applied to children without disabilities, and with authorized discretion to include consideration of unique circumstances on a case-by-case basis; or (2) more than 45 days, if required by State law or regulation for the violation in question, to ensure the safety and appropriate educational atmosphere in the schools. Eliminates requirements: (1) requiring a determination be made concerning whether a child's action was a manifestation of the child's disability; and (2) if the child's behavior was not a manifestation of such disability, allowing application to that child of relevant disciplinary procedures applicable to children without disabilities in the same manner in which they would be applied to such children, but with no cessation of educational services to the child with disabilities.

(Sec. 206) Adds requirements for monitoring and enforcement to requirements for withholding and judicial review. Sets forth requirements for Federal monitoring, including required indicators for States' progress on improving educational results for children with disabilities, permitted indicators and priorities for part B and for part C, setting of additional priorities, standards for compliance, and penalties for noncompliance.

(Sec. 207) Authorizes the Secretary to carry out a demonstration program of granting waivers of IDEA paperwork requirements for up to four years for up to ten States, based on State proposals for addressing reduction of paperwork and non-instructional time spent fulfilling statutory and regulatory requirements. Requires the annual report of the Department of Education to Congress to include information on the efficacy and promise of such waivers.

Directs the Secretary to publish and disseminate to States, LEAs, and parent training and information centers model forms for IEPs, procedural safeguards notices, and prior written notices.

(Sec. 208) Revises requirements for State program information to include data: (1) by race, ethnicity, and disability category, in information on the number of children with disabilities who are subject to long-term suspensions or expulsions; and (2) on disproportionality with regard to the incidence, duration, and type of disciplinary actions, including suspensions and expulsions, in information on whether significant disproportionality based on race is occurring with regard to identification and placement.

(Sec. 209) Reauthorizes appropriations in a specified amount for FY 2004 and in necessary amounts for each subsequent fiscal year for the part B preschool grants program for special education and related services for preschool children with disabilities. (Thus provides for permanent authorization of funds for such program.)

Title III: Infants and Toddlers With Disabilities - Amends IDEA part C to revise requirements, and reauthorize funds through FY 2009, for programs for infants and toddlers with disabilities (from birth through age two).

(Sec. 301) Includes certain children with disabilities ages three to five in the definition of an infant or toddler with a disability.

Provides that the parents and the individualized family service plan team may determine the most appropriate setting for early intervention services for an infant or toddler.

(Sec. 302) Reauthorizes appropriations for part C programs in a specified amount for FY 2004 and necessary amounts for FY 2005 through 2009.

Title IV: National Activities to Improve Education of Children with Disabilities - Amends IDEA part D to revise and reauthorize requirements for national activities to improve the education of children with disabilities.

(Sec. 401) Revises subpart 1 as State professional development grants. Authorizes the Secretary, in making such grants, to give priority to applications: (1) on the basis of need; and (2) that provide for establishing professional development programs regarding methods of early and appropriate identification of children with disabilities. Requires that at least 90 percent of such grant funds be used for specified professional development activities. Allows up to ten percent to be used for certain State activities. Reauthorizes appropriations for subpart 1 in a specified amount for FY 2004 and necessary amounts for FY 2005 through 2009.

Revises subpart 2 requirements for scientifically-based research, technical assistance, model demonstration programs, and personnel preparation programs.

Establishes a National Center for Special Education Research to conduct research on improving special education and related services for children with disabilities. Places the Center in the Institute of Education Sciences, with the Center's Commissioner to be appointed by the Institute's Director. Authorizes the Institute's Director to make competitive grants for research to improve educational results for children with disabilities. Requires the Center to propose and implement a research plan.

Revises personnel preparation programs with respect to activities for: (1) regular and special education teachers, related services personnel, and early intervention services; (2) teachers of children with low-incidence disabilities; and (3) leadership preparation. Includes among personnel preparation programs training for: (1) school safety personnel and first responders working at qualified educational facilities; and (2) service providers for children with low-incidence disabilities with limited English proficiency.

Reauthorizes appropriations for certain subpart 2 programs in specified amounts for FY 2004 and necessary amounts for FY 2005 through 2009.

Reauthorizes appropriations, in specified amounts for FY 2004 and necessary amounts for FY 2005 through 2009, for: (1) grant, contract, and technical assistance for parent training and information centers and community parent resource centers; and (2) grants and contracts with eligible entities to support technology development, demonstration, and implementation, and media services. (Transfers such requirements to a new subpart 3, Supports to Improve Results for Children with Disabilities.)

Title V: Miscellaneous Provisions - (Sec. 501) Expresses the sense of Congress that safe and drug-free schools are essential for the learning and development of children with disabilities.

(Sec. 502) Directs the Secretary to study and report to Congress on costs to States to comply with the requirements of IDEA.]]>

Revises IDEA part A general provisions, including definitions. Revises requirements for assistive technology devices and related services to eliminate coverage of: (1) surgically implanted medical devices; (2) such devices' post-surgical maintenance, programming, or replacement; and (3) external devices connected with the use of such devices. Allows routine maintenance and monitoring of an external device at the same time the child is receiving IDEA assistance. Allows a State or local educational agency (LEA), with respect to children ages three to nine, to include any subset of that age range for purposes of determinations that an individual is experiencing development delays and needs special education and related services as a child with a disability. Provides definitions of core academic subject, highly qualified teacher, consultative services, and limited English proficient individual to conform with requirements under the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA), as amended by the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLBA). Includes interpreting services, school health services, and travel training instruction under related services. Includes oral transliteration services, cued language transliteration services, and sign language interpreting services among interpreting services for children who are deaf or hard of hearing.

Sets forth requirements relating to State administration, policies, and rulemaking under IDEA.

Directs the Comptroller General to: (1) review Federal, State, and local requirements relating to the education of children with disabilities to determine which requirements result in excessive paperwork completion burdens for teachers, related services providers, and school administrators; and (2) report to Congress on such review, with strategic proposals for reducing the paperwork burdens on teachers.

Provides for a paperwork reduction demonstration program. Authorizes the Secretary to grant waivers of statutory or regulatory requirements, other than civil rights requirements, under part A for up to four years to up to 15 States, based on State proposals to reduce excessive paperwork and noninstructional time burdens that do not assist in improving educational and functional results for children with disabilities. Prohibits such waiver program from being construed to: (1) affect the right of a child with a disability to receive a free appropriate public education (FAPE) under part A; and (2) permit a State or LEA to waive specified procedural safeguards. Directs the Secretary to include in certain annual reports to Congress information related to the effectiveness of such waivers, including including any specific recommendations for their broader implementation.

Revises IDEA part B assistance for education of all children with disabilities.

Continues the permanent authorization of appropriations for part B programs, including the separate authorization for preschool grants.

Sets forth a formula for determining the maximum amount to be available for awarding grants under part B for any fiscal year, based on the total number of children with disabilities served for school year 2002-2003 multiplied by 40 percent of the national average per pupil expenditure.

Provides allocation formulas for grants to States (with subgrants to LEAs), outlying areas and freely associated States, and the Secretary of the Interior for programs for Indian children. Includes population and poverty components of the specified permanent formula in determining the amount available for States' maximum grants. Provides for continued funding of freely associated States at the FY 2003 level.

Revises the formula for determining the amount States may use for State administration and other State activities. Includes enforcement among required State activities, as well as the currently required monitoring, complaint investigation, and establishment of a mediation system. Requires a portion of State activity funds to be used to support the State protection and advocacy system to advise and assist parents in the areas of dispute resolution and due process, voluntary mediation, and the opportunity to resolve complaints. Lists optional types of State activities, including support and direct services, paperwork reduction, positive behavioral interventions and supports and mental health services, technology, transition programs, meeting of personnel shortages, capacity building, alternate programming for those expelled from school, and the development of appropriate accommodations and alternate assessments for children with disabilities.

Requires States to reserve a specified portion of part B funds to establish a risk pool fund to assist school districts in serving high-need children with disabilities or unanticipated special education costs. Requires placement-neutral policies for settings of high-need students that: (1) do not favor public, nonpublic or out-of-district placements; and (2) provide the services to which children are entitled in a setting that is consistent with their individualized education plan (IEP). Prohibits risk pool funds from being used to pay costs that otherwise are reimbursable as medical assistance for a child with a disability under a State Medicaid program.

Makes State expenditure of administrative funds contingent upon its certification that agreements to establish public agency responsibilities for providing and financing part B services within a State are current. Authorizes LEAs to claim reimbursement from public agencies that fail to provide or pay for the special education and related services they are required to under a State's current system of arrangements for payments for services for children in out-of-State or out-of-LEA residential treatment or special education schools.

Provides that public charter schools that operate as LEAs are entitled to subgrants as LEAs.

Removes certain procedural and reporting requirements for State eligibility. Requires States to provide assurances that they have the appropriate policies and procedures in place to ensure that they have met part B requirements.

Revises personnel standards to direct States to adopt policies that require LEAs to take measurable steps to recruit, hire, and retain highly qualified personnel. Requires all special education teachers in an elementary, middle or secondary school to be highly qualified no later than the end of the 2006-2007 school year. Eliminates a requirement that States develop a comprehensive system of personnel development. Requires State standards governing the qualifications of related service personnel serving children with disabilities to be consistent with any State-approved or State-recognized certification or licensing or other comparable requirement applicable to the specific professional discipline of such personnel. Requires States to ensure that such personnel have not had their certification or licensure requirements waived on an emergency, temporary, or provisional basis. Provides that such provisions shall not: (1) be construed to create a right of action on behalf of an individual student for the failure of a particular SEA or LEA staff person to be highly qualified; or (2) prevent a parent from filing a State complaint regarding staff qualifications with the SEA.

Prohibits States from having funding mechanisms that distribute funds based upon the type of setting in which a child is served. Requires States to revise any such current policies or procedures.

Revises requirements for LEAs to oblige proportional amounts of funds for parentally-placed private school children with disabilities. Requires LEAs to: (1) provide direct services to such children to the extent practicable; (2) provide data on the number of students evaluated, found to have a disability, and served under part B; (3) conduct the child-find process for such children in a time period comparable to that for students attending public schools; (4) not consider the cost of such child-find and individual evaluations in meeting their proportional obligations; and (5) consult with private school officials on the child find process, determination of proportional share of Federal funds, provision of services, alternative delivery mechanisms, and third party providers. Allows private schools to appeal if such consultation does not take place. Makes an LEA responsible for ensuring equitable services for such children at private schools within the LEA's jurisdiction.

Revises requirements for academic achievement and functional performance of children with disabilities to conform IDEA to the State and LEA accountability system established under NCLBA, with school and LEA disaggregation of data to examine the results of children with disabilities and ensure that such subgroup is making adequate yearly progress (AYP) towards reaching proficiency.

Includes provisions relating to AYP among State performance goals and indicators for children with disabilities.

Revises requirements for participation in assessments. Requires alternate assessments to be a part of State and LEA assessment programs and accountability systems. Sets forth additional requirements for developing and administering alternate assessments aligned with the State's academic content and achievement standards, and for developing alternate standards for those children with significant cognitive disabilities. Requires States and LEAs to develop and use universally designed assessments to the extent feasible.

Establishes requirements for accessibility of instructional materials. Directs the Secretary to promulgate an Instructional Materials Accessibility Standard for publishers in preparing electronic files for reproducing print instructional materials in specialized formats for blind and other print-disabled students. Requires SEAs and LEAs to adopt the Instructional Materials Accessibility Standard in a timely manner after it is published in the Federal Register, in order that, within two years after enactment of this Act, any purchase agreement for print instructional materials will require the publisher to apply that standard when providing electronic files for use in reproducing the instructional materials in specialized formats for students with print disabilities.

Establishes the National Instructional Materials Access Center to facilitate collection and dissemination of instructional materials for blind and print-disabled students by: (1) requiring publishers, on or before delivery of the print instructional materials, to provide an electronic file copy to the Center, to be readily available whenever needed; and (2) providing a single point of contact for any entity authorized to have access to the electronic file.

Removes certain procedural and reporting requirements for LEA eligibility. Requires LEAs to provide assurances that they have the appropriate policies and procedures in place to ensure that they have met part B requirements.

Revises local flexibility requirements to allow LEAs to use up to eight percent of Federal funds received under part B as local funds, and up to 25 percent as local funds when full funding (40 percent Federal) is achieved. Requires LEAs to ensure that personnel development activities connected with such expenditure of funds are consistent with IDEA and NCLBA personnel requirements.

