[House Hearing, 117 Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]


                   ADDRESSING THE IMPACT OF COVID-19
                     ON STUDENTS WITH DISABILITIES

=======================================================================

                                HEARING

                              BEFORE THE
                              
                            SUBCOMMITTEE ON
                      EARLY CHILDHOOD, ELEMENTARY,
                        AND SECONDARY EDUCATION

                                OF THE

                    COMMITTEE ON EDUCATION AND LABOR
                     U.S. HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                    ONE HUNDRED SEVENTEENTH CONGRESS

                             FIRST SESSION

                               __________

              HEARING HELD IN WASHINGTON, DC, MAY 6, 2021

                               __________

                           Serial No. 117-12

                               __________

      Printed for the use of the Committee on Education and Labor

[GRAPHIC NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]                                   
                                     

          Available via: edlabor.house.gov or www.govinfo.gov

                               __________


                    U.S. GOVERNMENT PUBLISHING OFFICE                    
44-536 PDF                 WASHINGTON : 2022                     
          
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------   


                    COMMITTEE ON EDUCATION AND LABOR

             ROBERT C. ``BOBBY'' SCOTT, Virginia, Chairman

RAUL M. GRIJALVA, Arizona            VIRGINIA FOXX, North Carolina,
JOE COURTNEY, Connecticut              Ranking Member
GREGORIO KILILI CAMACHO SABLAN,      JOE WILSON, South Carolina
  Northern Mariana Islands           GLENN THOMPSON, Pennsylvania
FREDERICA S. WILSON, Florida         TIM WALBERG, Michigan
SUZANNE BONAMICI, Oregon             GLENN GROTHMAN, Wisconsin
MARK TAKANO, California              ELISE M. STEFANIK, New York
ALMA S. ADAMS, North Carolina        RICK W. ALLEN, Georgia
MARK De SAULNIER, California         JIM BANKS, Indiana
DONALD NORCROSS, New Jersey          JAMES COMER, Kentucky
PRAMILA JAYAPAL, Washington          RUSS FULCHER, Idaho
JOSEPH D. MORELLE, New York          FRED KELLER, Pennsylvania
SUSAN WILD, Pennsylvania             GREGORY F. MURPHY, North Carolina
LUCY Mc BATH, Georgia                MARIANNETTE MILLER-MEEKS, Iowa
JAHANA HAYES, Connecticut            BURGESS OWENS, Utah
ANDY LEVIN, Michigan                 BOB GOOD, Virginia
ILHAN OMAR, Minnesota                LISA C. Mc CLAIN, Michigan
HALEY M. STEVENS, Michigan           DIANA HARSHBARGER, Tennessee
TERESA LEGER FERNANDEZ, New Mexico   MARY E. MILLER, Illinois
MONDAIRE JONES, New York             VICTORIA SPARTZ, Indiana
KATHY E. MANNING, North Carolina     SCOTT FITZGERALD, Wisconsin
FRANK J. MRVAN, Indiana              MADISON CAWTHORN, North Carolina
JAMAAL BOWMAN, New York, Vice-Chair  MICHELLE STEEL, California
MARK POCAN, Wisconsin                JULIA LETLOW, Louisiana
JOAQUIN CASTRO, Texas                Vacancy
MIKIE SHERRILL, New Jersey
JOHN A. YARMUTH, Kentucky
ADRIANO ESPAILLAT, New York
KWEISI MFUME, Maryland

                   Veronique Pluviose, Staff Director
                  Cyrus Artz, Minority Staff Director
                                 
                                 ------                                

  SUBCOMMITTEE ON EARLY CHILDHOOD, ELEMENTARY, AND SECONDARY EDUCATION

   GREGORIO KILILI CAMACHO SABLAN, Northern Mariana Islands, Chairman

JAHANA HAYES, Connecticut            BURGESS OWENS, Utah
RAUL M. GRIJALVA, Arizona              Ranking Member
JOHN A. YARMUTH, Kentucky            GLENN GROTHMAN, Wisconsin
FREDERICA S. WILSON, Florida         RICK W. ALLEN, Georgia
MARK De SAULNIER, California         FRED KELLER, Pennsylvania
JOSEPH D. MORELLE, New York          MARY E. MILLER, Illinois
LUCY Mc BATH, Georgia                MADISON CAWTHORN, North Carolina
ANDY LEVIN, Michigan                 MICHELLE STEEL, California
KATHY E. MANNING, North Carolina     JULIA LETLOW, Louisiana
JAMAAL BOWMAN, New York              Vacancy
ROBERT C. ``BOBBY'' SCOTT, Virginia  VIRGINIA FOXX, North Carolina
                                       (ex officio)
                            
                            C O N T E N T S

                              ----------                              
                                                                   Page

Hearing held on May 6, 2021......................................     1

Statement of Members:
    Sablan, Hon. Gregorio Kilili Camacho, Chairman, Subcommittee 
      on Early Childhood, Elementary, and Secondary Education....     1
        Prepared statement of....................................     5
    Allen, Hon. Rick W., Member, Subcommittee on Early Childhood, 

      Elementary, and Secondary Education........................     6
        Prepared statement of....................................     8

Statement of Witnesses:
    Bush, Reade..................................................    25
        Prepared statement of....................................    28
    Hager, Ronald M., Managing Attorney, National Disability 
      Rights 
      Network....................................................    10
        Prepared statement of....................................    12
    Kovach, Danielle M., Ed.D., Special Education Teacher, Tulsa 
      Trail 
      Elementary School; Hopatcong Board of Education............    29
        Prepared statement of....................................    31
    Littleton, Kanika A., Project Director, Michigan Alliance for 
      Families...................................................    18
        Prepared statement of....................................    20

Additional Submissions:
    Chairman Sablan:
        Fulfill the Promise Coalition Comments to the House 
          Education Committee re: COVID-19.......................    59
        Executive Summary: ``Disabling Inequity: The Urgent Need 
          for 
          Race-Conscious Resource Remedies,'' The Center for 
          Civil Rights Remedies..................................   114
    Scott, Hon. Robert C. ``Bobby'', a Representative in Congress 
      from the State of Virginia:
        Prepared statement of the National Council on Disability.   121
    Questions submitted for the record by:
        Chairman Scott 

        Hayes, Hon. Jahana, a Representative in Congress from the 
          State of Connecticut...................................   124
        Wilson, Hon. Frederica, a Representative in Congress from 
          the State of Florida 

    Responses to questions submitted for the record by:
        Mr. Hager................................................   124
        Ms. Kovach...............................................   131
        Ms. Littleton............................................   128

 
                   ADDRESSING THE IMPACT OF COVID-19.
                     ON STUDENTS WITH DISABILITIES
                     
                            ----------                              


                         Thursday, May 6, 2021

                  House of Representatives,
                   Subcommittee on Early Childhood,
               Elementary, and Secondary Education,
                          Committee on Education and Labor,
                                                    Washington, DC.
    The Subcommittee met, pursuant to notice, at 2:30 p.m., via 
Zoom, Hon. Gregorio Kilili Camacho Sablan (Chairman of the 
Subcommittee) presiding.
    Present: Representatives Sablan, Hayes, Grijalva, Yarmuth, 
Wilson, DeSaulnier, McBath, Manning, Bowman, Scott, Allen, 
Keller, Steel and Letlow.
    Staff present: Phoebe Ball, Disability Counsel; Melissa 
Bellin, Professional Staff; Rashage Green, Director of 
Education Policy; Christian Haines, General Counsel; Eli 
Hovland, Policy Associate; Ariel Jona, Policy Associate; Max 
Moore, Staff Assistant; Mariah Mowbray, Clerk/Special Assistant 
to the Staff Director; Kayla Pennebecker, Staff Assistant; 
Veronique Pluviose, Staff Director; Lakeisha Steele, Senior 
Education Policy Advisor; Banyon Vassar, Deputy Director of 
Information Technology; Everett Winnick, System Administrator; 
Harley Adsit, Minority Press Assistant; Courtney Butcher, 
Minority Director of Member Services and Coalitions; Amy Raaf 
Jones, Minority Director of Education and Human Resources 
Policy; Hannah Matesic Minority Director of Operations; Audra 
McGeorge, Minority Communications Director; Carlton Norwood, 
Minority Press Secretary; Chance Russell, Minority Legislative 
Assistant; Mandy Schaumburg, Minority Chief Counsel and Deputy 
Director of Education Policy; and Brad Thomas, Minority Senior 
Education Policy Advisor.
    Chairman Sablan. The Subcommittee on Early Childhood, 
Elementary, and Secondary Education will come to order. Again, 
welcome everyone I note that a quorum is present.
    The Subcommittee is meeting today to hear testimony on 
addressing the impact of COVID-19 on students with 
disabilities. This is an entirely remote hearing. All 
microphones will be kept muted as a general rule to avoid 
unnecessary background noise.
    Members and witnesses will be responsible for unmuting 
themselves when they are recognized to speak, or when they wish 
to seek recognition. I also ask that Members please identify 
themselves before they speak. Members should keep their cameras 
on while in the proceeding.
    Members shall be considered present in the proceedings when 
they are visible on camera, and they shall be considered not 
present when they are not visible on camera. The only exception 
to this is if they are experiencing technical difficulty and 
inform Committee staff of such difficulty.
    So if any Member experiences technical difficulties during 
the hearing you should stay connected on the platform, make 
sure you're muted, and use your phone to immediately call the 
Committee's IT director whose number was provided in advance. 
Should the Chair experience technical difficulty, or need to 
step away, Mr. Yarmuth, or another majority Member is hereby 
authorized to assume the gavel in the Chair's absence.
    So this is an entirely remote hearing, and as such the 
Committee's hearing room is officially closed. Members who 
choose to sit in with their individual devices in the hearing 
room must wear headphones to avoid feedback, echoes, and 
distortion resulting from more than one person on the software 
platform sitting in the same room.
    Members are also expected to adhere to social distancing 
and safe healthcare guidelines, including the use of masks, 
hand sanitizer and wiping down their areas both before and 
after their presence in the hearing room.
    In order to ensure that the Committee's five-minute rule is 
adhered to, staff will be keeping track of time using the 
Committee's field timer. The field timer will appear in its own 
thumbnail drive and will be named 001_timer. There will be no 
one minute remaining warning. The field timer will show a 
blinking light when time is up.
    Members and witnesses are asked to wrap up promptly when 
their time has expired.
    While a roll call is not necessary to establish a quorum in 
official proceedings conducted remotely or with remote 
participation, the Committee has made it a practice whenever 
there is an official proceeding with remote participation for 
the Clerk to call the roll to help make clear who is present at 
the start of the proceeding.
    This helps the Clerk and also helps those watching the 
platform and the livestream who may experience a few seconds 
delay. So at this time I ask the Clerk to please call the roll.
    The Clerk. Chairman Sablan?
    Chairman Sablan. Present.
    The Clerk. Mrs. Hayes?
    Mrs. Hayes. Present.
    The Clerk. Mr. Grijalva?
    [No response]
    The Clerk. Mr. Yarmuth?
    Mr. Yarmuth. Present.
    The Clerk. Ms. Wilson?
    Ms. Wilson. Ms. Wilson is present.
    The Clerk. Mr. DeSaulnier?
    [No response]
    The Clerk. Mr. Morelle?
    [No response]
    The Clerk. Mrs. McBath?
    [No response]
    The Clerk. Mr. Levin?
    [No response]
    The Clerk. Ms. Manning?
    Ms. Manning. Manning is present.
    The Clerk. Mr. Bowman?
    Mr. Bowman. Present.
    The Clerk. Chairman Scott?
    Mr. Scott. Chairman Scott is present.
    The Clerk. Ranking Member Owens?
    [No response]
    The Clerk. Mr. Grothman?
    [No response]
    The Clerk. Mr. Allen?
    [No response]
    The Clerk. Mr. Keller?
    [No response]
    The Clerk. Mrs. Miller?
    [No response]
    The Clerk. Mr. Cawthorn?
    [No response]
    The Clerk. Mrs. Steel?
    Mrs. Steel. Present.
    The Clerk. Ms. Letlow?
    Ms. Letlow. Present.
    The Clerk. Ms. Foxx?
    [No response]
    The Clerk. Chairman Sablan that concludes the roll call.
    Chairman Sablan. Ranking Member--
    Mr. Allen. Chairman Sablan. Allen is here, sorry.
    Chairman Sablan. Oh great, great, thank you Mr. Allen.
    Mr. Allen. Sorry about that I had a call come through and I 
just couldn't get off of it, but I'm here.
    Chairman Sablan. All right great, great. So now we could 
actually continue. Pursuant to Committee Rule 8(c) opening 
statements are limited to the Chair and the Ranking Member. 
This allows us to hear from our witnesses sooner and provides 
all Members with adequate time to ask questions. I recognize 
myself now for the purpose of making an opening statement.
    Today we meet to discuss how the pandemic has affected 
students with disabilities and our responsibility to ensure 
they have access to free and appropriate education. As this 
Subcommittee has established, the pandemic has disrupted the 
educational lives of tens of millions of students across the 
country.
    But no group of students have sought more access to 
education during this life saving classroom closures than 
students with disabilities. So to understand why we must 
examine the long-standing barriers to quality education for 
students with disabilities and how the pandemic has exacerbated 
these barriers.
    For students with disabilities the problem is of equal 
education opportunity and Federal law is grounded in a basic 
guarantee. Access to free and appropriate education in the 
least restrictive environment that meets their needs.
    Under The Rehabilitation Act and The Individuals With 
Disabilities Education Act, IDEA, this means that children with 
disabilities have the right to an individualized education plan 
that meets the unique needs and prepares them for lifelong 
earnings and independent living, a right.
    Unfortunately, even before the pandemic far too many 
students with disabilities did not receive the quality 
education guaranteed by law. While graduations rates for 
students with disabilities have improved in recent years, 
students with disabilities still graduate from high school at a 
disproportionately lower rate, and many receive certificates 
that are not equivalent to a diploma.
    In many cases this is done because students with 
disabilities are less capable of reaching their educational 
goals. It is because we have failed back on our commitment to 
meeting their needs. For far too long the Federal Government 
has underfunded the IDEA as State governments have failed their 
responsibility to better support students with disabilities.
    These disparities have fallen hardest on students of color 
who are often identified as disabled and then subjected to 
harsher discipline and worse educational settings. 
Unfortunately, the barriers to public education for students 
with disabilities have only become steeper during the pandemic.
    Schools initially struggled to maintain educational 
services for students with disabilities. And without clear 
guidance from the Department of Education during the Trump 
administration, some schools determined they simply could not 
comply with IDEA.
    However, even with the full support of schools students 
with disabilities still face an array of challenges, reflecting 
the broad diversity of the disabled community. Some students 
struggle with remote learning without additional materials or 
parents who can stay home. Many students also cannot receive 
critical services like physical therapy, fully remote 
platforms.
    Schools face challenges to safely reopening classrooms for 
students with disabilities who may be more vulnerable to the 
virus or have difficulty following the public health mandates 
such as mask wearing. But the transition to remote learning has 
also revealed helpful lessons.
    Remote communication has allowed some parents to more 
actively engage in school staff and for the first time remotely 
access support services for their children. Additionally, some 
students with disabilities have reported being able to do 
better in remote environments.
    Over the last year Congress has taken a significant step to 
meet the needs of students with disabilities. Last year we 
enacted several relief packages that secured more than 65 
billion dollars for K to 12 education, including funding to 
support students with disabilities.
    And most recently we enacted the American Rescue Plan which 
provides more than 130 billion to help schools reopen 
classrooms safely, including relief for IDEA programs. We were 
disappointed that despite the widespread popularity of this 
package, not a single House or Senate republican voted for the 
bill, which provided critical resources for students, schools, 
and educators.
    Nonetheless, while the decision whether or not to open 
schools is made on the State and local level, the resources in 
the American Rescue Plan will help schools reopen. As of the 
end of February over 80 percent of K to 8 schools were offering 
some in-person instruction, and about half of schools were open 
full-time for in-person instructions for all students.
    This data comes from before the CDC updated their guidance, 
and before most educators were able to get vaccinated. So 
schools have continued to reopen to more students in the past 
several week, and as vaccines become available to students, 
reopening schools to full-time in-person instruction will no 
longer pose an imminent threat to students and staff.
    However, our work is far from over. So we continue today 
with the help our witnesses, we will discuss how we can learn 
from the lessons of this pandemic to ensure equal access to 
education with all students with disabilities. We may disagree 
on the means, but I know each of us agrees that, now more than 
ever, we must uphold our promise to give all students with 
disabilities the opportunity to reach their full potential. 
That is their right.
    I want to thank our witnesses again for being with us, and 
I'll turn to the Ranking Member Mr. Allen who is sitting in for 
Mr. Owens, for the purpose of making an opening statement. Sir, 
Mr. Allen please.
    [The statement of Chairman Sablan follows:]

      Statement of Hon. Gregorio Kilili Camacho Sablan, Chairman, 
  Subcommittee on Early Childhood, Elementary, and Secondary Education

    Today, we meet to discuss how the pandemic has affected students 
with disabilities and our responsibility to ensure they have access to 
free and appropriate education.
    As this subcommittee has established, the pandemic has disrupted 
the education and lives of tens of millions of students across the 
country. But no group of students has lost more access to education 
during these lifesaving classroom closures than students with 
disabilities.
    To understand why, we must examine the long-standing barriers to 
quality education for students with disabilities and how the pandemic 
has exacerbated these barriers.
    For students with disabilities, the promise of equal educational 
opportunity in Federal law is grounded in a basic guarantee: access to 
free and appropriate public education-in the least restrictive 
environment-that meets their needs.
    Under the Rehabilitation Act and Individuals with Disabilities 
Education Act, IDEA, this means that children with disabilities have 
the right to an individualized education plan that meets their unique 
needs and prepares them for lifelong learning and independent living-
their right.
    Unfortunately, even before the pandemic, far too many students with 
disabilities did not receive the quality education guaranteed by law. 
While graduation rates for students with disabilities have improved in 
recent years, students with disabilities still graduate from high 
school at disproportionally lower rates, and many receive certificates 
that are not equivalent to a diploma.
    In many cases, this is not because students with disabilities are 
less capable of reaching their educational goals-it is because we have 
held back on our commitment to meeting their needs.
    For far too long, the Federal Government has underfunded the I-D-E-
A and State governments have failed their responsibility to better 
support students with disabilities. These disparities have fallen 
hardest on students of color, who are often identified as disabled and 
then subject to harsher discipline and worse educational settings.
    Unfortunately, the barriers to quality education for students with 
disabilities have only become steeper during the pandemic.
    Schools initially struggled to maintain education services for 
students with disabilities. And-without clear guidance from the 
Department of Education during the Trump administration-some schools 
determined they simply could not comply with I-D-E-A.
    However, even with the full support of schools, students with 
disabilities still face an array of challenges, reflecting the broad 
diversity of the disabled community. Some students struggle with remote 
learning without additional materials or parents who can stay home. 
Many students also cannot receive critical services, like physical 
therapy, through remote platforms. Schools face challenges to safely 
reopening classrooms for students with disabilities, who may be more 
vulnerable to the virus or have difficulty following public health 
mandates, such as mask-wearing.
    But the transition to remote learning has also revealed helpful 
lessons. Remote communication has allowed some parents to more actively 
engage with school staff and, for the first time, remotely access 
support services for their children. Additionally, some students with 
disabilities have reported being able to focus better in remote 
environments.
    Over the last year, Congress has taken significant steps to meet 
the needs of students with disabilities. Last year, we enacted several 
relief packages that secured more than $65 billion for K-12 education, 
including funding to support students with disabilities. And, most 
recently, we enacted the American Rescue Plan, which provided more than 
$130 billion to help schools reopen classrooms safely, including relief 
for IDEA programs.
    We were disappointed that, despite the widespread popularity of 
this package, not a single House or Senate Republican voted for the 
bill, which provided critical resources for students, schools, and 
educators.
    Nonetheless, while the decision whether or not to open schools is 
made on the State and local level, the resources in the American Rescue 
Plan will help schools reopen.
    As of the end of February, over 80 percent of K-8 schools were 
offering some in-person instruction and about half of schools were open 
full time for in-person instruction for all students. This data comes 
from before the CDC updated their guidance and before most educators 
were able to get vaccinated. Schools have continued to re-open to more 
students in the past several weeks. As vaccines become available to 
students, re-opening schools for full-time, in-person instruction will 
no longer pose an imminent threat to students and staff.
    However, our work is far from over.
    So, we continue today. With the help of our witnesses, we will 
discuss how we can learn from the lessons of this pandemic to ensure 
equal access to education for all students with disabilities.
    We may disagree on the means, but I know each of us agrees that, 
now more than ever, we must uphold our promise to give all students 
with disabilities the opportunity to reach their full potential. That 
is their right.
                                 ______
                                 