Includes among allowable uses of part B funds by LEAs: (1) early intervening educational services; (2) administrative case management, including technology to assist personnel in recordkeeping, data collection, and related case management activities.

Revises provisions relating to public charter schools to: (1) authorize LEAs to distribute IDEA funds to charter schools based on relative enrollment and proportional distribution; and (2) direct LEAs to provide supplemental and related services on site at the charter school to the same extent as to other public schools.

Revises provisions regarding early intervening services. Authorizes LEAs to use up to 15 percent of their IDEA funds to develop and implement coordinated, early intervening educational services for students who are not receiving special education services but who require additional academic and behavioral support to succeed in a regular education environment, and who may be likely referrals to special education programs and services at a later time. Includes among such allowable services: (1) professional development for teachers and other school staff to deliver scientifically-based academic and behavioral interventions; (2) providing educational and behavioral evaluations, services, and supports, including scientifically-based literacy instruction; and (3) developing and implementing interagency financing strategies for the provision of those evaluations, services, and supports.

Eliminates provisions for a School-Based Improvement Plan.

Revises provisions for SEA flexibility to authorize those States that pay 80 percent or more of the non-Federal special education costs to treat portions of Federal IDEA funds as general funds to support educational purposes described in NCLBA and for other education-related purposes.

Revises requirements for evaluations, eligibility determinations, IEPs, and placements. Provides that a parent, SEA, other State agency, or LEA has a right to request an initial evaluation to determine whether a child qualifies for IDEA services. Requires an LEA to conduct an evaluation and complete an eligibility determination within: (1) 60 days after parental consent is given for the initial evaluation; or (2) the time frame imposed by State law. Provides that an LEA does not violate the FAPE requirement by failing to provide special education and related services to a child with a disability as long as these are refused by the parent. Provides that the LEA does not have to conduct a reevaluation of a child with a disability if both the parent and the LEA agree that it is unnecessary. Includes academic information among the information the LEA is required to gather in the evaluation process of a child.

Revises additional requirements for LEA procedures in selecting and administering tests and other evaluations to determine a child's eligibility under IDEA. Requires tests and evaluations to be provided and administered, to the extent practicable, in the language and form most likely to yield accurate information on what the child knows and can do academically, developmentally, and functionally.

Revises a special rule for eligibility determination to provide that a lack of scientifically based reading instruction cannot be the determinant factor for deciding whether the child is a child with a disability. Allows LEAs to take into account a severe discrepancy between IQ and achievement in determining whether or not a student has a specific learning disability. Allows use of alternative procedures, such as those based on a child's response to scientific, research-based intervention. Requires that all procedures, including alternate ones, be valid and reliable for the purpose for which they are used.

Revises exit evaluation requirements. Provides that a student reevaluation is not required upon leaving secondary school. Requires the LEA to provide a summary of the child's performance to inform the student, the student's family, and any agency, including postsecondary schools, which may provide services to the student upon transition.

Requires individualized education programs (IEPs) to include a statement of the child's present levels of academic achievement and functional performance (currently educational performance). Requires the statement of measurable annual goals to include academic goals and, where appropriate, functional goals.

Eliminates requirements for benchmarks and short-term objectives in IEPs. Requires IEPs to contain descriptions of: (1) how the child's progress toward meeting the annual goals will be measured; and (2) when periodic progress reports will be provided. Requires progress updates to provide parents with specific, meaningful, and understandable information on the progress children are making.

Revises requirements for accommodations and alternate assessments. Provides for testing of some children that includes certain necessary accommodations, an alternate assessment, or an alternate assessment based upon alternative standards for those children with significant cognitive disabilities. Requires a statement of appropriate accommodations to be made for districtwide assessments. Requires the IEP team, if it determines that a child shall take an alternate assessment, to state why the child cannot participate in the regular assessment and why the particular alternate assessment selected is appropriate for that child.

Revises requirements for transition services. Requires IEPs, beginning not later than the first IEP to be in effect when the child is 14, and updated annually thereafter, to contain: (1) appropriate measurable postsecondary goals based upon age appropriate assessments related to training, education, employment, and, where appropriate, independent living skills; and (2) the transition services the child needs to reach those goals.

Provides that nothing in IDEA regarding IEPs shall be construed to require that additional information be included in an IEP beyond what is explicitly required.

Allows a member of the IEP team to be excused from an IEP meeting if: (1) no modifications are being made to that member's area of curriculum or service; or (2) when a relevant modification is made, if the member provides input prior to the meeting. Requires the IEP team member, the parent, and the LEA to agree to the member's being excused. Directs LEAs to encourage consolidation of IEP meetings and reevaluation meetings. Allows parents and LEAs to agree to participate in IEP Team and placement meetings via means such as video conferences and conference calls. Allows parents and LEAs, through the responsible teacher or service provider, to amend or modify the child's current IEP without having to convene an IEP meeting.

Includes the academic, developmental, and functional needs of the child among factors the IEP team must consider in developing a child's IEP.

Requires IEP teams to provide positive behavioral interventions and supports for children with disabilities whose behavior impedes their learning or the learning of others.

Requires an IEP team working with blind or visually impaired students to consider, when appropriate, instructional services related to functional performance skills, orientation and mobility, and skills in the use of assistive technology devices, including low vision devices.

Allows parents and LEAs to develop three-year IEPs for students aged 18 and older, emphasizing interagency coordination with adult programs.

Allows IEP teams for children with degenerative diseases to: (1) consider recommendations from professional consultants familiar with the child and the medical condition in developing IEPs; and (2) include related services designed to provide therapeutic services prior to loss of original abilities to extend current skills and throughout the child's enrollment in school, including appropriate occupational and physical therapy, self-help, mobility, and communication.

Revises procedural safeguards to provide that LEAs, as well as parents, have the right to present complaints. Requires the party filing a due process complaint to send the complaint to the other party, as well as to the State agency. Requires, in the case of a homeless child or youth, the parent's notice to the LEA to contain contact information for the child and the name of the school the child is attending. Prohibits a due process hearing unless the requesting party has filed a complaint that meets specified notice requirements. Requires States to develop a model form to assist parents in filing due process complaint notices and complaints. Requires the school to provide a parent with a prior written notice, when learning of a parent's dispute for the first time in a parent's due process complaint. Requires parents to receive the procedural safeguards notice generally only once a year, but also upon: (1) initial referral or parental request for an evaluation; (2) a parent's registration of a due process complaint; or (3) request by the parent. Allows a parent to elect to receive notices by e-mail if the public agency makes such option available. Requires the procedural safeguards notice to inform parents regarding: (1) the time period in which parents can file complaints; (2) the school district's opportunity to resolve a complaint before a due process hearing; and (3) the time period in which a party can appeal a hearing officer's decision to court.

Provides that: (1) parents may request mediation before filing a complaint; and (2) a written mediation agreement is enforceable in court. Authorizes a State agency to establish procedures to offer parents, as well as schools, that choose not to use the mediation process an opportunity to speak with a disinterested party regarding the benefits of mediation.

Provides for a resolution session to give parents and LEAs an opportunity to resolve the complaint before a due process hearing. Allows a parent to amend their original complaint before a due process hearing occurs, with the written consent of the other party or with the permission of the hearing officer.

Establishes a two-year timeline for requesting a hearing on claims for reimbursed or ongoing compensatory education services, unless there is an applicable State timeline.

Requires hearing officers to make decisions on due process complaints on substantive grounds based upon a determination of whether the child in question received a FAPE. Authorizes hearing officers, in matters alleging a procedural violation, to find that a child did not receive a FAPE only if the procedural inadequacies: (1) compromised the child's right to a FAPE; (2) seriously hampered the parents' opportunity to participate in the process; or (3) caused a deprivation of educational benefits.

Allows a parent of a child with a disability to represent the child, without the assistance of an attorney, in civil actions brought under IDEA part B as a result of an appeal from a due process hearing decision.

Provides for a 90-day-period, or the period provided by State law, for a party to appeal a due process hearing decision to State or Federal district court.

Prescribes requirements for administrative and judicial review.

Prohibits the award of attorneys' fees in connection with a resolution session between the parties. Provides that a parent's attorney may be responsible for unreasonably protracting the final resolution of a controversy between the parties and thus trigger the court's reduction of attorneys' fees to the parent.

Sets forth three categories of disciplinary actions that an LEA may take. Establishes a rule under which a school may order a change of placement for a child who violates a student conduct code to an appropriate interim educational setting, another setting, or suspension, for ten consecutive school days or less, to the same extent that it would apply such a discipline measure to a child without a disability, without a manifestation determination. Applies, beyond ten consecutive school days, the same disciplinary procedures as for a child without a disability, as long as the school has determined that the violation in question was not a manifestation of the child's disability. (Allows parental consent to removal of the child for more than ten consecutive school days for disciplinary reasons.) Authorizes a school, in cases involving weapons or drugs, or when a child has committed serious bodily injury, to remove the child from the regular classroom setting for up to 45 school days, regardless of whether the child's behavior was a manifestation of disability. (Allows application of regular disciplinary consequences in addition to the 45-day removal, subject to certain provisions, if the child's behavior is determined not to be a manifestation of the disability.)

Provides that a school need not conduct a manifestation determination before a disciplinary action of ten consecutive school days or less, or prior to a 45-day removal for cases involving weapons, drugs, or serious bodily injury. Requires a school to determine that the child's behavior was a manifestation of disability if it was the result of either: (1) the child's disability; or (2) a failure to implement the IEP or to implement required behavioral interventions. Requires children who are removed from their current placements for more than ten consecutive school days to receive: (1) continued educational services pursuant to the FAPE requirement, so that they can continue to participate in the general curriculum in another setting, and progress toward meeting their IEP goals; (2) the benefit of school-designed actions to address the behavior violation so that it does not recur; (3) behavioral intervention services for children whose behavior impedes learning; and (4) a functional behavioral assessment, if not received before the violation occurred. Directs the IEP team to determine the child's alternative educational setting.

Sets forth circumstances in which a party may request a hearing regarding disciplinary decisions or proposed disciplinary actions. Allows requests for such hearings by: (1) parents who disagree with LEA decisions regarding disciplinary actions, placements, or manifestation determinations, with the hearing officer to determine if the LEA decision is appropriate; and (2) LEAs that believe that maintaining the child's current placement is substantially likely to result in injury to the child or others.

Requires the child, during a parent's appeal, to remain in the interim alternative educational setting chosen by the IEP team pending the hearing officer's decision or until the time period for the disciplinary action expires, whichever occurs first, unless the parent and public agency agree otherwise. Requires the hearing to occur within 20 days of the hearing request. Provides that an LEA will be deemed to know about a child's disability if: (1) the parent has expressed concern in writing; (2) the parent has requested an evaluation; (3) a teacher or other school personnel has expressed concern about a pattern of behavior to either the special education director, or to other administrative personnel; or (4) the child has engaged in a pattern of behavior that should have alerted school personnel that the child may need special education and related services. Provides that an LEA will not be deemed to know that the child has a disability if the child's parent has not agreed to allow an evaluation requested by the LEA.

Revises provisions relating to transfer of parental rights at age of majority to allow a parent of a child with a disability to elect to receive required notices by e-mail communication, if the public agency makes such option available.

Provides for monitoring, technical assistance, and enforcement of part B programs. Directs the Secretary to: (1) monitor IDEA implementation through oversight of States' supervision and a system of performance indicators focused on improving educational results and functional outcomes for all children with disabilities; (2) enforce State compliance in making satisfactory progress toward improving educational results using certain indicators and benchmarks; and (3) require States to monitor and enforce LEA compliance.

Requires the primary focus of Federal and State monitoring activities to be on improving educational results and functional outcomes for all children with disabilities, while ensuring compliance with program requirements, with a particular emphasis on requirements relating to improving educational results for children with disabilities.

Sets the following monitoring priorities: (1) provision of a FAPE in the least restrictive environment; (2) transition services; (3) State exercise of general supervisory authority; and (4) overrepresentation of racial and ethnic groups in special education and related services, to the extent the overrepresentation is the result of inappropriate policies, procedures, and practices. Sets forth requirements for substantive performance indicators for students with disabilities. Requires States to develop State compliance plans in collaboration with the Secretary, including benchmarks to measure continuous progress in the priority areas and a description of strategies the State will use to achieve the benchmarks.