    Mr. Allen. Thank you Chairman and it's good to be with you 
again, and unfortunately Representative Owens had travel delays 
this morning and he's on a plane right now, but he sends his 
sincere regrets to the Members and the witnesses and thanks to 
all for being here today and hopefully he gets here in time to 
be able to join us.
    For the last 107 days President Biden and my democratic 
friends have ignored the science at the expense of our Nation's 
students, especially those with disabilities. You know this is 
not a partisan talking point.
    The New York Post recently reported on the Biden 
administration's effort to appease teachers unions on a school 
reopening policy. But the American Federation of Teachers 
referring to itself as the CDC's thought partner. Democrats on 
this very Committee accuse the Trump administration of 
politicizing the CDC but ignore the Biden administration's 
blatant attempts to bend science to the will of this political 
allies.
    To those students, educators and families watching at home 
let me be clear. The science is settled. Schools can and should 
safely open right now, and they've been open the entire year in 
the 12th District of Georgia.
    Research demonstrates that school-age children are less 
likely to transmit the virus to others, including adults. Even 
in areas of high community spreads, schools can safely reopen 
with 3 feet of social distancing and proper masking. Over 80 
percent of K through 12 teachers have been vaccinated, and the 
FDA is set to expand Pfizer vaccine eligibility for 12 to 15 
year-olds as early as next week. A medical miracle.
    This evidence is overwhelming, but still 49 percent of 
school districts are currently open for in-person instructions. 
That is a far cry from President Biden's promise to fully 
reopen schools in his first 100 days. The effects of school 
closures are high for students with disabilities. As many 
special needs children benefit from consistent and attentive 
in-person instruction and services. Kids with special needs 
need routine, and I know this first-hand as my granddaughter 
has special needs.
    She has just turned 4 years old she can't sit up and she 
can't walk, and she can't talk, but she has the most beautiful 
smile and loves her daddy big. All she does is hug my neck when 
I sit with her. But you know, thankfully Hampton School didn't 
close, and they had to deal with COVID, and she's in full-time 
because at her school she receives physical therapy.
    And if she goes even a week without physical therapy it 
sets her back a month. When you take these kids away from the 
classroom it hurts them incredibly. They need to be in school. 
The lack of access to in-person instruction and services raises 
serious concerns about the impact of their academic progress 
and mental health is a huge, huge issue.
    Among all students, self-reported mental health already 
dropped 40 percent since 2019 and mental health related 
emergency room visits are up 31 percent for children ages 12 to 
17. Today we'll have an opportunity to hear from Reade Bush, a 
father of two special needs children for whom those numbers are 
more than just statistics. They are living a reality. Mr. Bush 
was forced to watch his 9-year-old son deteriorate before his 
eyes to be admitted to a hospital because of the mental toll 
from social isolation.
    Mrs. Bush was forced to quit her job and home school their 
9-year-old daughter after the public school failed to meet 
their daughter's individualized education program needs, citing 
a virtual 4-day school week. I'd like to send prayers to the 
Bush family and thank Reade for being willing to open up about 
this experience.
    We cannot sit idly by while our children cry out for help. 
The CDC notes that children with disabilities are particularly 
impacted by the lack of interaction with peers as a result of 
online learning. This is in addition to projected learning loss 
which is expected to be as high as 12 months for some children.
    Unfortunately, even State, and local leaders in many areas 
across the country have failed to provide adequate protections 
for students and their families. Parents are rightly 
frustrated. It is unbelievable that in America parents must 
fight for their special needs students to have the bare minimum 
of services provided to them.
    These are the taxpayers. Sadly, no matter how hard a school 
district works, remote learning cannot fully meet the needs of 
all students with disabilities, while distance learning is 
acceptable under the Individuals With Disabilities Education 
Act. There are state-wide and district-wide policies that 
reduce or limit services, specifically for students with 
disabilities.
    Simply put remote learning is making it more difficult for 
all students to learn and exacerbating difficulties for those 
most vulnerable students. The democratic strategy to put it 
generously is not working.
    No amount of funding can cover for the President's weak 
leadership and coziness with groups who do not have the 
students best interests in mind. While I am glad democrats are 
acknowledging the difficulties facing students with 
disabilities during the pandemic, this hearing is pointless if 
democrats continue to ignore the science and reject common 
sense republican proposals that would direct Federal funds 
toward reopening schools.
    Republicans are more concerned with what a year of learning 
loss will do to a generation of young people than we are in 
upsetting a few liberal elites. It's time democrats were too. I 
want to thank all of our witnesses for joining us for what I 
hope will result in a firm commitment to reopen schools to help 
those with disabilities and Mr. Chairman I yield back.
    [The statement of Member Allen follows:]

    Statement of Hon. Rick W. Allen, Member, Subcommittee on Early 
             Childhood, Elementary, and Secondary Education

    For the last 107 days, President Biden and my Democrat friends have 
ignored the science at the expense of our Nation's students, especially 
those with disabilities. This is not a partisan talking point--the New 
York Post recently reported on the Biden administration's efforts to 
appease teachers unions on school reopening policies with the American 
Federation of Teachers referring to itself as the CDC's `thought 
partner.'
    Democrats on this very committee accused the Trump administration 
of politicizing the CDC but ignore the Biden administration's blatant 
attempts to bend science to the will of its political allies.
    To those students, educators, and families watching at home, let me 
be clear: the science is settled--schools can and should safely reopen 
now.
    Research demonstrates that school-aged children are less likely to 
transmit the virus to others, including adults. Even in areas with high 
community spread, schools can safely reopen with three feet of social 
distancing and proper masking. Over 80 percent of K-12 teachers have 
been vaccinated and the FDA is set to expand Pfizer vaccine eligibility 
for 12-to 15-year-olds as early as next week.
    This evidence is overwhelming; but still, only 49 percent of school 
districts are currently open for in-person instruction. That is a far 
cry from President Biden's promise to fully reopen schools in his first 
100 days.
    The effects of school closures are heightened for students with 
disabilities, as many special needs children benefit from consistent 
and attentive `in-person' instruction and services. Kids with special 
needs need routine, and I know this firsthand as my granddaughter has 
special needs. Thankfully Hampton's school didn't close and she's in 
full time, because at her school she receives physical therapy and if 
she goes even a week without that, it will really push her back. When 
you take these kids away from the classroom, that hurts them 
incredibly--they need to be in school. The lack of access to in-person 
instruction and services raises serious concerns about the impact on 
their academic progress and mental health. Among all students, self-
reported mental health ratings dropped 40 percent since 2019 and mental 
health-related emergency room visits are up 31 percent for children 
ages 12 to 17.
    Today, we will have the opportunity to hear from Reade Bush, a 
father of two special-needs children for whom those numbers are more 
than just statistics. Mr. Bush was forced to watch his 9-year-old son 
deteriorate before his eyes, to be admitted to a hospital because of 
the mental toll from social isolation. Mrs. Bush was forced to quit her 
job and homeschool their 9-year-old daughter after their public school 
failed to meet their daughter's Individualized Education Program needs, 
citing a virtual 4-day school week.
    I'd like to send prayers to the Bush family and thank Reade for 
being willing to open up about this experience. We cannot sit idly by 
while our children cry out for help.
    The CDC notes that children with disabilities are particularly 
impacted by the lack of interaction with peers as a result of online 
learning. This is an addition to projected learning loss, which is 
expected to be as high as 12 months for some children.
    Unfortunately, even State and local leaders in many areas across 
the country have failed to provide adequate protections for students 
and their families. Parents are rightly frustrated--it is unbelievable 
that, in America, parents must fight for their special needs students 
to have the bare minimum of services provided to them.
    Sadly, no matter how hard a school district works, remote learning 
cannot fully meet the needs of all students with disabilities. While 
distance learning is acceptable under the Individuals with Disabilities 
Education Act, there are statewide and district-wide policies that 
reduce or limit services specifically for students with disabilities.
    Simply put, remote learning is making it more difficult for all 
students to learn and exacerbating difficulties for those most 
vulnerable students. The Democrat strategy-to put it generously is not 
working. No amount of funding can cover for the President's weak 
leadership and coziness with groups that do not have students' best 
interests in mind.
    While I am glad Democrats are acknowledging the difficulties facing 
students with disabilities during the pandemic, this hearing is 
pointless if Democrats continue to ignore the science and reject 
commonsense Republican proposals that would direct Federal funds toward 
re-opened schools.
    Republicans are more concerned with what a year of learning loss 
will do to a generation of young people than we are upsetting a few 
liberal elites. It's time Democrats were, too.
                                 ______
                                 