Provides for various enforcement measures in cases of State: (1) lack of satisfactory progress (earmarking funds for technical assistance, withholding a portion of administrative funds, recovery or suspension of funds); (2) substantial noncompliance (corrective action plans, special conditions, compliance agreements, recovery, withholding or suspension of funds and authority to obligate Federal funds, referral to the Department of Justice); and (3) egregious noncompliance (all the actions for substantial noncompliance, plus cease and desist orders and referral to the Inspector General).

Requires SEAs to: (1) monitor and enforce IDEA implementation; (2) establish a system for monitoring the benchmarks in the State's compliance plan; (3) require LEAs to monitor and enforce implementation; and (4) prohibit LEAs from treating IDEA funds as local funds if they are not meeting IDEA requirements.

Directs the Secretary to develop model forms for certain plans and notices, to help LEAs develop their own forms and decrease paperwork burdens.

Revises data collection requirements to require States to: (1) make data available to the public, as well as the Secretary; (2) provide the number and percentage of children in various categories; (3) collect information on the categories of gender and, where appropriate, limited English proficiency status; (4) collect additional information in relation to certain disciplinary actions, due process complaints and hearings, and mediations; and (5) report data so as not to result in the disclosure of data identifiable to individual children.

Continues the part B preschool grants program. Provides among State-level activities for early intervention any services which include an educational component that promotes schools readiness and incorporates pre-literacy, language, and numeracy skills.

Revises IDEA part C (Infants and Toddlers with Disabilities) programs of early identification and intervention. Allows States to opt to create a seamless system for transition of services from birth through school age, including elements of part C and part B.

Includes: (1) sign language and cued language services among early intervention services; and (2) teachers of the deaf, vision specialists, ophthalmologists, and optometrists among qualified personnel who may provide such services. Requires a State's definition of developmental delay to cover all infants and toddlers with a 35 percent or more delay in any single developmental area, or a 25 percent or more delay in two developmental areas. Directs States to develop policies requiring referrals for evaluation, and any appropriate early intervention services, for: (1) all children under age three in substantiated cases of abuse or neglect; and (2) all children who are born and identified as affected by illegal substance abuse, or withdrawal symptoms resulting from prenatal drug exposure.

Sets forth requirements for transition from part C early intervention services to part B preschool services. Requires the Individualized Family Services Plan (IFSP) to include a description of transition services for the child. Makes transition services part of the responsibilities of a service coordinator. Requires steps for exiting from early intervention to be included in transition plans, when applicable. Requires State policies and procedures to include such exiting as a part of ensuring a smooth transition from the part C program.

Allows States to opt to create a seamless system of services for special needs children birth to school age. Allows participating States to commingle part C and part B funds to better serve families with children with special needs. Provides for such seamless system for infants, toddlers, and preschoolers with disabilities in order to give parents the opportunity to continue services with the provider of their choice. Requires the Governor of a participating State to select the agency to administer the birth to school age special needs program. Gives parents in participating States, when their special needs child receiving services under part C reaches the age of exit, the option to waive a FAPE and to remain in the part C program, provided it includes an educational component promoting school readiness and incorporating pre-literacy, language, and numeracy skills. Requires participating States to ensure that: (1) the parents of children who are eligible under part B for preschool services are given annual notice and made fully aware of the differences between the part C program and the part B program; and (2) the system includes referrals for evaluations for early intervention services for children below the age of three who experience exposure to trauma or violence or both. Directs the Secretary to study the effects of the system.

Allows early intervention services to be provided in a setting other than a natural environment only when a specific outcome cannot be met satisfactorily in a natural environment.

Require IFSPs to include: (1) measurable outcomes, including appropriate pre-literacy and language skills; and (2) information on the anticipated length and frequency of services. Provides that only services for which consent was obtained will be provided, when a parent does not provide written consent for all services on an IFSP.

Requires a public agency that initially fails to provide or pay for special education and related services, but is required to do so under a State's current system of arrangements, to meet its financial responsibilities by reimbursing the LEA or SEA that provided or paid for such education and services.

Includes a representative from the State Medicaid agency as a required member of the State Interagency Coordinating Council under part C.

Eliminates a requirement that the Secretary establish a Federal Interagency Coordinating Committee.

Extends through FY 2009 the authorization of appropriations for IDEA part C.

Revises IDEA part D National Activities to Improve Education of Children with Disabilities. Renames and replaces the current subpart 1 State Program Improvement Grants with a program of State Personnel Preparation and Professional Development Grants. Requires the State to: (1) continue, as under current law, to identify and address State and local needs for the preparation of personnel serving children with disabilities; and (2) use all subpart 1 grant funds to recruit, train, and retain highly qualified teachers and other special education personnel.

Requires grants to SEAs under the new program: (1) on a competitive basis, if the remaining funds are less than a specified amount for a fiscal year; and (2) on a formula basis, if such funds are equal to or greater than such amount.

Authorizes the Secretary to give priority in awarding such competitive grants to States that: (1) have the greatest personnel shortages; or (2) demonstrate the greatest difficulty in meeting part B requirements for personnel standards (which include the deadline for having highly qualified special education teachers by the end of the 2006-2007 schoolyear). Directs the Secretary to make certain minimum competitive grants to all States.

Provides for formula grant allotments. Directs the Secretary to make certain minimum allotments for States that received competitive grants.

Directs the Secretary to reserve specified subpart 1 funds for any necessary continuation awards for multiyear grants to SEAs under such replaced program.

Allows SEAs to apply for a subpart 1 grant for a grant period of between one and five years. Requires an SEA, in order to be considered for such a grant, to: (1) establish a professional development partnership (PDP) with LEAs and other State agencies involved in, or concerned with, the education of children with disabilities, including institutions of higher education and the State agencies responsible for administering part C, child care, and vocational rehabilitation programs; (2) work in partnership with other persons and organizations involved in, and concerned with, the education of children with disabilities, which may include specified entities; and (3) include in the partnership any individual, entity, or agency other than the SEA that State law assigns responsibility for teacher preparation and certification, and ensure that such partner carries out any subpart 1 activities within that partner's jurisdiction.

Requires SEA grant applications to include a State personnel preparation and professional development plan with specified elements.

Revises part D subpart 2 requirements for scientifically based research, technical assistance, model demonstration projects, and dissemination of information. Directs the Secretary to develop and implement a comprehensive plan for subpart 2 activities after receiving input from interested individuals with relevant experience. (Current law requires consultation with specified individuals.)

Revises technical assistance and demonstration projects to require such activities to be rooted in scientifically based research. Gives priority to applications that propose to: (1) serve teachers and school personnel directly in the school environment; or (2) strengthen the capacity of States and LEAs to improve instruction practices of personnel serving children with disabilities. Directs the Secretary to support certain activities concerned with, among other things: (1) inappropriate behavior of students; (2) valid and reliable yearly progress assessments; (3) different learning styles of children with disabilities; and (4) effective transition to post-school settings.

Establishes: (1) a beginning special educators program, which adds a fifth-year clinical learning opportunity; and (2) a program to assist general educators (including principals and administrators) in having the skills, knowledge, and leadership training to meet the needs of children with disabilities. Authorizes appropriations for FY 2004 through 2009 for these programs as well as for the leadership preparation program and other programs for personnel development.

Directs the Secretary to delegate to the Director of the Institute of Education Sciences (IES) responsibility for studies and evaluations (including the national assessment) of activities under IDEA (with the exception of the following by the Secretary: (1) an annual summary report to Congress; and (2) a study of the extent to which States adopt policies for statewide systems and the effect of such policies). Requires a national study or studies on alternate assessments and ensuring accountability for students with significant disabilities. Authorizes support for research on: (1) the impact of professional development and educational evaluation programs on student outcomes; (2) economic benefits to special education service delivery through more effective pre-referral services, and (3) teacher recruitment and retention.

Revises part D subpart 3 provisions for supports to improve results for children with disabilities. Directs the Secretary to: (1) make an award to at least one parent training and information center (PTIC) in each State; or (2) in the case of a large State, make awards to multiple PTICs, but only if the centers demonstrate that coordinated services and supports will occur among them. Requires parent organizations that are PTICs, and local parent organizations that support community parent resource centers (CPRCs), to have as their mission serving families of children and youth with a full range of disabilities. Authorizes the Secretary to make an award to one parent organization to provide technical assistance for developing, assisting, and coordinating programs carried out by PTICs and CRRCs. Requires such national technical assistance grantee to: (1) establish regional centers selected from PTICs and CPRCs; and (2) with such regional centers, develop collaborative agreements with geographically appropriate Regional Resource Centers.

Revises, and extends through FY 2009 the authorization of appropriations for, provisions for technology development, demonstration, and utilization, and for media services. Directs the Secretary to support video description, open captioning, and closed captioning of television programs, videos, or other materials that are appropriate for use in the classroom setting. Allows such support only when such services: (1) are not provided by the producer or distributor of such materials; or (2) have not been fully funded by other sources. Allows support for news programming only until September 30, 2006.

Directs the Secretary to: (1) promulgate an Instructional Materials Accessibility Standard to be used by publishers in preparing electronic files for States under certain IDEA State eligibility provisions; and (2) establish a National Instructional Materials Access Center to coordinate acquisition and distribution of print instructional materials prepared in such Standard.

Extends through FY 2009 the authorization of appropriations for: (1) subpart 3 programs of PTICs, CPRCs, and technical assistance; and (2) subpart 2 programs of technical assistance, demonstration projects, dissemination of information, and implementation of scientifically based research.

Sets forth requirements for interim alternative educational settings, behavioral supports, and whole school interventions. Authorizes the Secretary to award competitive grants to: (1) establish or expand behavioral supports and whole school behavioral interventions activities; and (2) improve interim alternative educational settings. Authorizes appropriations through FY 2009 for grants to LEAs to train teachers, administrators, and support staff to help behaviorally-challenged students with disabilities to succeed in school. Allows grantee LEAs to partner with other LEAs, community-based organizations with a proven record of helping children with disabilities with behavioral problems, or other mental health providers.

Allows funds to be used for: (1) training personnel in positive behavioral interventions and classroom and student management techniques; (2) early-screening students at-risk for emotional and behavioral difficulties; (3) attracting and retraining high-quality staff in interim alternative educational settings; (4) promoting better coordination between schools, parents, juvenile courts, child welfare, organizations, primary care providers, and mental health providers; (5) reducing the staff-child ratio in interim alternative educational settings; (6) providing counseling service in interim alternative educational settings; and (7) providing behavioral transition services to help students reintegrate into their regular school settings. Requires the Department of Education to maintain a website that: (1) is accessible to parents, teachers, and administrators; and (2) contains information on the best practices and supports available to help address the needs of these children. Requires each grantee organization or consortium to submit an evaluation of the effectiveness of the supported activities.

Title II: Amendments to the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 - (Sec. 201) Amends the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 (RA) to declare that there is a substantial need to improve and expand RA vocational rehabilitation services for students with disabilities.

(Sec. 203) Revises requirements for State plans to require: (1) students with disabilities to be among the groups whose needs are assessed; (2) descriptions of strategies to improve and expand vocational rehabilitation services for students with disabilities, and of the transition services to be provided to them; and (3) assurances that such strategies will be developed and implemented and that designated funds will be used to carry out programs or activities to improve and expand such services.

(Sec. 204) Revises requirements for: (1) transition services for students with disabilities; and (2) consultation and technical assistance to SEAs and LEAs regarding planning for transition of such students to post-school activities.

(Sec. 205) Sets forth requirements for standards and indicators measures of performance regarding transition to post-school activities and achievement of post-school goals of students with disabilities.

(Sec. 206) Requires States, in a transition services expansion year, to reserve from their allotment a specified amount for expanded transition services. Sets forth a formula for calculation of the reserved amount for each State.

Title III: National Center For Special Education Research - (Sec. 301) Amends the Education Sciences Reform Act of 2002 to establish the National Center for Special Education Research.

Requires the Center to: (1) sponsor research to expand knowledge of the needs of children with disabilities and improve IDEA services and implementation; (2) evaluate IDEA implementation and effectiveness; and (3) carry out appropriate research activities. Directs the Center's Commissioner to: (1) ensure that such research activities meet specified standards; and (2) propose to the Director of the Institute of Education Sciences (IES Director) a research plan developed in collaboration with the Assistant Secretary for Special Education and Rehabilitative Services. Authorizes the IES Director to award grants or enter into contracts or cooperative agreements with eligible entities in carrying out Center duties. Requires the Center to: (1) synthesize and disseminate findings and results from research it conducts or supports; and (2) assist the IES Director in preparing the IES biennial report. Authorizes appropriations for FY 2004 through 2009 carry out Center activities.

Directs the Secretary to continue for a specified period awards made under current IDEA provisions for research and innovation to improve services and results for children with disabilities.

(Sec. 302) Subjects to sunshine provisions of Federal law meetings of the National Board for Education Sciences.

(Sec. 303) Requires regional advisory committees to submit their assessments to the IES Director (formerly known as the Director for the Academy of Education Sciences).

Title IV: Commission on Universal Design and the Accessibility of Curriculum and Instructional Materials - (Sec. 401) Establishes a Commission to study, evaluate, and make appropriate recommendations to Congress and the Secretary on universal design and accessibility of curriculum and instructional materials for use by all children, with particular focus on children with disabilities, in elementary and secondary schools.

Terminates the Commission after its final report. Authorizes appropriations for FY 2004 and 2005.

Title V: Miscellaneous - (Sec. 501) Amends the Children's Health Act of 2000 to include the Department of Education among the Federal agencies required to be represented in a consortium involved in a long-term child development study authorized under such Act. Requires such study to be conducted in compliance with specified provisions of the General Education Provisions Act, including the requirement of prior parental consent for the disclosure of any education records, except without the use of authority or exceptions granted to authorized representatives of the Secretary of Education for the evaluation of federally-supported education programs or in connection with the enforcement of the Federal legal requirements that relate to such programs.

(Sec. 502) Directs the Comptroller General to review and report to Congress on: (1) the extent to which personnel in schools actively influence parents in pursuing a diagnosis of attention deficit disorder (ADD) and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD); (2) the policies and procedures among public schools in allowing school personnel to distribute controlled substances; and (3) the extent to which school personnel have required a child to obtain a prescription for substances covered by specified provisions of the Controlled Substances Act to treat ADD, ADHD, or other attention deficit-related illnesses or disorders, in order to attend school or be evaluated for services under IDEA.

Revises IDEA part A general provisions, including definitions. Revises requirements for assistive technology devices and related services to eliminate coverage of surgically implanted medical devices or their replacement. Allows a State or local educational agency (LEA), with respect to children ages three to nine, to include any subset of that age range for purposes of determinations that an individual is experiencing development delays and needs special education and related services as a child with a disability. Provides definitions of core academic subject, highly qualified teacher, and limited English proficient individual to conform with requirements under the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA), as amended by the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLBA). Includes interpreting services and school nurse services under related services.

Sets forth requirements relating to State administration, policies, and rulemaking under IDEA.

Provides for a paperwork reduction demonstration program. Authorizes the Secretary of Education to grant waivers of statutory or regulatory requirements, other than civil rights requirements, under part A for up to four years to up to 15 States, based on State proposals to reduce excessive paperwork and noninstructional time burdens that do not assist in improving educational and functional results for children with disabilities. Prohibits such waiver program from being construed to: (1) affect the right of a child with a disability to receive a free appropriate public education (FAPE) under part A; and (2) permit a State or LEA to waive specified procedural safeguards. Directs the Secretary to include in certain annual reports to Congress information related to the effectiveness of such waivers, including including any specific recommendations for their broader implementation.

Revises IDEA part B assistance for education of all children with disabilities.

Authorizes appropriations for part B programs, in specified increasing amounts for FY 2005 through FY 2011, and in necessary sums for FY 2012 and succeeding fiscal years. (Provides a separate authorization of appropriations for preschool grants under part B.)

Sets forth a formula for determining the maximum amount to be available for awarding grants to States under part B for any fiscal year. Bases the FY 2005 and FY 2006 formula on the number of children with disabilities in the State who are receiving special education and related services. Bases the formula for FY 2007 and subsequent fiscal years on the number of such children who received such education and services in the 2004-2005 school year. Provides for such numbers to be multiplied by 40 percent of the national average per pupil expenditure, and adjusted by the rate of annual change in the sum of 85 percent of a State's population of children and 15 percent of a State's population of children living in poverty.

Provides allocation formulas for grants to States (with subgrants to LEAs), outlying areas and freely associated States, and the Secretary of the Interior for programs for Indian children. Includes population and poverty components of the specified permanent formula in determining the amount available for States' maximum grants. Provides for continued funding of outlying areas and freely associated States at the FY 2003 level.

Makes State expenditure of administrative funds contingent upon its certification that agreements to establish public agency responsibilities for providing and financing part B services within a State are current. Revises the formula for determining the amount States may use for State administration and other State activities. Includes enforcement among required State activities, as well as the currently required monitoring, complaint investigation, and mediation system. Includes among optional State activities: support for paperwork reduction; positive behavioral interventions and supports and mental health services; technology; transition programs; alternate programming for those expelled from school, in correctional facilities, or in State-operated or State-supported schools; appropriate accommodations and alternate assessments; and technical assistance and direct services, including supplemental educational services.

Requires States to reserve a specified portion of part B funds to establish a risk pool fund to assist LEAs in serving high-need children with disabilities or unanticipated special education costs. Requires placement-neutral policies for settings of high-need students that: (1) do not favor public, nonpublic or out-of-district placements; and (2) provide the services to which children are entitled in a setting that is consistent with their individualized education plan (IEP). Prohibits risk pool funds from being used to pay costs that otherwise are reimbursable as medical assistance for a child with a disability under a State Medicaid program.

Provides that public charter schools that operate as LEAs are entitled to subgrants as LEAs.

Removes certain procedural and reporting requirements for State eligibility. Requires States to provide assurances that they have the appropriate policies and procedures in place to ensure that they have met part B requirements.

Revises requirements for LEAs to oblige proportional amounts of funds for parentally-placed private school children with disabilities, under certain conditions. Requires LEAs to: (1) provide direct services to such children to the extent practicable; (2) provide data on the number of students evaluated, found to have a disability, and served under part B; (3) conduct the child-find process for such children in a time period comparable to that for students attending public schools; (4) not consider the cost of such child-find and individual evaluations in meeting their proportional obligations; and (5) consult with private school officials on the child find process, determination of proportional share of Federal funds, provision of services, alternative delivery mechanisms, and third party providers. Allows private schools to appeal if such consultation does not take place. Requires such special education and related services to be secular, neutral, and nonideological. (Continues requirements for: (1) no cost to parents for State or LEA placement of a child in a private school to receive required special education and services; and (2) reimbursement for the parents' placing the child in a private school for such education and services, if a court or hearing officer orders it upon finding that the public agency had not made a free appropriate public education available to the child prior to that enrollment.)

Revises personnel standards to direct States to adopt policies that require LEAs to take measurable steps to recruit, hire, and retain highly qualified personnel.

Requires all special education teachers in an elementary, middle or secondary school to be highly qualified no later than the end of the 2006-2007 school year. (H. Con. Res. 524 corrects enrollment of this measure to require an earlier deadline: no later than the end of the 2005-6 school year.)

Eliminates a requirement that States develop a comprehensive system of personnel development. Requires State standards governing the qualifications of related service personnel serving children with disabilities to be consistent with any State-approved or State-recognized certification or licensing or other comparable requirement applicable to the specific professional discipline of such personnel. Requires States to ensure that such personnel have not had their certification or licensure requirements waived on an emergency, temporary, or provisional basis. Provides that such provisions shall not: (1) be construed to create a right of action on behalf of an individual student for the failure of a particular SEA or LEA staff person to be highly qualified; or (2) prevent a parent from filing a State complaint regarding staff qualifications with the SEA.

Revises requirements for academic achievement and functional performance of children with disabilities to conform IDEA to the State and LEA accountability system established under NCLBA, with school and LEA disaggregation of data to examine the results of children with disabilities and ensure that such subgroup is making adequate yearly progress (AYP) towards reaching proficiency.

Includes provisions relating to AYP among State performance goals and indicators for children with disabilities.

Revises requirements for participation in assessments. Requires alternate assessments to be a part of State and LEA assessment programs and accountability systems. Sets forth additional requirements for developing and administering alternate assessments aligned with the State's academic content and achievement standards, and for developing alternate standards for those children with significant cognitive disabilities. Requires States and LEAs to develop and use universally designed assessments to the extent feasible.

Prohibits States from having funding mechanisms that distribute funds based upon the type of setting in which a child is served. Requires States to revise any such current policies or procedures.

Prohibits States from using part B funds to satisfy State-law mandated funding obligations to LEAs, including funding based on student attendance or enrollment, or inflation, in complying with part B requirements relating to: (1) supplementation of State, local, and other Federal funds; and (2) maintenance of State financial support.

Establishes requirements for accessibility of instructional materials. Allows SEAs to opt not to coordinate with the National Instructional Materials Access Center in adopting a national instructional materials accessibility standard, if they assure the Secretary that they will provide instructional materials to blind persons or other persons with print disabilities in a timely manner. Requires, within two years after enactment of this Act, those SEAs that opt to coordinate with the Center to enter into contracts with publishers of print instructional materials to: (1) require the publisher to prepare and supply to the Center electronic files with such materials' contents using such standard; or (2) purchase from the publisher instructional materials that are produced, or may be rendered, in specialized formats.

Requires State policies and procedures to prevent overidentification or disproportionate representation by race and ethnicity of children as children with disabilities, including identification of children as children with a particular impairment.

Requires SEAs to prohibit SEA and LEA personnel from requiring a child, as a condition of attending school or receiving IDEA evaluations or services, to obtain a prescription for a substance covered by the Controlled Substances Act.

Removes certain procedural and reporting requirements for LEA eligibility. Requires LEAs to submit plans with assurances to SEAs that they have in effect policies, procedures, and programs that meet specified part B requirements.

Includes among allowable uses of part B funds by LEAs: (1) services that also benefit non-disabled children; (2) early intervening educational services; (3) high cost education and services; and (4) administrative case management, including related technology.

Revises provisions relating to public charter schools to: (1) authorize LEAs to distribute IDEA funds to charter schools based on relative enrollment and proportional distribution; and (2) direct LEAs to provide supplemental and related services on site at the charter school to the same extent as to other public schools.

Revises provisions regarding early intervening services. Authorizes LEAs to use up to 15 percent of their IDEA funds to develop and implement coordinated, early intervening educational services for students who are not receiving special education services but who require additional academic and behavioral support to succeed in a regular education environment, and who may be likely referrals to special education programs and services at a later time. Includes among such allowable services: (1) professional development for teachers and other school staff to deliver scientifically-based academic and behavioral interventions; and (2) providing educational and behavioral evaluations, services, and supports, including scientifically-based literacy instruction.

Eliminates provisions for a School-Based Improvement Plan.

Sets forth provisions for SEA flexibility to allow adjustments in State fiscal effort under certain conditions.

Revises requirements for evaluations, eligibility determinations, IEPs, and placements. Provides that a parent, SEA, other State agency, or LEA has a right to request an initial evaluation to determine whether a child qualifies for IDEA services. Provides that an LEA does not violate the FAPE requirement by failing to provide special education and related services to a child with a disability as long as these are refused by the parent. Includes academic information among the information the LEA is required to gather in the evaluation process of a child.

Revises additional requirements for LEA procedures in selecting and administering tests and other evaluations to determine a child's eligibility under IDEA. Requires tests and evaluations to be provided and administered, to the extent practicable, in the language and form most likely to yield accurate information on what the child knows and can do academically, developmentally, and functionally.

Revises a special rule for eligibility determination to provide that a lack of scientifically based reading instruction cannot be the determinant factor for deciding whether the child is a child with a disability. Provides that LEAs, in determining whether or not a student has a specific learning disability, shall not be required to take into consideration whether there is a severe discrepancy between achievement and intellectual ability in specified skills. Allows LEAs, as part of evaluation procedures, to use a process that determines if a child responds to scientific, research-based intervention.

Revises exit evaluation requirements. Provides that such evaluations before termination of IDEA eligibility are not required upon: (1) graduation from secondary school with a regular diploma; or (2) exceeding age eligibility for a free appropriate public education under State law. Requires LEAs, in such cases, to provide students with a summary of their academic achievement and functional performance, including recommendations on how to assist them in meeting their postsecondary goals.

Requires individualized education programs (IEPs) to include a statement of the child's present levels of academic achievement and functional performance (currently educational performance). Requires the statement of measurable annual goals to include academic goals and functional goals.