    Chairman Sablan. Thank you. Thank you very much Mr. Allen. 
I would now like to recognize the witnesses. Let me start by 
recognizing Dr., I'm going to try this, Dr. Kovach, a special 
education teacher and President Elect with Council for 
Exceptional Children.
    Dr. Kovach has been a special ed teacher and general 
education teacher at Tulsa Trail Elementary School for 23 years 
and received her doctorate in special education from Walden 
University. Dr. Kovach currently teaches third grade in a self-
contained classroom and also teaches as an adjunct professor at 
Centenary University.
    Dr. Kovach was Teacher of the Year in New Jersey in 2011 
and is the President of the Council for Exceptional Children.
    Ms. Kanika A. Littleton is Project Director for Michigan's 
Alliance for Families where she's dedicated to supporting 
families of students with disabilities, helping them to 
navigate complications related to special education programs 
and services.
    She has a BA in sociology and a master's degree in medical 
sociology from Wayne State University and is also the mother of 
three children with disabilities, including a transition age 
autistic son.
    Mr. Ron M. Hager is the Managing Attorney for Employment 
and Education at the National Disability Rights Network. He 
provides training and assistance to the P&A's on special 
education, and assists with technology, and assists in 
overseeing training and technical assistance to CAP.
    He has specialized in disability law, particularly special 
education since 1979 when he started his legal career in 
Buffalo as a VISTA attorney. After that he was a clinical 
professor at the State University of New York at Buffalo Law 
School for 9 years of supervising the education law clinic.
    In 1991 Mr. Hager moved to Neighborhood Legal Services 
where he represented clients in a wide variety of related 
cases. And as part of NLS's National AT Advocacy Project Mr. 
Hager also was a frequent author of disability law related 
issues. He was co-Chair of the New York State Bar Association's 
Committee on the Rights of People with Disabilities for 4 years 
and was the President of the Board of Directors of Autistic 
Services, Inc. in Western New York for 10 years.
    Mr. Hager earned a BA in Psychology for the State 
University of New York Binghamton, and a J.D. from the State 
University of New York at Buffalo Law School.
    Reade Bush is a parent and lives in Arlington, Virginia. 
Mr. Bush is a physician assistant with 17 years of experience 
in emergency medicine in the Washington, DC. area. 
Additionally, Mr. Bush provides medical support at many large 
events, including the State of the Union Address and 
Presidential Inauguration.
    Prior to his work in the medical field Mr. Bush volunteered 
as a firefighter, paramedic for 15 years and responded to the 
Pentagon on September 11, 2001. He also treated congressional 
Members and staff who were exposed to anthrax.
    In the past year during COVID-19 school closures, Mr. Bush 
has been a strong advocate for access to in-person learning for 
children with special needs as he and his wife have two adopted 
children from Haiti, both of whom have significant special 
needs. Mr. Bush holds an undergraduate degree from the College 
of William and Mary, and a Master's in Health from George 
Washington University.
    Let me also share with our witnesses that I am an 
individual with a significant disability, and I was very happy 
to have Chaired our State Rehabilitation Council for 4 years 
before learning to become a politician, but thank you everyone 
for joining us today, so I'd like to first invite Mr. Hager, 
did I say that right Hager?
    Mr. Hager. Yes, thank you.
    Chairman Sablan. OK Mr. Hager you have five minutes sir.

   STATEMENT OF RONALD M. HAGER, MANAGING ATTORNEY, NATIONAL 
                   DISABILITY RIGHTS NETWORK

    Mr. Hager. Thank you. Good afternoon, Chair Sablan, Ranking 
Member Allen, and Members of the Subcommittee. My name is Ron 
Hager and I'm a managing attorney at the National Disability 
Rights Network, NDRN.
    Thank you for the opportunity to appear before you to 
discuss the impact of COVID-19 on K-12 students with 
disabilities. The Protection and Advocacy and Client Assistance 
Programs the P&A's and CAP's comprise a nationwide network of 
congressionally mandated disability organizations operating in 
every State and territory.
    NDRN believes in the right of all students, including those 
with disabilities, to an equitable and appropriate education in 
a safe environment. NDRN seeks to accomplish this goal for the 
P&A network. We believe this work has become even more 
important in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic. Students with 
disabilities already faced many challenges in schools which 
COVID has exacerbated.
    As schools transition back to in-person learning, it is 
critical that our schools are prepared to meet the academic and 
social and emotional needs of all of our students, especially 
those with disabilities.
    Unfortunately, parents of children with disabilities have 
long lacked the resources needed to help them understand and 
navigate the educational system. Throughout the pandemic the 
P&A network has worked to ensure students receive the services 
they are entitled to.
    This work has included meeting with State agencies to 
develop policies to support students with disabilities with 
other stakeholders, including the Parent Training and 
Information Centers. Our network has represented clients and 
individual and systemic cases all over the country.
    While the path to recovery is long, we know that we owe it 
to students with disabilities and all students to rebuild a 
system that is inclusive, individualized, and responsive to 
their needs.
    While students with disabilities have faced particular 
challenges during the pandemic, the students most negatively 
impacted are those at the intersection of disability in other 
marginalized identities, including students with disabilities 
who are also students of color, of low income, English language 
learners, experiencing homelessness, and in institutional 
settings such as juvenile justice and juvenile detention and 
residential treatment.
    Throughout the pandemic many schools fail to provide the 
individualized services students with disabilities needed. For 
example, some schools that recently reopened were unwilling to 
allow immunocompromised students to continue to learn and 
receive services in home.
    On the other hand, some schools that were closed refused to 
provide in-person instruction to students who needed it. Both 
students with significant disabilities and less significant 
disabilities started in the remote learning environment. You 
also continued to encounter overly punitive discipline imposed 
on students with disabilities during remote learning.
    Students with behavioral, emotional, and mental health 
needs were suspended from virtual instruction. In one instance 
a student with a disability became involved with the juvenile 
justice system for failing to complete her online schoolwork.
    Finally, we encountered schools changing IEP services and 
distance learning plans without changing the IEP. Here are two 
examples of the work the P&A's have been doing during the 
pandemic. In New Hampshire, the P&A successfully obtained 
guidance from the Governor that despite school closures, 
students with disabilities would be eligible for in-person 
services if needed.
    Nevertheless, the P&A was forced to advocate in several 
school districts who refused to provide in-person services. The 
P&A in California conducted successful systemic advocacy 
against two school districts for failing to comply with the 
IDEA. The most pressing concern for students is how to make up 
for the loss they have experienced we recommend the following:
    Schools should implement the multi-tier system of approach, 
or MTSS model, which provides a floor for remedial services 
that will benefit all students. Students with disabilities may 
need to be considered for additional individualized services 
pursuant to the IEP process for compensatory education.
    Schools must also consider the emotional and behavioral 
needs of students and how to anticipate how to address those 
needs. In addition to students who have already been identified 
through the IEP process, we anticipate more students becoming 
eligible for services under IDEA in Section 504.
    Finally, we urge Congress to pass dedicated additional 
funding for the P&A Network to address the educational needs of 
students with disabilities impacted by COVID. In closing, we 
urge the Department of Education to issue guidance on making up 
instructional loss using the MTSS model and how to best utilize 
compensatory educational services.
    I appreciate the opportunity to appear before you today and 
look forward to answering any questions you may have. Thank 
you.
    [The prepared statement of Mr. Hager follows.]

                 Prepared statement of Ronald M. Hager
[GRAPHICS NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]


    Chairman Sablan. Yes, thank you very much Mr. Hager. Next, 
I will go to Ms. Littleton. Ms. Littleton you have five minutes 
please.