Eliminates requirements for benchmarks and short-term objectives in IEPs. Requires IEPs to contain descriptions of: (1) how the child's progress toward meeting the annual goals will be measured; and (2) when periodic progress reports will be provided. Requires progress updates to provide parents with specific, meaningful, and understandable information on the progress children are making.

Revises requirements for accommodations and alternate assessments. Provides for testing of some children that includes certain necessary accommodations, an alternate assessment, or an alternate assessment based upon alternative standards for those children with significant cognitive disabilities. Requires a statement of appropriate accommodations to be made for State or districtwide assessments. Requires the IEP team, if it determines that a child shall take an alternate assessment, to state why the child cannot participate in the regular assessment and why the particular alternate assessment selected is appropriate for that child.

Revises requirements for transition services. Requires IEPs, beginning not later than the first IEP to be in effect when the child is 16, and updated annually thereafter, to contain: (1) appropriate measurable postsecondary goals based upon age appropriate assessments related to training, education, employment, and, where appropriate, independent living skills; and (2) the transition services the child needs to reach those goals.

Provides that nothing in IDEA regarding IEPs shall be construed to require that additional information be included in an IEP beyond what is explicitly required.

Allows a member of the IEP team to be excused from an IEP meeting if: (1) no modifications are being made to that member's area of curriculum or service; or (2) when a relevant modification is made, if the member provides input prior to the meeting. Requires the IEP team member, the parent, and the LEA to agree to the member's being excused. Directs LEAs to encourage consolidation of IEP meetings and reevaluation meetings. Includes the academic, developmental, and functional needs of the child among factors the IEP team must consider in developing a child's IEP.

Requires IEP teams to provide positive behavioral interventions and supports for children with disabilities whose behavior impedes their learning or the learning of others.

Authorizes the Secretary to approve up to 15 proposals from States to carry out a demonstration program allowing parents and LEAs the option of developing a comprehensive multiyear IEP, of up to three years, designed to coincide with natural transition points.

Allows parents and LEAs to agree to participate in IEP Team and placement meetings via means such as video conferences and conference calls.

Revises procedural safeguards to provide that LEAs, as well as parents, have the right to present complaints. Requires the party filing a due process complaint to send the complaint to the other party, as well as to the State agency. Requires, in the case of a homeless child or youth, the parent's notice to the LEA to contain contact information for the child and the name of the school the child is attending. Prohibits a due process hearing unless the requesting party has filed a complaint that meets specified notice requirements. Requires States to develop a model form to assist parents in filing due process complaint notices and complaints. Requires the school to provide a parent with a prior written notice, when learning of a parent's dispute for the first time in a parent's due process complaint. Requires parents to receive the procedural safeguards notice generally only once a year, but also upon: (1) initial referral or parental request for an evaluation; (2) a parent's registration of a due process complaint; or (3) request by the parent. Allows an LEA to place a current copy of the procedural safeguards notice on its Internet website. Requires the procedural safeguards notice to inform parents regarding specified matters, including: (1) the time period in which parents can file complaints; (2) the school district's opportunity to resolve a complaint before a due process hearing; and (3) the time period in which a party can appeal a hearing officer's decision to court.

Provides that: (1) parents may request mediation before filing a complaint; and (2) a written mediation agreement is enforceable in court. Authorizes a State agency to establish procedures to offer parents, as well as schools, that choose not to use the mediation process an opportunity to speak with a disinterested party regarding the benefits of mediation.

Provides for a resolution session to give parents and LEAs an opportunity to resolve the complaint before a due process hearing.

Establishes a two-year timeline for requesting a hearing on claims for reimbursed or ongoing compensatory education services, unless there is an applicable State timeline.

Requires hearing officers to make decisions on due process complaints on substantive grounds based upon a determination of whether the child in question received a FAPE. Authorizes hearing officers, in matters alleging a procedural violation, to find that a child did not receive a FAPE only if the procedural inadequacies: (1) impeded the child's right to a FAPE; (2) significantly impeded the parents' opportunity to participate in the decisionmaking process regarding FAPE provision; or (3) caused a deprivation of educational benefits.

Prescribes requirements for administrative and judicial review. Provides for a 90-day-period, or the period provided by State law, for a party to appeal a due process hearing decision to State or Federal district court. Prohibits the award of attorneys' fees for services performed subsequent to a written offer of settlement, under specified conditions. Provides for reduction of of award of attorneys' fees under certain circumstances, including where the parent or parent's attorney unreasonably protracted the final resolution of the controversy.

Sets forth types of disciplinary actions that an LEA may take under IDEA.

Authorizes schools to consider any unique circumstances on a case-by-case basis when determining whether to order a change in placement for a child with a disability who violates a code of student conduct.

Authorizes schools to order, for children with disabilities who violate student conduct codes, changes of placement to an appropriate interim educational setting, another setting, or suspension, for up to ten consecutive school days, to the same extent such alternatives would apply to children without disabilities, without making a manifestation determination.

Authorizes schools, upon determining that the violation in question was not a manifestation of the child's disability, to apply beyond that ten-day period the same disciplinary procedures as for a child without a disability, provided that FAPE requirements are met, with the option of providing such FAPE in an interim alternative educational setting.

Requires, within 10 school days of such a disciplinary decision to change placement, a review of all relevant informant by LEA, parent, and IEP Team to determine if the child's behavior was a manifestation of disability. Bases such determination on whether the conduct: (1) was caused by, or had a direct and substantial relationship to, the child's disability; or (2) was the direct result of the LEA's failure to implement the IEP. Requires the IEP Team, if the conduct is such a manifestation, to: (1) conduct a functional behavioral assessment and implement a behavioral intervention plan, if the LEA has not done so; (2) if such a plan has been developed, review and modify it to address the behavior; and (3) (except in cases involving weapons, drugs, or infliction of serious bodily injury) return the child to the placement from which the child was removed, unless the parent and LEA agree to a change of placement as part of the modification of the behavioral intervention plan.

Authorizes a school, in cases involving weapons or drugs, or when a child has committed serious bodily injury, to remove the child from the regular classroom setting for up to 45 school days, regardless of whether the child's behavior was a manifestation of disability. Requires that such children receive continued educational services and appropriate functional behavioral assessments and behavioral intervention services and modifications.

Directs the IEP team to determine the child's alternative educational setting.

Sets forth circumstances in which a party may request a hearing regarding disciplinary decisions or proposed disciplinary actions. Allows requests for such hearings by: (1) parents who disagree with LEA decisions regarding disciplinary actions, placements, or manifestation determinations, with the hearing officer to determine if the LEA decision is appropriate; and (2) LEAs that believe that maintaining the child's current placement is substantially likely to result in injury to the child or others.

Requires the child, during a parent's appeal, to remain in the interim alternative educational setting chosen by the IEP team pending the hearing officer's decision or until the time period for the disciplinary action expires, whichever occurs first, unless the parent and public agency agree otherwise. Requires the hearing to occur within 20 days of the hearing request, and to result in a determination within 10 days after the hearing.

Allows assertion of IDEA protections for a child not determined eligible for special education and related services who has violated a code of student conduct, if the LEA had knowledge that the child had a disability before the behavior that precipitated the disciplinary action occurred. Deems an LEA as knowing about a child's disability if: (1) the parent has expressed concern in writing; (2) the parent has requested an evaluation; or (3) a teacher or other school personnel has expressed concern about a pattern of behavior to either the special education director, or to other administrative personnel. Provides that an LEA will not be deemed to know that the child has a disability if the child's parent has not agreed to allow an evaluation requested by the LEA.

Revises provisions relating to transfer of parental rights at age of majority to allow a parent of a child with a disability to elect to receive required notices by e-mail communication, if the public agency makes such option available.

Provides for monitoring, technical assistance, and enforcement of part B programs. Directs the Secretary to: (1) monitor IDEA implementation through oversight of States' supervision and a system of performance indicators focused on improving educational results and functional outcomes for all children with disabilities; (2) enforce State compliance in making satisfactory progress toward improving educational results using certain indicators and benchmarks; and (3) require States to monitor and enforce LEA compliance.

Requires the primary focus of Federal and State monitoring activities to be on improving educational results and functional outcomes for all children with disabilities, while ensuring compliance with program requirements, with a particular emphasis on requirements relating to improving educational results for children with disabilities.

Sets the following monitoring priorities: (1) provision of a FAPE in the least restrictive environment; (2) State exercise of general supervisory authority; and (3) disproportionate representation of racial and ethnic groups in special education and related services, to the extent the overrepresentation is the result of inappropriate identification. Requires States to develop State performance plans, including targets to measure progress in priority areas.

Provides for various enforcement measures in cases of State needs for assistance, intervention, or substantial intervention.

Requires SEAs to prohibit LEAs from reducing their maintenance of effort if they are not meeting IDEA part B requirements.

Directs the Secretary to develop model forms for certain plans and notices.

Revises data collection requirements to require States to: (1) make data available to the public, as well as the Secretary; (2) provide the number and percentage of children in various categories; (3) collect information on the categories of gender and limited English proficiency status; (4) collect additional information in relation to certain disciplinary actions, due process complaints and hearings, and mediations; and (5) report data so as not to result in the disclosure of data identifiable to individual children. Authorizes the Secretary to permit States to obtain data through sampling.

Continues the preschool grants program under IDEA part B. Provides among State-level activities for early intervention any services which include an educational component that promotes schools readiness and incorporates preliteracy, language, and numeracy skills.

Revises IDEA part C (Infants and Toddlers with Disabilities) programs of early identification and intervention.

Includes: (1) sign language and cued language services among part C early intervention services; and (2) vision specialists, ophthalmologists, and optometrists among listed qualified personnel who may provide such services. Allows States to include under part C certain children eligible for services under part B preschool grants.

Requires eligible statewide systems to have a rigorous definition of developmental delay to appropriately identify infants and toddlers with disabilities in need of part C services. Includes those who are homeless and those who are wards of of the State among all the infants and toddlers with disabilities and their families who are to receive part C services..

Allows part C statewide systems to include a State policy under which parents of children with disabilities who are eligible for part B preschool services and previously received part C services may choose the continuation of early intervention services for such children under this part until such children enter, or are eligible under State law to enter, kindergarten. Requires such continued services to include an educational component that promotes school readiness and incorporates preliteracy, language, and numeracy skills. Requires States that opt for such a policy to comply with certain requirements, including notice and information on options for parents and reports to the Secretary.

Requires the Individualized Family Services Plan (IFSP) to include a description of services for the child in transition from part C early intervention services to part B preschool services. Includes transition services among the service coordinator's responsibilities. Requires justification of the extent, if any, that early intervention services will be provided in a setting other than a natural environment. Require IFSPs to include: (1) measurable outcomes, including appropriate preliteracy and language skills; and (2) information on the frequency, intensity, and method of delivery of of services. Provides that only services for which consent was obtained will be provided, when a parent does not provide written consent for all services on an IFSP.

Requires a public agency that initially fails to provide or pay for special education and related services, but is required to do so under a State's current system of arrangements, to meet its financial responsibilities by reimbursing the LEA or SEA that provided or paid for such education and services.

Includes a representative from the State Medicaid agency as a required member of the State Interagency Coordinating Council under part C.

Eliminates a requirement that the Secretary establish a Federal Interagency Coordinating Committee.

Extends through FY 2010 the authorization of appropriations for IDEA part C.

Revises IDEA part D National Activities to Improve Education of Children with Disabilities. Renames and replaces the current subpart 1 State Program Improvement Grants with a program of State Personnel Preparation and Professional Development Grants. Requires the State to: (1) continue, as under current law, to identify and address State and local needs for the preparation of personnel serving children with disabilities; and (2) use all subpart 1 grant funds to recruit, train, and retain highly qualified teachers and other special education personnel.

Requires grants to SEAs under the new program: (1) on a competitive basis, if the remaining funds are less than a specified amount for a fiscal year; and (2) on a formula basis, if such funds are equal to or greater than such amount.

Authorizes the Secretary to give priority in awarding such competitive grants to States that: (1) have the greatest personnel shortages; or (2) demonstrate the greatest difficulty in meeting part B requirements for personnel standards (which include the deadline for having highly qualified special education teachers by the end of the 2006-2007 schoolyear). Directs the Secretary to make certain minimum competitive grants to all States.

Provides for formula grant allotments. Directs the Secretary to make certain minimum allotments for States that received competitive grants.

Directs the Secretary to reserve specified subpart 1 funds for any necessary continuation awards for multiyear grants to SEAs under such replaced program.

Allows SEAs to apply for a subpart 1 grant for a grant period of between one and five years. Requires an SEA, in order to be considered for such a grant, to: (1) establish a professional development partnership (PDP) with LEAs and other State agencies involved in, or concerned with, the education of children with disabilities, including institutions of higher education and the State agencies responsible for administering part C, child care, and vocational rehabilitation programs; (2) work in partnership with other persons and organizations involved in, and concerned with, the education of children with disabilities, which may include specified entities; and (3) include in the partnership any individual, entity, or agency other than the SEA that State law assigns responsibility for teacher preparation and certification, and ensure that such partner carries out any subpart 1 activities within that partner's jurisdiction.

Requires SEA grant applications to include a State personnel preparation and professional development plan with specified elements.

Revises part D subpart 2 requirements for personnel preparation, research, technical assistance, model demonstration projects, and dissemination of information. Sets forth provisions for personnel development to improve services and results for children with disabilities.

Revises technical assistance and demonstration projects to require such activities to be rooted in scientifically based research. Gives priority to applications that propose to: (1) serve teachers and school personnel directly in the school environment; or (2) strengthen the capacity of States and LEAs to improve instruction practices of personnel serving children with disabilities. Directs the Secretary to support certain activities concerned with, among other things: (1) inappropriate behavior of students; (2) valid and reliable yearly progress assessments; (3) different learning styles of children with disabilities; and (4) effective transition to post-school settings.

Establishes: (1) a beginning special educators program, which adds a fifth-year clinical learning opportunity; and (2) a program to assist general educators (including principals and administrators) in having the skills, knowledge, and leadership training to meet the needs of children with disabilities. Authorizes appropriations for FY 2005 through 2010 for these programs as well as for the leadership preparation program and other programs for personnel development.

Directs the Secretary to delegate to the Director of the Institute of Education Sciences (IES) responsibility for studies and evaluations (including the national assessment) of activities under IDEA (with the exception of the following by the Secretary: (1) an annual summary report to Congress; and (2) a study of the extent to which States adopt policies for statewide systems and the effect of such policies). Requires a national study or studies on alternate assessments and ensuring accountability for students with significant disabilities. Authorizes support for research on: (1) the impact of professional development and educational evaluation programs on student outcomes; (2) economic benefits to special education service delivery through more effective pre-referral services, and (3) teacher recruitment and retention.

Sets forth provisions relating to interim alternative educational settings, behavioral supports, and systemic school interventions. Authorizes the Secretary to make grants, contracts, and cooperative agreements for various activities to: (1) improve interim alternative educational settings; and (2) provide increased behavioral supports and research-based, systemic interventions in schools. Makes eligible individual LEAs as well as consortia of LEAs with community-based organizations with a proven record of helping children with disabilities with behavioral problems, community mental health providers, institutions of higher education, or educational service agencies.

Extends through FY 2010 the authorization of appropriations for certain subpart 2 programs.

Revises part D subpart 3 provisions for supports to improve results for children with disabilities. Directs the Secretary to: (1) make an award to at least one parent training and information center (PTIC) in each State; or (2) in the case of a large State, make awards to multiple PTICs, but only if the centers demonstrate that coordinated services and supports will occur among them. Requires parent organizations that are PTICs, and local parent organizations that support community parent resource centers (CPRCs), to have as their mission serving families of children and youth with a full range of disabilities. Authorizes the Secretary to make an award to one parent organization to provide technical assistance for developing, assisting, and coordinating programs carried out by PTICs and CRRCs. Requires such national technical assistance grantee to: (1) establish regional centers selected from PTICs and CPRCs; and (2) with such regional centers, develop collaborative agreements with geographically appropriate Regional Resource Centers.

Revises, and extends through FY 2010 the authorization of appropriations for, provisions for technology development, demonstration, and utilization, and for media services. Directs the Secretary to support video description, open captioning, and closed captioning of television programs, videos, or other materials that are appropriate for use in the classroom setting. Allows such support only when such services: (1) are not provided by the producer or distributor of such materials; or (2) have not been fully funded by other sources. Allows support for news programming only until September 30, 2006. (H. Con. Res. 524, which corrects enrollment of this measure, provides that visually impaired and print disabled students in postsecondary and graduate schools, as well as in elementary and secondary schools, may continue to be provided with free educational materials.)

Directs the Secretary to establish and support, through the American Printing House for the Blind, a National Instructional Materials Access Center to facilitate collection and dissemination of instructional materials for blind and print-disabled students. Requires the Secretary to establish a national instructional materials accessibility standard.

Extends through FY 2010 the authorization of appropriations for subpart 3 programs.

Directs the Secretary, under subpart 4 general provisions, to develop and implement a comprehensive plan for activities under subparts 2 and 3, and report annually on such activities. Authorizes the Secretary to make grants to, or contracts or cooperative agreements with, eligible entities to carry out purposes of such subparts in accordance with such plan. Requires such entities to demonstrate in their application how they will address the needs of children with disabilities from minority backgrounds. Directs the Secretary to reserve a specified portion of funds for such subpart for outreach and technical assistance involving historically Black colleges and universities and institutions of higher education with minority enrollments of at least 25 percent.

Title II: National Center For Special Education Research - (Sec. 201) Amends the Education Sciences Reform Act of 2002 to establish the National Center for Special Education Research.

Requires the Center to: (1) sponsor research to expand knowledge of the needs of children with disabilities and improve IDEA services and implementation; (2) evaluate IDEA implementation and effectiveness; and (3) carry out appropriate research activities. Directs the Center's Commissioner to: (1) ensure that such research activities meet specified standards; and (2) propose to the Director of the Institute of Education Sciences (IES Director) a research plan developed in collaboration with the Assistant Secretary for Special Education and Rehabilitative Services. Authorizes the IES Director to award grants or enter into contracts or cooperative agreements with eligible entities in carrying out Center duties. Requires the Center to: (1) synthesize and disseminate findings and results from research it conducts or supports; and (2) assist the IES Director in preparing the IES biennial report.

Authorizes appropriations for FY 2005 through 2010 carry out Center activities.

(Sec. 202) Subjects to sunshine provisions of Federal law meetings of the National Board for Education Sciences.

(Sec. 203) Requires regional advisory committees to submit their assessments to the IES Director (formerly known as the Director for the Academy of Education Sciences).

Title III: Miscellaneous - (Sec. 301) Amends the Children's Health Act of 2000 to include the Department of Education among the Federal agencies required to be represented in a consortium involved in a long-term child development study authorized under such Act. Requires such study to be conducted in compliance with specified provisions of the General Education Provisions Act, including the requirement of prior parental consent for the disclosure of any education records, except without the use of authority or exceptions granted to authorized representatives of the Secretary of Education for the evaluation of federally-supported education programs or in connection with the enforcement of the Federal legal requirements that relate to such programs.

(Sec. 304) Repeals specified IDEA provisions relating to a Federal Interagency Coordinating Council.

(Sec. 306) Amends Federal copyright law to allow publishers of print instructional materials for elementary or secondary schools, under specified conditions, to create and distribute to the National Instructional Materials Access Center copies of certain electronic files to be used to reproduce or distribute contents of such materials in specialized formats for use by blind or other persons with disabilities.

Revises IDEA part A general provisions, including definitions. Revises requirements for assistive technology devices and related services to eliminate coverage of surgically implanted medical devices or their replacement. Allows a State or local educational agency (LEA), with respect to children ages three to nine, to include any subset of that age range for purposes of determinations that an individual is experiencing development delays and needs special education and related services as a child with a disability. Provides definitions of core academic subject, highly qualified teacher, and limited English proficient individual to conform with requirements under the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA), as amended by the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLBA). Includes interpreting services and school nurse services under related services.

Sets forth requirements relating to State administration, policies, and rulemaking under IDEA.

Provides for a paperwork reduction demonstration program. Authorizes the Secretary of Education to grant waivers of statutory or regulatory requirements, other than civil rights requirements, under part A for up to four years to up to 15 States, based on State proposals to reduce excessive paperwork and noninstructional time burdens that do not assist in improving educational and functional results for children with disabilities. Prohibits such waiver program from being construed to: (1) affect the right of a child with a disability to receive a free appropriate public education (FAPE) under part A; and (2) permit a State or LEA to waive specified procedural safeguards. Directs the Secretary to include in certain annual reports to Congress information related to the effectiveness of such waivers, including including any specific recommendations for their broader implementation.

Revises IDEA part B assistance for education of all children with disabilities.

Authorizes appropriations for part B programs, in specified increasing amounts for FY 2005 through FY 2011, and in necessary sums for FY 2012 and succeeding fiscal years. (Provides a separate authorization of appropriations for preschool grants under part B.)

Sets forth a formula for determining the maximum amount to be available for awarding grants to States under part B for any fiscal year. Bases the FY 2005 and FY 2006 formula on the number of children with disabilities in the State who are receiving special education and related services. Bases the formula for FY 2007 and subsequent fiscal years on the number of such children who received such education and services in the 2004-2005 school year. Provides for such numbers to be multiplied by 40 percent of the national average per pupil expenditure, and adjusted by the rate of annual change in the sum of 85 percent of a State's population of children and 15 percent of a State's population of children living in poverty.

Provides allocation formulas for grants to States (with subgrants to LEAs), outlying areas and freely associated States, and the Secretary of the Interior for programs for Indian children. Includes population and poverty components of the specified permanent formula in determining the amount available for States' maximum grants. Provides for continued funding of outlying areas and freely associated States at the FY 2003 level.

Makes State expenditure of administrative funds contingent upon its certification that agreements to establish public agency responsibilities for providing and financing part B services within a State are current. Revises the formula for determining the amount States may use for State administration and other State activities. Includes enforcement among required State activities, as well as the currently required monitoring, complaint investigation, and mediation system. Includes among optional State activities: support for paperwork reduction; positive behavioral interventions and supports and mental health services; technology; transition programs; alternate programming for those expelled from school, in correctional facilities, or in State-operated or State-supported schools; appropriate accommodations and alternate assessments; and technical assistance and direct services, including supplemental educational services.

Requires States to reserve a specified portion of part B funds to establish a risk pool fund to assist LEAs in serving high-need children with disabilities or unanticipated special education costs. Requires placement-neutral policies for settings of high-need students that: (1) do not favor public, nonpublic or out-of-district placements; and (2) provide the services to which children are entitled in a setting that is consistent with their individualized education plan (IEP). Prohibits risk pool funds from being used to pay costs that otherwise are reimbursable as medical assistance for a child with a disability under a State Medicaid program.

Provides that public charter schools that operate as LEAs are entitled to subgrants as LEAs.

Removes certain procedural and reporting requirements for State eligibility. Requires States to provide assurances that they have the appropriate policies and procedures in place to ensure that they have met part B requirements.

Revises requirements for LEAs to oblige proportional amounts of funds for parentally-placed private school children with disabilities, under certain conditions. Requires LEAs to: (1) provide direct services to such children to the extent practicable; (2) provide data on the number of students evaluated, found to have a disability, and served under part B; (3) conduct the child-find process for such children in a time period comparable to that for students attending public schools; (4) not consider the cost of such child-find and individual evaluations in meeting their proportional obligations; and (5) consult with private school officials on the child find process, determination of proportional share of Federal funds, provision of services, alternative delivery mechanisms, and third party providers. Allows private schools to appeal if such consultation does not take place. Requires such special education and related services to be secular, neutral, and nonideological. (Continues requirements for: (1) no cost to parents for State or LEA placement of a child in a private school to receive required special education and services; and (2) reimbursement for the parents' placing the child in a private school for such education and services, if a court or hearing officer orders it upon finding that the public agency had not made a free appropriate public education available to the child prior to that enrollment.)

Revises personnel standards to direct States to adopt policies that require LEAs to take measurable steps to recruit, hire, and retain highly qualified personnel.

Requires all special education teachers in an elementary, middle or secondary school to be highly qualified no later than the end of the 2005-2006 school year.