 STATEMENT OF KANIKA A. LITTLETON, PROJECT DIRECTOR, MICHIGAN 
                     ALLIANCE FOR FAMILIES

    Ms. Littleton. Good afternoon, Chairman Sablan, Ranking 
Member Allen, and Members of the Early Childhood Elementary and 
Secondary Education Subcommittee. Thank you for inviting me to 
testify at today's hearing addressing the impact of COVID-19 on 
students with disabilities.
    My name is Kanika Littleton, and I am the Director of 
Michigan's federally funded parent training and information 
center, Michigan Alliance for Families. Funded through Part D 
of IDEA, there are 94 parent centers across the country who 
assist parents to positively impact their children's education 
and post-secondary outcomes.
    I am also the parent of three children receiving education, 
support, and services under IDEA and Section 504. My children 
are 16-year-old Christian, who has autism, Brittney who is 14, 
with anxiety and inattentive ADHD, and 6-year-old Aiden who 
also struggles with anxiety.
    The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic is significant for 
students with disabilities and those from traditionally 
marginalized populations. The educational challenges are 
unprecedented and require immediate attention. Educators and 
families working together is vital to moving forward.
    Today I'm speaking to you as a parent and a professional 
who has observed the challenges of the pandemic that it's 
created for my own children, and the students across Michigan. 
I wanted to highlight five areas of concern including teacher 
shortages, access to technology, social-emotional health, 
family engagement and individualized education program 
implementation.
    Several states are facing higher teacher shortages 
exacerbated by reasons related to the pandemic. In Michigan, 
teacher resignations have increased by nearly 42 percent this 
school year. Often districts must rely on substitutes who lack 
the education and training to educate and support students with 
the most significant needs, leaving these students at a greater 
disadvantage than their typical peers.
    Inequity and resources has negatively impacted students 
with disabilities, especially students of color and those 
living in poverty in non-traditional home environments, 
including foster care and group homes. These students are 
overwhelmingly educated in districts with less financial and 
human resources, they have less access to educational materials 
and the support essential to participating in remote learning.
    Moving forward, it is vital that states have the necessary 
resources to prioritize providing assisted technology devices, 
internet access and assistance with navigating learning 
platforms for all students. The lack of social interaction with 
teachers and peers during remote learning has clearly taken a 
toll on our young people, especially those with anxiety, 
depression, and other mental health conditions.
    They may have loved ones who have become ill or passed 
away, their family may be struggling with food and housing 
insecurities, or they may have trouble with no support network 
to help them. Many days I've watched my own daughter struggle 
to make it out of bed, ultimately affecting her school 
performance.
    It is necessary for districts to have the resources needed 
to support social and emotional health, including access to 
school and mental health services, and utilizing multi-tiered 
systems of support. Parents and caregivers of students with 
disabilities often found themselves in the position of 
implementing their children's IEP at home.
    Many parents found this to be extremely challenging, often 
lacking the necessary skills needs to support their students. 
This highlights a need for educators and service providers to 
meaningful engage with families during the pandemic, including 
recognizing family barriers, and implementing culturally 
responsive practices, utilizing strategies to support at home 
learning, and partnering with parent training and information 
centers to provide parent education.
    As states figure out how to adequately support students 
with disabilities during the pandemic, many students have 
experienced delays in evaluations and failed implementation of 
their IEP, including access to specialized instruction, related 
services and transition supports.
    For example, both of my sons will be receiving recovery 
services this summer to offset the loss of learning during 
school closures and remote learning. It is imperative that 
these challenges are addressed in the way that assistance and 
recovery of acceleration of learning, states must have the 
supports to hire more educators, curriculum experts, support 
staff, and invest in high-quality evidence-based approaches to 
support recruitment and acceleration of learning for all 
students.
    I'd like to acknowledge and offer gratitude to Congress for 
the existing increases in funding, including 13 billion dollars 
through the CARES Act, 54 billion dollars through the 
Coronavirus Responsibility Supplemental Appropriations Act, and 
130 billion dollars through the American Rescue Plan, which 
includes specific funding toward IDEA.
    This funding will allow states to begin addressing the 
critical needs of students with disabilities, as they 
transition back to in-person learning, however, more is needed 
to ensure our students, regardless of disability, race, 
ethnicity, or socio-economic status equitable access to quality 
education and support during and after the pandemic.
    Additionally, as more needs are identified, perhaps this 
time to reauthorize IDEA, so that as a nation we are prepared 
to continue supporting all learners under any circumstance. I 
hope this Committee has found this information to be helpful, 
and I look forward to answering any questions you may have.
    [The prepared statement of Ms. Littleton follows:]

               Prepared Statement of Kanika A. Littleton
[GRAPHICS NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]


    Chairman Sablan. Well thank you. I'm sure your testimony 
and all the testimony from all the witnesses are always very 
useful to the Committee. Thank you, Ms. Littleton. I would like 
to now recognize Mr. Bush for five minutes please.

                  STATEMENT OF MR. READE BUSH

    Mr. Bush. Good afternoon, Chairman Sablan, Ranking Member 
Owens, and Members of the Early Childhood, Elementary and 
Secondary Education Subcommittee, and Mr. Allen. Thank you for 
the opportunity to share with you today as you address the 
impact of COVID-19 on students with disabilities.
    My wife and I have two beautiful, adopted children from 
Haiti, both with special needs. They are 9 years old and attend 
public school in Arlington, Virginia. I want to highlight how 
destructive the last year of closed schools and virtual 
learning has been for our kids, as well as many other students 
with disabilities across the country.
    Our son is diagnosed with autism and ADHD. Before school 
closed, he was a very happy boy who loved school, especially 
being around his friends. But things changed quickly after 
schools closed. The lack of social contact and the routine of a 
normal school day which are incredibly important to children 
with autism, caused him to create an imaginary world last 
spring with 52 friends as he told us.
    By summer, his imaginary world had become so real to him 
that he struggled to differentiate real from the pretend, 
causing him to have visual, auditory, and tactile 
hallucinations which became so bothersome to him that on his 
9th birthday he asked me, ``Daddy, can I die for my birthday?''
    In November he was admitted to Children's National Hospital 
for 4 days. The doctors told us that his symptoms were from a 
massive deterioration of his autism due to social isolation. He 
ended up on 6 medications, and the doctors said that what he 
needed most was to return to full-time, in-person learning so 
that he could begin to solidify his identify with real, in-
person teachers and peers.
    During the fall, as we watched him deteriorate before our 
eyes and not be able to engage in virtual learning, we pleaded 
with school administrators to open schools for in-person 
learning for students with disabilities, which aligned with the 
guidelines by the Virginia Department of Health, and Governor 
Northam, who allowed special learners to return for in-person 
school as far back as last June.
    However, school administrators told us it was not safe to 
reopen for in-person learning. This despite the fact that many 
private schools throughout the D.C. area and country had 
successfully reopened. Eventually, in November our school 
system in Arlington opened for a small number of students to 
provide what they called ``in-person support.''
    This placed our son--here this, this placed our son in a 
classroom all by himself to learn on an iPad while being 
monitored by an extended day staffer. It did not give him the 
in-person learning and peer social contact that the doctors 
prescribed.
    So, we requested that the school place him in a private 
special needs school which was open with teachers and peers 5 
days a week, but the school's IEP team Members refused. So he 
stayed on an iPad in a classroom, all by himself for the next 4 
months.
    Our daughter is in 2d grade. She has cerebral palsy, a 
speech disorder, and an intellectual disability, meaning her IQ 
is around 58. Her IEP calls for 30 hours of special education 
per week. In August, the Arlington school system asked us to 
agree to reduce her hours of support to reflect a shorter, 
virtual 4-day school week.
    We refused to sign the IEP with reduced hours because she 
needs every hour of instruction that she could get. Since 
Arlington schools went ahead and reduced her learning hours, 
and because she was unable to engage in learning over an iPad, 
my wife was forced to quit work to home school her.
    So how do things stand now? Our schools finally opened 
part-time in March, with shortened school days, while many 
private and public schools have been open in-person 5 days a 
week since last fall. Sadly, the learning losses continue to 
pile up, in fact, just in the first quarter of the year the 
number of failing grades was up 6 percent among students with 
disabilities in Arlington.
    Our son is a full year behind in reading we just learned 
last week. Despite assurances from school administrators last 
year that they would provide robust learning recovery when 
schools reopened, the school told us last week they would give 
him only 30 minutes of reading recovery per week, 30 minutes a 
week.
    We asked for more, but they flatly refused. Other than 
offering a 4-week summer school program, which by no means will 
make up for a lost year of learning, Arlington has no 
substantive plan to catch-up special needs kids. They have no 
plans to hire additional reading, speech, or occupational 
therapists.
    They expect existing staff to carry their full caseloads 
and catch kids up. Kids will never be caught up at this rate 
which will result in vast inequities in educational outcomes 
for the most-needy children.
    One lesson learned from the past year is that schools 
should never be allowed to close long term again. For children 
with disabilities, schools are like hospitals in that the 
schools are the primary providers of rehabilitative services 
such as speech, occupational therapy, and social-emotional 
learning.
    Our kids were without speech and OT services for 6 months, 
and these services still remain virtual for the vast majority 
of kids today. And the psychological and learning losses and 
inequities continue to pile up.
    I will close by saying that in Arlington and many other 
places across the country, schools remain only partially open. 
By contrast, in Haiti, where our kids were born, schools have 
been open full time since the fall. Haiti, as you know, has no 
healthcare system, has no access to COVID vaccine, and is one 
of the most under-resourced countries in the world.
    If Haiti can find a way to open up schools full-time, then 
certainly schools here in the U.S., and certainly schools in 
Arlington, Virginia, one of the wealthiest school systems in 
the country, should be able to open fully now too, especially 
for these special needs kids. Thank you for your time.
    [The prepared statement of Mr. Bush follows:]

                    Prepared Statement of Reade Bush
[GRAPHICS NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]


    Chairman Sablan. Yes. Thank you, thank you very much for 
your testimony, including some of your personal experiences 
with your children Mr. Bush. Thank you. And now I'd like to 
recognize Dr. Kovach. Do I get that right Dr. Kovach?
    Ms. Kovach. Yes Kovach.
    Chairman Sablan. OK, thank you. Yes, you now have five 
minutes please.