Eliminates a requirement that States develop a comprehensive system of personnel development. Requires State standards governing the qualifications of related service personnel serving children with disabilities to be consistent with any State-approved or State-recognized certification or licensing or other comparable requirement applicable to the specific professional discipline of such personnel. Requires States to ensure that such personnel have not had their certification or licensure requirements waived on an emergency, temporary, or provisional basis. Provides that such provisions shall not: (1) be construed to create a right of action on behalf of an individual student for the failure of a particular SEA or LEA staff person to be highly qualified; or (2) prevent a parent from filing a State complaint regarding staff qualifications with the SEA.

Revises requirements for academic achievement and functional performance of children with disabilities to conform IDEA to the State and LEA accountability system established under NCLBA, with school and LEA disaggregation of data to examine the results of children with disabilities and ensure that such subgroup is making adequate yearly progress (AYP) towards reaching proficiency.

Includes provisions relating to AYP among State performance goals and indicators for children with disabilities.

Revises requirements for participation in assessments. Requires alternate assessments to be a part of State and LEA assessment programs and accountability systems. Sets forth additional requirements for developing and administering alternate assessments aligned with the State's academic content and achievement standards, and for developing alternate standards for those children with significant cognitive disabilities. Requires States and LEAs to develop and use universally designed assessments to the extent feasible.

Prohibits States from having funding mechanisms that distribute funds based upon the type of setting in which a child is served. Requires States to revise any such current policies or procedures.

Prohibits States from using part B funds to satisfy State-law mandated funding obligations to LEAs, including funding based on student attendance or enrollment, or inflation, in complying with part B requirements relating to: (1) supplementation of State, local, and other Federal funds; and (2) maintenance of State financial support.

Establishes requirements for accessibility of instructional materials. Allows SEAs to opt not to coordinate with the National Instructional Materials Access Center in adopting a national instructional materials accessibility standard, if they assure the Secretary that they will provide instructional materials to blind persons or other persons with print disabilities in a timely manner. Requires, within two years after enactment of this Act, those SEAs that opt to coordinate with the Center to enter into contracts with publishers of print instructional materials to: (1) require the publisher to prepare and supply to the Center electronic files with such materials' contents using such standard; or (2) purchase from the publisher instructional materials that are produced, or may be rendered, in specialized formats.

Requires State policies and procedures to prevent overidentification or disproportionate representation by race and ethnicity of children as children with disabilities, including identification of children as children with a particular impairment.

Requires SEAs to prohibit SEA and LEA personnel from requiring a child, as a condition of attending school or receiving IDEA evaluations or services, to obtain a prescription for a substance covered by the Controlled Substances Act.

Removes certain procedural and reporting requirements for LEA eligibility. Requires LEAs to submit plans with assurances to SEAs that they have in effect policies, procedures, and programs that meet specified part B requirements.

Includes among allowable uses of part B funds by LEAs: (1) services that also benefit non-disabled children; (2) early intervening educational services; (3) high cost education and services; and (4) administrative case management, including related technology.

Revises provisions relating to public charter schools to: (1) authorize LEAs to distribute IDEA funds to charter schools based on relative enrollment and proportional distribution; and (2) direct LEAs to provide supplemental and related services on site at the charter school to the same extent as to other public schools.

Revises provisions regarding early intervening services. Authorizes LEAs to use up to 15 percent of their IDEA funds to develop and implement coordinated, early intervening educational services for students who are not receiving special education services but who require additional academic and behavioral support to succeed in a regular education environment, and who may be likely referrals to special education programs and services at a later time. Includes among such allowable services: (1) professional development for teachers and other school staff to deliver scientifically-based academic and behavioral interventions; and (2) providing educational and behavioral evaluations, services, and supports, including scientifically-based literacy instruction.

Eliminates provisions for a School-Based Improvement Plan.

Sets forth provisions for SEA flexibility to allow adjustments in State fiscal effort under certain conditions.

Revises requirements for evaluations, eligibility determinations, IEPs, and placements. Provides that a parent, SEA, other State agency, or LEA has a right to request an initial evaluation to determine whether a child qualifies for IDEA services. Provides that an LEA does not violate the FAPE requirement by failing to provide special education and related services to a child with a disability as long as these are refused by the parent. Includes academic information among the information the LEA is required to gather in the evaluation process of a child.

Revises additional requirements for LEA procedures in selecting and administering tests and other evaluations to determine a child's eligibility under IDEA. Requires tests and evaluations to be provided and administered, to the extent practicable, in the language and form most likely to yield accurate information on what the child knows and can do academically, developmentally, and functionally.

Revises a special rule for eligibility determination to provide that a lack of scientifically based reading instruction cannot be the determinant factor for deciding whether the child is a child with a disability. Provides that LEAs, in determining whether or not a student has a specific learning disability, shall not be required to take into consideration whether there is a severe discrepancy between achievement and intellectual ability in specified skills. Allows LEAs, as part of evaluation procedures, to use a process that determines if a child responds to scientific, research-based intervention.

Revises exit evaluation requirements. Provides that such evaluations before termination of IDEA eligibility are not required upon: (1) graduation from secondary school with a regular diploma; or (2) exceeding age eligibility for a free appropriate public education under State law. Requires LEAs, in such cases, to provide students with a summary of their academic achievement and functional performance, including recommendations on how to assist them in meeting their postsecondary goals.

Requires individualized education programs (IEPs) to include a statement of the child's present levels of academic achievement and functional performance (currently educational performance). Requires the statement of measurable annual goals to include academic goals and functional goals.

Eliminates requirements for benchmarks and short-term objectives in IEPs. Requires IEPs to contain descriptions of: (1) how the child's progress toward meeting the annual goals will be measured; and (2) when periodic progress reports will be provided. Requires progress updates to provide parents with specific, meaningful, and understandable information on the progress children are making.

Revises requirements for accommodations and alternate assessments. Provides for testing of some children that includes certain necessary accommodations, an alternate assessment, or an alternate assessment based upon alternative standards for those children with significant cognitive disabilities. Requires a statement of appropriate accommodations to be made for State or districtwide assessments. Requires the IEP team, if it determines that a child shall take an alternate assessment, to state why the child cannot participate in the regular assessment and why the particular alternate assessment selected is appropriate for that child.

Revises requirements for transition services. Requires IEPs, beginning not later than the first IEP to be in effect when the child is 16, and updated annually thereafter, to contain: (1) appropriate measurable postsecondary goals based upon age appropriate assessments related to training, education, employment, and, where appropriate, independent living skills; and (2) the transition services the child needs to reach those goals.

Provides that nothing in IDEA regarding IEPs shall be construed to require that additional information be included in an IEP beyond what is explicitly required.

Allows a member of the IEP team to be excused from an IEP meeting if: (1) no modifications are being made to that member's area of curriculum or service; or (2) when a relevant modification is made, if the member provides input prior to the meeting. Requires the IEP team member, the parent, and the LEA to agree to the member's being excused. Directs LEAs to encourage consolidation of IEP meetings and reevaluation meetings. Includes the academic, developmental, and functional needs of the child among factors the IEP team must consider in developing a child's IEP.

Requires IEP teams to provide positive behavioral interventions and supports for children with disabilities whose behavior impedes their learning or the learning of others.

Authorizes the Secretary to approve up to 15 proposals from States to carry out a demonstration program allowing parents and LEAs the option of developing a comprehensive multiyear IEP, of up to three years, designed to coincide with natural transition points.

Allows parents and LEAs to agree to participate in IEP Team and placement meetings via means such as video conferences and conference calls.

Revises procedural safeguards to provide that LEAs, as well as parents, have the right to present complaints. Requires the party filing a due process complaint to send the complaint to the other party, as well as to the State agency. Requires, in the case of a homeless child or youth, the parent's notice to the LEA to contain contact information for the child and the name of the school the child is attending. Prohibits a due process hearing unless the requesting party has filed a complaint that meets specified notice requirements. Requires States to develop a model form to assist parents in filing due process complaint notices and complaints. Requires the school to provide a parent with a prior written notice, when learning of a parent's dispute for the first time in a parent's due process complaint. Requires parents to receive the procedural safeguards notice generally only once a year, but also upon: (1) initial referral or parental request for an evaluation; (2) a parent's registration of a due process complaint; or (3) request by the parent. Allows an LEA to place a current copy of the procedural safeguards notice on its Internet website. Requires the procedural safeguards notice to inform parents regarding specified matters, including: (1) the time period in which parents can file complaints; (2) the school district's opportunity to resolve a complaint before a due process hearing; and (3) the time period in which a party can appeal a hearing officer's decision to court.

Provides that: (1) parents may request mediation before filing a complaint; and (2) a written mediation agreement is enforceable in court. Authorizes a State agency to establish procedures to offer parents, as well as schools, that choose not to use the mediation process an opportunity to speak with a disinterested party regarding the benefits of mediation.

Provides for a resolution session to give parents and LEAs an opportunity to resolve the complaint before a due process hearing.

Establishes a two-year timeline for requesting a hearing on claims for reimbursed or ongoing compensatory education services, unless there is an applicable State timeline.

Requires hearing officers to make decisions on due process complaints on substantive grounds based upon a determination of whether the child in question received a FAPE. Authorizes hearing officers, in matters alleging a procedural violation, to find that a child did not receive a FAPE only if the procedural inadequacies: (1) impeded the child's right to a FAPE; (2) significantly impeded the parents' opportunity to participate in the decisionmaking process regarding FAPE provision; or (3) caused a deprivation of educational benefits.

Prescribes requirements for administrative and judicial review. Provides for a 90-day-period, or the period provided by State law, for a party to appeal a due process hearing decision to State or Federal district court. Prohibits the award of attorneys' fees for services performed subsequent to a written offer of settlement, under specified conditions. Provides for reduction of of award of attorneys' fees under certain circumstances, including where the parent or parent's attorney unreasonably protracted the final resolution of the controversy.

Sets forth types of disciplinary actions that an LEA may take under IDEA.

Authorizes schools to consider any unique circumstances on a case-by-case basis when determining whether to order a change in placement for a child with a disability who violates a code of student conduct.

Authorizes schools to order, for children with disabilities who violate student conduct codes, changes of placement to an appropriate interim educational setting, another setting, or suspension, for up to ten consecutive school days, to the same extent such alternatives would apply to children without disabilities, without making a manifestation determination.

Authorizes schools, upon determining that the violation in question was not a manifestation of the child's disability, to apply beyond that ten-day period the same disciplinary procedures as for a child without a disability, provided that FAPE requirements are met, with the option of providing such FAPE in an interim alternative educational setting.

Requires, within 10 school days of such a disciplinary decision to change placement, a review of all relevant informant by LEA, parent, and IEP Team to determine if the child's behavior was a manifestation of disability. Bases such determination on whether the conduct: (1) was caused by, or had a direct and substantial relationship to, the child's disability; or (2) was the direct result of the LEA's failure to implement the IEP. Requires the IEP Team, if the conduct is such a manifestation, to: (1) conduct a functional behavioral assessment and implement a behavioral intervention plan, if the LEA has not done so; (2) if such a plan has been developed, review and modify it to address the behavior; and (3) (except in cases involving weapons, drugs, or infliction of serious bodily injury) return the child to the placement from which the child was removed, unless the parent and LEA agree to a change of placement as part of the modification of the behavioral intervention plan.

Authorizes a school, in cases involving weapons or drugs, or when a child has committed serious bodily injury, to remove the child from the regular classroom setting for up to 45 school days, regardless of whether the child's behavior was a manifestation of disability. Requires that such children receive continued educational services and appropriate functional behavioral assessments and behavioral intervention services and modifications.

Directs the IEP team to determine the child's alternative educational setting.

Sets forth circumstances in which a party may request a hearing regarding disciplinary decisions or proposed disciplinary actions. Allows requests for such hearings by: (1) parents who disagree with LEA decisions regarding disciplinary actions, placements, or manifestation determinations, with the hearing officer to determine if the LEA decision is appropriate; and (2) LEAs that believe that maintaining the child's current placement is substantially likely to result in injury to the child or others.

Requires the child, during a parent's appeal, to remain in the interim alternative educational setting chosen by the IEP team pending the hearing officer's decision or until the time period for the disciplinary action expires, whichever occurs first, unless the parent and public agency agree otherwise. Requires the hearing to occur within 20 days of the hearing request, and to result in a determination within 10 days after the hearing.