        STATEMENT OF DANIELLE M. KOVACH, Ed.D., SPECIAL 
       EDUCATION TEACHER, TULSA TRAIL ELEMENTARY SCHOOL; 
                  HOPATCONG BOARD OF EDUCATION

    Ms. Kovach. Thank you. Good afternoon, Chairman Sablan, 
Chairman Scott, Ranking Member Owens, Ranking Member Dr. Foxx, 
and Members of the Subcommittee. My name is Danielle Kovach, 
and I am a third-grade special education teacher at Tulsa Trail 
Elementary School in Hopatcong, New Jersey.
    I am also the president-elect of the Council for 
Exceptional Children. CEC is a professional association of 
22,000 educators dedicated to advancing the success of infants, 
toddlers, children, and youth with disabilities and/or gifts 
and talents. And most importantly, I am the mother of three 
boys, two of whom currently receive special education services.
    And I am joining you from my basement that has been 
transformed into a classroom for virtual learning. I would like 
to start by thanking you for enacting emergency funds to 
address acute needs in K through 12 schools, and for including 
targeted funds for the Individuals With Disabilities Education 
Act in the Rescue Plan Act.
    My job is to ensure that my students receive a free and 
appropriate public education in the least restrictive 
environment. When our school went remote, we had no time to 
prepare ourselves, or our students for virtual learning. With 
their kids at home from school many parents could not work, and 
some lost their jobs.
    Several students did not have access to the internet. 
Without access to school lunches children were hungry, and 
there was the constant worry about COVID-19. It was the perfect 
storm.
    My grade level team and I rose to the challenge. We 
collaborated through Google Meet and gave teacher-led mini-
workshops on how to navigate Google Classroom.
    I watched and shared every webinar I could find that 
offered credible information about effective teaching from a 
virtual platform. CEC also provided a wealth of information, 
especially through the CEC community, an on-line forum where 
special educators from across the country can connect and share 
ideas while teaching during the pandemic.
    To support parents I resent their child's individual 
education program, or their IEP, and I walked them through 
agreed upon modifications to have a mutual understanding about 
what we could do together to support their children. I created 
a website for parents to engage with their children at home, 
both academically and social-emotionally.
    When a student in my class struggled with reading, my para 
educator sat outside that student's home and read to her. We 
went into this school year better prepared thanks in large part 
to targeted emergency funding through the CARES Act.
    All students and personnel now have devices and my school 
district provided technology workshops and professional 
development and developed a virtual hybrid learning schedule 
and a plan for providing instruction for each student.
    In-person instruction is much different now, but we have 
adapted and innovated to ensure our students still receive what 
they need. Gone from my classroom are the sensory corner and 
learning stations. They have been replaced with individual 
sensory tools.
    Learning centers went from hands-on activities to 
interactive activities in Google Classroom. My classroom 
library went virtual, and so did our class treasure chest where 
students can earn their rewards. We transitioned our cafe kids 
cooking and life skills program to the cafe kids virtual food 
network.
    I continually worry about the impact of the pandemic on 
student mental health and social-emotional development. I 
constantly ask myself are my students getting enough? Am I 
giving them everything they need? These questions are the 
reason that I have not had a solid night sleep since March 13, 
2020.
    There is more that Congress can do to be sure the dollars 
that have been invested have a lasting impact. We are deep into 
an educator shortage crisis that predates the pandemic. This 
crisis extends beyond personal shortages. Higher education 
programs that prepare the Nation's special education workforce 
are closing.
    There is a shortage of faculty to support new special 
education teacher candidates. And there is still much to learn 
about teacher early retirement and the exodus from the educator 
profession triggered by the pandemic.
    ARP does provide flexibility to invest in educators in the 
short-term, but I fear most districts will forego these 
investments without sustainable funding to prevent layoffs when 
the ARP funds run dry. To truly recover from the pandemic and 
address long-term needs, many of which predate the pandemic, 
Congress must fully fund IDEA.
    One thing is for certain. Special education teachers like 
all teachers, will do anything to help their students succeed, 
but they could do so much more for so many more students with 
sustainable investments. Thank you for having me here today to 
share my story.
    [The prepared statement of Ms. Kovach follows.]

                Prepared Statement of Danielle M. Kovach
[GRAPHICS NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]

    Chairman Sablan. Thank you very much Dr. Kovach, and I 
also, oh it was when schools were just starting to open up face 
to face instructions, there is a middle school here and visited 
one of the teachers who happened to have a class, and then I 
walked up to the library because this school was badly 
devastated by a super typhoon, the second largest in the 
Nation.
    And I walked in, and I found two students with special 
needs. And then in walked this individual who was a special ed 
teacher who happens to be my son also, so it was a nice meeting 
at a school campus but thank you very much for your--I'm 
getting a message.
    OK. So I'd like to next start the questioning with Mr. 
Scott do you want to go first, or Mrs. Hayes? Jahana, Mrs. 
Hayes please you have five minutes.
    Mrs. Hayes. Mr. Scott were you going to answer?
    Chairman Sablan. Right. Chairman?
    Mr. Scott. I'd like to go first if possible.
    Chairman Sablan. Yes.
    Mrs. Hayes. No, I don't have any problems with the 
Chairman.
    Chairman Sablan. OK Chairman Scott you have five minutes 
sir.
    Mr. Scott. Thank you. I have to leave at 3:30 for another 
meeting, so I appreciate it.
    Chairman Sablan. Thank you Jahana.
    Mr. Scott. First let me just say that democrats--the 
comment was made earlier about following science. The democrats 
have been trying to follow the CDC guidelines where we've 
noticed that many of the guidelines require funding.
    We first looked at according to the CDC, the community 
spread, but also separation, including transportation which 
means more money for transportation, proper ventilation, which 
means many school systems have to fix their ventilation 
systems, mask wearing and testing, and contract tracing 
protocols which also cost money, and that money can be found in 
the Rescue Plan.
    And so the school districts should not have any problem 
complying with the CDC guidelines and opening. Let me ask Mr. 
Hager, we found in the Andrew F. Case that the Supreme Court 
said that you couldn't get away with just any old kind of 
services, you had to provide meaningful services based on the 
capabilities of the student.
    What implications does that have for the students going 
back after the pandemic?
    Mr. Hager. Well generally speaking Andrew F. sets a high 
bar for the services that students with disabilities should be 
expected to achieve, so as students are coming back with 
disabilities, we need to catch them up. We need to be looking 
at how far behind they are and make sure that they get the 
services they need.
    It has to be individualized. It can't be one size fits all, 
that's another key principle of Andrew F. It has to be 
individualized. Second, Andrew F. emphasizes the importance of 
maintaining students in the least restrictive environment. 
Students should be educated with their non-disabled peers to 
the maximum extent appropriate.
    Third, Andrew F. recognized the importance that an 
education is not just about academics. It's also about the 
emotional and behavioral needs, so as students return, we 
cannot just look at educational loss. We have to also look at 
the behavioral needs of these students.
    Mr. Scott. Thank you. And Ms. Littleton can you say a 
little bit about what we need to look at to deal with the fact 
that Department of Education's Civil Rights Division, Office of 
Civil Rights has pointed out that students with disabilities 
are disproportionately subjected to exclusionary discipline 
such as suspensions, expulsions, restraint, and seclusion.
    What do we need to be looking at as students return to 
school to avoid inappropriate discipline? What do we need to 
do? Ms. Littleton, sorry?
    Ms. Littleton. No sorry. I was having technical difficulty. 
Thank you for your question, Chairman Scott. I believe that one 
of the things that we need to look at, and you're correct that 
there are certainly going to be you know an increase in 
disciplinary issues as children that are coming back that may 
have faced trauma, you know.
    So I believe that the investment again in those multi-
tiered systems of support is a proactive approach for schools 
to take, especially implementing positive behavior 
interventions to supports as students come back. Of course, you 
know, schools will need the funding to make sure that educators 
and service providers have the training that is necessary for 
that.
    Michigan actually--Michigan's multi-tiered systems of 
Support Technical Assistance Center is funded through Part D of 
IDEA and is providing technical assistance to all states on the 
utilization of multi-tiered systems of support. Our State has 
been phenomenal in providing that education to become 
educators, as well as families.
    We actually conducted an education symposium for teachers 
going back to school, and one of the focuses was to make sure 
that we have effective learning environments as children return 
to school and focused on social-emotional health, including 
implementing those tools set forth with MTSS, and positive 
behavior interventions and support.
    Mr. Scott. I'm trying to get in another question. Just very 
briefly.
    Ms. Littleton. Yes.
    Mr. Scott. For your organization, and the other two that 
represent organizations, do you have--are you looking at the 
spending? How the money from the Rescue Plan will be spent to 
make sure it's appropriately being spent to deal with the 
students with disabilities and others to eliminate achievement 
gaps are actually being well spent?
    Do you have the capability of reviewing that on a local, 
especially on the local level?
    Ms. Littleton. So on the local level we are looking at the 
funding that's coming. Our center again is funded through part 
of that Part D funding of IDEA that's coming through that was 
provided through the American Rescue Plan. So we are looking at 
that, and we're looking at how we're using those resources to 
again support parent training and information, as well as 
breaking with schools to promote you know things like multi-
tiered systems of support and assistance.
    Mr. Scott. My time is way over. I just wanted Mr. Hager to 
indicate whether his organization is looking at the money 
coming in to make sure the budget is budgeting the money 
appropriately?
    Mr. Hager. Thank you. Thank you, Chairman Scott.
    Mr. Scott. Could he just please?
    Chairman Sablan. Yes Mr. Hager.
    Mr. Scott. My time is expired, so if the witnesses in 
written responses can just review what their organizations are 
doing. Look, some of the school districts are getting massive 
amounts of money, and we want to make sure everybody is--nobody 
is being left behind, and achievement gaps are being 
appropriately dealt with. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
    Chairman Sablan. Thank you, thank you Mr. Scott. Thank you. 
Mr. Allen, I recognize Mr. Allen now for five minutes sir.
    Mr. Allen. OK thank you Mr. Chairman, and thanks to our 
witnesses and for the opportunity to talk about this important 
issue facing our Nation today. Mr. Bush, I want to thank you 
for your testimony. It's heartbreaking, but also inspiring to 
hear how you and your wife have sacrificed for your kids and 
fought for them.
    It says in your bio that you have 17 years of experience as 
an emergency medicine visit physician assistant. I was just 
curious have you had to go into work during the pandemic?
    Mr. Bush. Yes, sir I've worked some during the pandemic, 
although doing a COVID testing center, however I was limited in 
my ability to work because both of our kids require one to one 
support to access their learning, and even though that is 
supposedly guaranteed under IDEA and FAPE they were stuck 
virtually at home all fall.
    And so I had to sit home with my son individually. My wife 
worked with our daughter individually. So it was hard for me to 
provide medical support actually really to people during the 
pandemic because I was stuck at home.
    Mr. Allen. But you would have otherwise you would have been 
there for your patients?
    Mr. Bush. Oh absolutely. I actually, I've worked through 
five pandemics. You know I understand that you know a lot of 
teachers were concerned you know about going back initially. 
But you know the reality is I was at a loss for why so many 
teachers just seemingly couldn't return to help these kids, 
especially in our school system.
    There were some teachers individually that told me they 
wanted to come back, you know, and work, but they were not 
allowed to. But the irony is that you know there are just many 
kids out there suffering, and there was nobody really in-person 
to support them.
    So we spent the last year basically with kids trying to 
learn virtually which is really, really you know impossible, 
almost impossible for many of these kids with special needs.
    Mr. Allen. You said in your testimony that schools should 
never be closed long-term again. Can you explain your 
recommendation in a little more detail?
    Mr. Bush. Yes. So I understand you know back at the 
beginning of the pandemic there was a lot of unknowns, 
uncertainties, and it was necessary to close schools down for a 
while.
    But after a while we--the science started to emerge, we saw 
other school systems across the world opening up. and certainly 
across the country we saw a lot of private schools opening up, 
and really it was like why can't we open up these schools for 
these kids?
    For the kids with special needs as you mentioned, you said 
you have a granddaughter that has special needs, and really 
benefits from the physical therapy in the schools.
    Mr. Allen. Yes.
    Mr. Bush. It's the same for our kids and many other kids. 
Physical therapy and occupational therapy, speech therapy, 
those things just you know it's very hard to deliver them 
virtually, so.
    Mr. Allen. Yes. You need to know that we offered an 
amendment when our Committee marked up the education provisions 
of the so-called American Rescue Plan that would have required 
states to provide students education savings accounts when 
public schools refuse to reopen, that would allow parents to 
use those funds in those accounts to pay for private school 
tuition, and purchase additional education services and 
materials for their students who were not allowed to go back to 
school.
    Would that have benefited your family?
    Mr. Bush. Absolutely. We spent about $800.00 on home school 
curriculum for our daughter, and for our son as he was 
deteriorating psychologically and the doctor was saying he 
needs in-person learning, and the school system was refusing to 
give it to him, instead putting him in his classroom all by 
himself.
    We were desperate. I mean we just felt like we're in a 
failing school system, and we really wanted to get him into a 
private special needs school, but around here those schools 
cost about $45,000.00 a year for one child. That would have 
been almost $90,000.00 for both of our kids a year.
    So absolutely, any funding would have helped for us to get 
our kids the support, the learning that they needed because 
they just couldn't learn virtually.
    Mr. Allen. Right. Well unfortunately that amendment was 
defeated, and that provision was not available. From your 
standpoint, and obviously, you represent I mean you walk the 
talk OK. Your real world, and like I said somehow these 
intellectuals sometimes try to paint a different picture.
    But well I'm out of time. Listen, thank you so much for 
being here today. I really appreciate it and telling your 
story. The nation needs to hear it. My Committee Members need 
to hear it. And with that Mr. Chairman I will yield back.
    Chairman Sablan. Thank you. Thank you very much Mr. Allen. 
So now I recognize the very generous Mrs. Hayes.
    Mrs. Hayes. Thank you, Mr., Chair, and thank you to all the 
witnesses today for taking part in this very important hearing 
that we're having. We all care very deeply about this 
conversation, this topic.
    Mr. Bush your story has resonated very personally with me, 
and I want you to know that democrats do care, which is why we 
voted for 122 billion dollars in education funding with 3 
billion of that carved out specifically for special education 
because we understood and recognized what was happened, and 
that our children needed help.
    So every single one of us voted for the package that sent 
much needed relief. This week I met with students in my own 
district at the Fresh Start School in Canton, Connecticut. 
Fresh Start is a school that serves students on the autism and 
related disordered spectrum, and it gives them a place to learn 
and thrive.
    Much of what I heard at Fresh Start is what is being echoed 
in this Committee hearing today. I talked directly to the 
children. I also know from my own time in the classroom, 15 
years working with high need students in a Title 1 school 
district, that those districts struggle more than others to 
meet the needs of their students.
    And this has only gotten worse with COVID. Part of the 
issue, and we've heard this over and over, is that for many of 
our students they receive all of their services at school, 
which is all of these problems become school-based issues. We 
have to make sure that community supports are there as well.
    I also cannot move on without just once again as I say in 
so many hearings that we hear over and over disparaging 
comments about teachers unions. Teachers unions are teachers. 
And the questions that they ask throughout this pandemic were 
questions that address the safety of their children.
    A school building is not equipped in the same was a medical 
facility is, that is open to address medical emergencies that 
has personal protective equipment and hand-washing stations, 
and staff that are trained in universal precautions in all of 
the things that are necessary for combating a pandemic.
    So teachers raising those questions was not about teachers, 
it was about their children. I can say that with fidelity as a 
certified teacher. Ms. Littleton you mention in your written 
testimony that you anticipate the consequences of this past 
year will impact multiple marginalized students, such as 
students of color with disabilities, the most in terms of long-
term consequences.
    My question is can you provide us more details on how we 
can prioritize these students and prevent long-term inequities 
stemming from this pandemic, and how do we target assistance 
toward districts that serve these marginalized children?
    Ms. Littleton. Thank you for your question Representative 
Hayes. I believe that it first starts with looking at the 
family engagement is a really important piece, especially for 
when you're working with families who have marginalized 
backgrounds, whether it be students of color, in families 
living in poverty, so training for educators and support staff 
to really know and understand how to provide culturally 
responsive practices when engaging families.
    You know that means looking at the barriers that these 
families have. These families have working parents who may be 
outside of the home who couldn't assist with remote learning 
while children were learning at home, so working around that to 
find ways to support learning at home, finding ways to support 
any emotional trauma that may be going on in the home, I think 
is greatly important.
    Also I have to be honest, hiring support staff and 
educators who look like the people in the community is really 