Allows assertion of IDEA protections for a child not determined eligible for special education and related services who has violated a code of student conduct, if the LEA had knowledge that the child had a disability before the behavior that precipitated the disciplinary action occurred. Deems an LEA as knowing about a child's disability if: (1) the parent has expressed concern in writing; (2) the parent has requested an evaluation; or (3) a teacher or other school personnel has expressed concern about a pattern of behavior to either the special education director, or to other administrative personnel. Provides that an LEA will not be deemed to know that the child has a disability if the child's parent has not agreed to allow an evaluation requested by the LEA.

Revises provisions relating to transfer of parental rights at age of majority to allow a parent of a child with a disability to elect to receive required notices by e-mail communication, if the public agency makes such option available.

Provides for monitoring, technical assistance, and enforcement of part B programs. Directs the Secretary to: (1) monitor IDEA implementation through oversight of States' supervision and a system of performance indicators focused on improving educational results and functional outcomes for all children with disabilities; (2) enforce State compliance in making satisfactory progress toward improving educational results using certain indicators and benchmarks; and (3) require States to monitor and enforce LEA compliance.

Requires the primary focus of Federal and State monitoring activities to be on improving educational results and functional outcomes for all children with disabilities, while ensuring compliance with program requirements, with a particular emphasis on requirements relating to improving educational results for children with disabilities.

Sets the following monitoring priorities: (1) provision of a FAPE in the least restrictive environment; (2) State exercise of general supervisory authority; and (3) disproportionate representation of racial and ethnic groups in special education and related services, to the extent the overrepresentation is the result of inappropriate identification. Requires States to develop State performance plans, including targets to measure progress in priority areas.

Provides for various enforcement measures in cases of State needs for assistance, intervention, or substantial intervention.

Requires SEAs to prohibit LEAs from reducing their maintenance of effort if they are not meeting IDEA part B requirements.

Directs the Secretary to develop model forms for certain plans and notices.

Revises data collection requirements to require States to: (1) make data available to the public, as well as the Secretary; (2) provide the number and percentage of children in various categories; (3) collect information on the categories of gender and limited English proficiency status; (4) collect additional information in relation to certain disciplinary actions, due process complaints and hearings, and mediations; and (5) report data so as not to result in the disclosure of data identifiable to individual children. Authorizes the Secretary to permit States to obtain data through sampling.

Continues the preschool grants program under IDEA part B. Provides among State-level activities for early intervention any services which include an educational component that promotes schools readiness and incorporates preliteracy, language, and numeracy skills.

Revises IDEA part C (Infants and Toddlers with Disabilities) programs of early identification and intervention.

Includes: (1) sign language and cued language services among part C early intervention services; and (2) vision specialists, ophthalmologists, and optometrists among listed qualified personnel who may provide such services. Allows States to include under part C certain children eligible for services under part B preschool grants.

Requires eligible statewide systems to have a rigorous definition of developmental delay to appropriately identify infants and toddlers with disabilities in need of part C services. Includes those who are homeless and those who are wards of of the State among all the infants and toddlers with disabilities and their families who are to receive part C services..

Allows part C statewide systems to include a State policy under which parents of children with disabilities who are eligible for part B preschool services and previously received part C services may choose the continuation of early intervention services for such children under this part until such children enter, or are eligible under State law to enter, kindergarten. Requires such continued services to include an educational component that promotes school readiness and incorporates preliteracy, language, and numeracy skills. Requires States that opt for such a policy to comply with certain requirements, including notice and information on options for parents and reports to the Secretary.

Requires the Individualized Family Services Plan (IFSP) to include a description of services for the child in transition from part C early intervention services to part B preschool services. Includes transition services among the service coordinator's responsibilities. Requires justification of the extent, if any, that early intervention services will be provided in a setting other than a natural environment. Require IFSPs to include: (1) measurable outcomes, including appropriate preliteracy and language skills; and (2) information on the frequency, intensity, and method of delivery of of services. Provides that only services for which consent was obtained will be provided, when a parent does not provide written consent for all services on an IFSP.

Requires a public agency that initially fails to provide or pay for special education and related services, but is required to do so under a State's current system of arrangements, to meet its financial responsibilities by reimbursing the LEA or SEA that provided or paid for such education and services.

Includes a representative from the State Medicaid agency as a required member of the State Interagency Coordinating Council under part C.

Eliminates a requirement that the Secretary establish a Federal Interagency Coordinating Committee.

Extends through FY 2010 the authorization of appropriations for IDEA part C.

Revises IDEA part D National Activities to Improve Education of Children with Disabilities. Renames and replaces the current subpart 1 State Program Improvement Grants with a program of State Personnel Preparation and Professional Development Grants. Requires the State to: (1) continue, as under current law, to identify and address State and local needs for the preparation of personnel serving children with disabilities; and (2) use all subpart 1 grant funds to recruit, train, and retain highly qualified teachers and other special education personnel.

Requires grants to SEAs under the new program: (1) on a competitive basis, if the remaining funds are less than a specified amount for a fiscal year; and (2) on a formula basis, if such funds are equal to or greater than such amount.

Authorizes the Secretary to give priority in awarding such competitive grants to States that: (1) have the greatest personnel shortages; or (2) demonstrate the greatest difficulty in meeting part B requirements for personnel standards (which include the deadline for having highly qualified special education teachers by the end of the 2006-2007 schoolyear). Directs the Secretary to make certain minimum competitive grants to all States.

Provides for formula grant allotments. Directs the Secretary to make certain minimum allotments for States that received competitive grants.

Directs the Secretary to reserve specified subpart 1 funds for any necessary continuation awards for multiyear grants to SEAs under such replaced program.

Allows SEAs to apply for a subpart 1 grant for a grant period of between one and five years. Requires an SEA, in order to be considered for such a grant, to: (1) establish a professional development partnership (PDP) with LEAs and other State agencies involved in, or concerned with, the education of children with disabilities, including institutions of higher education and the State agencies responsible for administering part C, child care, and vocational rehabilitation programs; (2) work in partnership with other persons and organizations involved in, and concerned with, the education of children with disabilities, which may include specified entities; and (3) include in the partnership any individual, entity, or agency other than the SEA that State law assigns responsibility for teacher preparation and certification, and ensure that such partner carries out any subpart 1 activities within that partner's jurisdiction.

Requires SEA grant applications to include a State personnel preparation and professional development plan with specified elements.

Revises part D subpart 2 requirements for personnel preparation, research, technical assistance, model demonstration projects, and dissemination of information. Sets forth provisions for personnel development to improve services and results for children with disabilities.

Revises technical assistance and demonstration projects to require such activities to be rooted in scientifically based research. Gives priority to applications that propose to: (1) serve teachers and school personnel directly in the school environment; or (2) strengthen the capacity of States and LEAs to improve instruction practices of personnel serving children with disabilities. Directs the Secretary to support certain activities concerned with, among other things: (1) inappropriate behavior of students; (2) valid and reliable yearly progress assessments; (3) different learning styles of children with disabilities; and (4) effective transition to post-school settings.

Establishes: (1) a beginning special educators program, which adds a fifth-year clinical learning opportunity; and (2) a program to assist general educators (including principals and administrators) in having the skills, knowledge, and leadership training to meet the needs of children with disabilities. Authorizes appropriations for FY 2005 through 2010 for these programs as well as for the leadership preparation program and other programs for personnel development.

Directs the Secretary to delegate to the Director of the Institute of Education Sciences (IES) responsibility for studies and evaluations (including the national assessment) of activities under IDEA (with the exception of the following by the Secretary: (1) an annual summary report to Congress; and (2) a study of the extent to which States adopt policies for statewide systems and the effect of such policies). Requires a national study or studies on alternate assessments and ensuring accountability for students with significant disabilities. Authorizes support for research on: (1) the impact of professional development and educational evaluation programs on student outcomes; (2) economic benefits to special education service delivery through more effective pre-referral services, and (3) teacher recruitment and retention.

Sets forth provisions relating to interim alternative educational settings, behavioral supports, and systemic school interventions. Authorizes the Secretary to make grants, contracts, and cooperative agreements for various activities to: (1) improve interim alternative educational settings; and (2) provide increased behavioral supports and research-based, systemic interventions in schools. Makes eligible individual LEAs as well as consortia of LEAs with community-based organizations with a proven record of helping children with disabilities with behavioral problems, community mental health providers, institutions of higher education, or educational service agencies.

Extends through FY 2010 the authorization of appropriations for certain subpart 2 programs.

Revises part D subpart 3 provisions for supports to improve results for children with disabilities. Directs the Secretary to: (1) make an award to at least one parent training and information center (PTIC) in each State; or (2) in the case of a large State, make awards to multiple PTICs, but only if the centers demonstrate that coordinated services and supports will occur among them. Requires parent organizations that are PTICs, and local parent organizations that support community parent resource centers (CPRCs), to have as their mission serving families of children and youth with a full range of disabilities. Authorizes the Secretary to make an award to one parent organization to provide technical assistance for developing, assisting, and coordinating programs carried out by PTICs and CRRCs. Requires such national technical assistance grantee to: (1) establish regional centers selected from PTICs and CPRCs; and (2) with such regional centers, develop collaborative agreements with geographically appropriate Regional Resource Centers.

Revises, and extends through FY 2010 the authorization of appropriations for, provisions for technology development, demonstration, and utilization, and for media services. Directs the Secretary to support video description, open captioning, and closed captioning of television programs, videos, or other materials that are appropriate for use in the classroom setting. Allows such support only when such services: (1) are not provided by the producer or distributor of such materials; or (2) have not been fully funded by other sources. Allows support for news programming only until September 30, 2006. Provides that visually impaired and print disabled students in postsecondary and graduate schools, as well as in elementary and secondary schools, may continue to be provided with free educational materials.

Directs the Secretary to establish and support, through the American Printing House for the Blind, a National Instructional Materials Access Center to facilitate collection and dissemination of instructional materials for blind and print-disabled students. Requires the Secretary to establish a national instructional materials accessibility standard.

Extends through FY 2010 the authorization of appropriations for subpart 3 programs.

Directs the Secretary, under subpart 4 general provisions, to develop and implement a comprehensive plan for activities under subparts 2 and 3, and report annually on such activities. Authorizes the Secretary to make grants to, or contracts or cooperative agreements with, eligible entities to carry out purposes of such subparts in accordance with such plan. Requires such entities to demonstrate in their application how they will address the needs of children with disabilities from minority backgrounds. Directs the Secretary to reserve a specified portion of funds for such subpart for outreach and technical assistance involving historically Black colleges and universities and institutions of higher education with minority enrollments of at least 25 percent.

Title II: National Center For Special Education Research - (Sec. 201) Amends the Education Sciences Reform Act of 2002 to establish the National Center for Special Education Research.

Requires the Center to: (1) sponsor research to expand knowledge of the needs of children with disabilities and improve IDEA services and implementation; (2) evaluate IDEA implementation and effectiveness; and (3) carry out appropriate research activities. Directs the Center's Commissioner to: (1) ensure that such research activities meet specified standards; and (2) propose to the Director of the Institute of Education Sciences (IES Director) a research plan developed in collaboration with the Assistant Secretary for Special Education and Rehabilitative Services. Authorizes the IES Director to award grants or enter into contracts or cooperative agreements with eligible entities in carrying out Center duties. Requires the Center to: (1) synthesize and disseminate findings and results from research it conducts or supports; and (2) assist the IES Director in preparing the IES biennial report.

Authorizes appropriations for FY 2005 through 2010 carry out Center activities.

(Sec. 202) Subjects to sunshine provisions of Federal law meetings of the National Board for Education Sciences.

(Sec. 203) Requires regional advisory committees to submit their assessments to the IES Director (formerly known as the Director for the Academy of Education Sciences).

Title III: Miscellaneous - (Sec. 301) Amends the Children's Health Act of 2000 to include the Department of Education among the Federal agencies required to be represented in a consortium involved in a long-term child development study authorized under such Act. Requires such study to be conducted in compliance with specified provisions of the General Education Provisions Act, including the requirement of prior parental consent for the disclosure of any education records, except without the use of authority or exceptions granted to authorized representatives of the Secretary of Education for the evaluation of federally-supported education programs or in connection with the enforcement of the Federal legal requirements that relate to such programs.

(Sec. 304) Repeals specified IDEA provisions relating to a Federal Interagency Coordinating Council.

(Sec. 306) Amends Federal copyright law to allow publishers of print instructional materials for elementary or secondary schools, under specified conditions, to create and distribute to the National Instructional Materials Access Center copies of certain electronic files to be used to reproduce or distribute contents of such materials in specialized formats for use by blind or other persons with disabilities.