important. So I think working with higher education 
institutions to really recruit and sustain people you know, 
teachers of color, will be very beneficial.
    Mrs. Hayes. And I understand that which is why I have 
introduced legislation to both diversify the education 
profession, and to save education jobs, which is all of those 
support personnel that you're talking about, because I--like 
you, appreciate what is happening on the ground in a practical 
setting, and how all of these people are needed.
    There was a pre-pandemic GAO study that indicated that 
parents from low-income school districts are less likely to 
file dispute resolution such as due process or mediation 
because they don't really understand the process.
    And I think this kind of speaks to what Mr. Bush talked 
about, where parents are trained to advocate for their 
children. My question was for Mr. Hager, and my time is about 
to run out, so I'll ask the question and just ask that maybe 
you submit the answers in written testimony.
    Do you believe that when parents have sufficient 
understanding of their rights, and sufficient access to 
representation and support, how are they able to advocate and 
provide meaningful access for their children? And what can we 
do at the Federal level to make that part of the process more 
equitable so that when parents are seeking services, every 
parent knows how to access those services?
    My time has expired, but I would appreciate if you 
responded to that in writing and followup.
    Mr. Hager. Thank you, Representative Hayes.
    Chairman Sablan. Thank you, Mr. Hager, and thank you Mrs. 
Hayes. Now I'd like to recognize who's going to go first, Ms. 
Letlow or Mrs. Steel? Mrs. Steel is senior, hello, Ms. Letlow 
has been here the whole time. Do you want to go? The two of you 
flip a coin.
    Ms. Steel. OK. Whoever goes first I'm fine Mr. Chairman. I 
am one of the freshmen, so thank you for recognizing me, and 
thank you Chairman, and thank you Ranking Member and all the 
witnesses. I'm just so grateful that you all are here.
    Mr. Bush thank you for sharing your testimony with the 
Committee. Your family story, and what your children have gone 
through is heartbreaking. It is sad and unacceptable that 
school districts across this country turned their backs on 
their most vulnerable children.
    We had another hearing a little over a month ago about the 
harm that has been done to vulnerable students over the last 
year. Republicans invited the parent of a child with a 
disability to that hearing as well, and she told us that she 
was forced to find alternative private school options for some 
of her children when her public school closed.
    You mentioned that you would have done that had there been 
open states and that you had been able to afford it. So Mr. 
Bush, from what you know, what is that that these private 
schools managed to safely reopen when your local public school 
did not?
    Mr. Bush. You know thank you for that question. I think the 
private schools looked at the data last summer, and other 
school systems and saw that schools were safely opening. And so 
they thought outside of the box and figured out ways to make it 
work, and they made it work.
    And unfortunately, you know a lot of the private schools 
have even more limited capacity than the public schools do, yet 
they were still able to do it. But unfortunately, you know, the 
public schools, even for the special needs kids where we live, 
couldn't even figure out a way to get a small number of special 
needs kids the highest priority special needs kids back to 
school.
    So you know meanwhile parents across our county with kids 
with special needs are watching these kids in private schools 
go back, so it just was very tragic to watch that happen.
    Mrs. Steel. So you as a parent, that you know what the best 
for your child is, or children. Why is having access to in-
person learning worth the risk?
    Mr. Bush. I think you know once we knew the data, and that 
the data that was especially among elementary kids, that 
children really weren't spreaders, and that going back would be 
safe. For us it was really important to get them back in 
because we were seeing particularly with our son, significant 
psychological you know decline.
    So it was very important for us that he be back in an in-
person environment which is really important for autistic kids, 
at least for him. I understand there's some parents that have 
special needs kids and they think it's not you know safe for 
them to go back and that's fine, but for the kids that need to 
be back, and those parents want them back, you know it really 
was important for schools to be open.
    And we're still in a situation where our schools aren't 
even open full-time.
    Mrs. Steel. So do you feel like you have lost faith in your 
local school officials, and you have two children who still 
have another 10 years plus in this school district, so how can 
you move in trusting their decisions?
    Mr. Bush. Yes. I've heard from a lot of parents around here 
that they've lost faith in the leadership of the school board 
and the superintendent because as many people were crying out 
to open up schools, especially as we saw the data coming along 
that showed it was safe, both for teachers and for the kids, 
and then ultimately even when the teachers were vaccinated, and 
somehow in some cases the schools are still not opening.
    You start to wonder OK well who are they looking out for 
here. You know the kids are the ones who have no voice in this, 
you know, who have been suffering. And you know when are we 
going to open schools back up for these kids that really need 
it? Not just the special needs kids, I'm talking about all 
kids.
    Mrs. Steel. Yes, that's the reason that my first speech on 
the floor was let's open up all the schools because we set 
aside enough budget for them. In CDC guidelines we need 25 
billion dollars to open up all the schools, but last year 
Congress set aside 72 billion dollars, but still it's not 
really opened.
    Especially living in California, I truly agree with you 
because it's all shut down. So thank you very much for your 
testimony, and I yield back Mr. Chairman.
    Mr. Bush. Thank you.
    Chairman Sablan. Yes, thank you very much Mrs. Steel. I'm 
just somewhat now confused because we provided money so schools 
could be safe and safely reopen, and now we're complaining that 
some schools are not opening up. It is starting to open up, so, 
I now yield to Mr. Yarmuth, Chairman Yarmuth, my best friend in 
the Budget Committee you have five minutes sir.
    Mr. Yarmuth. Thank you very much Mr. Chairman, and thanks 
to the witnesses for their testimony. You know so much of the 
last 14 months we've seen just the worst kind of politicization 
of a national emergency. And both parties have done it, but you 
know people involved in decisionmaking and trying to get 
through this who I think have been unjustly criticized, and 
this is kind of a continuation of Mrs. Hayes' comments.
    I've been in more than 200 schools since I've been in 
Congress, and I've been in dozens and dozens of special needs 
classrooms. And I have to say that special needs teachers in 
this country, certainly in my district in Kentucky, and I'm 
sure everywhere are some of the greatest heroes that I've ever 
been exposed to.
    The range of issues that they have to deal with, with their 
students, is just it's baffling to me how they can cope with 
all the challenges that they face and in coming up with 
individual plans for all of them. And so you know I think we 
should be able to stipulate, republicans and democrats, that 
nobody wanted this to happen.
    That everybody wishes it hasn't happened. We've known that 
for a long time, and even still today we still don't have total 
information about what we're dealing with, and we're doing the 
best we can for the most part.
    And if Gavin Newsom in California takes more steps, and 
then sets of steps and gets--has a recall election because of 
it and Ron DeSantis does other things in Florida. My Governor 
who I think has done an extraordinary job in almost every 
aspect of fighting this now has a legislature who wants to 
strip him of all of his emergency powers.
    So I think you know we all ought to take a deep breath and 
say first of all let's make the best that we can of a bad 
situation. Mr. Bush your story is horrific. It was called 
heartbreaking earlier. It truly is. But you know I don't know 
how to run a school. I know there are lots of different people 
in the school and I know they're all vulnerable.
    And whether the kids are less vulnerable than older 
Americans is probably not the only factor that determines 
whether a school could open or not. As a matter of fact I know 
it's not. So anyway, I'll just say let's vow to learn from this 
the best we can, let's try to remediate the damage that's been 
done, particularly to our kids.
    And let's make sure we do better the next time and there 
probably will be one. So Dr. Kovach I want to ask you what you 
see in terms of relating to all of the remediation that's going 
to have to be done with our kids, what can we do in terms of 
particularly when people with IEP's and 504 plans have not been 
able to get the services they needed for those and the support 
they've needed.
    What do we do with the funds that come out under the 
American Rescue Plan to provide extended services, or 
additional services are extended in terms of school? What would 
be your recommendation?
    Ms. Kovach. Thank you so much for that question. So you 
know ARP was designed to provide additional supports too all 
students, including our students with disabilities. So 
recognizing that, we can anticipate some learning loss across 
the board. I know that in my district we'll be offering the 
extended school year for our students with disabilities who are 
receiving services, and there's also plans in the works to help 
students who are not receiving services who do have that 
learning loss to help them again over the summer as well.
    They're short-term fixes, but I strongly support the long-
term investments, like fully funding IDEA and addressing the 
teacher shortage to provide students with disabilities the 
supports that they are entitled to.
    Mr. Yarmuth. Something that occurred to me was in terms of 
trying to facilitate IEP's and 504 plans is it seemed like 
feedback would be a real big problem. You know in terms of 
developing those plans, if you're not getting the constant 
feedback day to day in person, does that make things much more 
challenging?
    Ms. Kovach. Well my job is to educate my students in the 
free and appropriate education in the least restrictive 
environment whether it's virtual or it's in-person, and I can 
say that I do get feedback from my students regardless of the 
setting that we're in, and then taking that information and 
making changes and adjusting their IEP is necessary.
    So it really to me it doesn't matter what setting that 
we're in. I'm able to get feedback from my students.
    Mr. Yarmuth. Thank you. My time is expired.
    Chairman Sablan. Thank you, Mr. Yarmuth, and talking about 
feedback. Actually, to be very honest, I am getting--working 
with staff who are 8,000 miles away from where I am, so ma'am, 
amazing things are happening.
    And so now I'd like to recognize Ms. Letlow. I was once in 
your position, the last one. So please now you have five 
minutes Ms. Letlow.
    Ms. Letlow. Thank you, Chairman Sablan, Mr. Allen, Members 
of the Subcommittee and witnesses, thank you for taking the 
time to discuss the impact COVID 19 has had on students with 
disabilities. This pandemic has been devastating to our 
country's school system.
    It's been a trying year for our teachers, students, and 
working moms. And while Louisiana was one of the hardest hit of 
states early in the pandemic, our school systems worked with 
hospitals and healthcare professionals around the State to put 
safeguards in place, so that almost all of our schools were 
able to open last fall with a delayed start.
    As I've traveled around all 24 parishes of my 5th District 
of Louisiana, I've heard of the tremendous challenges our 
teachers and students faces while they held classes remotely. I 
believe it's a huge disservice keeping our children out of 
school. Without in-person instruction there are significant 
losses in learning, social skills, and mental health.
    These challenges are even greater for students with 
disabilities. These students need individualized learning and 
care that cannot be replaced virtually. In fact, only 69 
percent of households in Louisiana have reliable access to 
internet, so students must result to learning by paper packets. 
This is a serious problem.
    Science has shown our students can be in school. Congress 
has provided more than enough funding to schools so children 
can safely return to the classroom. Mr. Bush you mentioned in 
your testimony that your wife had to quit work to stay home and 
home school your daughter.
    There are millions of parents, and particularly women who 
have had to make the same sacrifice. You also talk about the 
medical challenges your son has faced. Would you mind sharing 
more with us how the last nearly 14 months has impacted your 
family?
    Mr. Bush. Yes. I appreciate the question and condolences to 
you and your family because I know this has struck you very 
personally too. But yes, we've been devastated. This has just 
been devastating to watch what's happened to our son 
psychologically, to see him screaming and having 
hallucinations, screaming on end for hours.
    To think that he's jumping on a trampoline and think that 
there's a cobra on his back. He was a normal--almost a normal, 
so normal of a child last year, and at least he appeared so 
normal that a lot of his teachers didn't even think that he was 
autistic. And now he's a one to one, he requires one to one 
support.
    And the doctors have said to us all along the longer he's 
not in school in an in-person learning environment and engaged 
with teachers and peers, the more like that this will become 
his permanent identity.
    So now we are really concerned that our child who was 
almost unrecognizably autistic a year ago, this could be his 
permanent identity, having these hallucinations and stemming 
constantly, it's just tragic, and it's been heartbreaking to 
watch. And I know this is true for many, many other parents out 
there with kids with special needs.
    Ms. Letlow. Thank you so much for sharing your story and 
the difficulties that you faced this past year, and I hope your 
kids can return to school soon. Chairman I yield back my 
remaining time.
    Mr. Bush. Thank you.
    Chairman Sablan. Thank you. Well thank you very much Ms. 
Letlow. Mr. DeSaulnier sir you have five minutes please.
    Mr. DeSaulnier. Thank you, Mr. Chairman, thank you to all 
the witnesses. And I guess I'm a glass half full person, that 
the challenges of COVID and all the suffering maybe there's an 
opportunity here, particularly for this population.
    So Mr. Hager and Ms. Littleton, I guess first let me say 
that in California I have a good deal of experience in the 
legislature and the local government. In the DD community we 
have the history of Pat Brown, Governor Brown. And then Ronald 
Reagan, and a combination of those things helping the DD 
community and special needs folks.
    But even in California never fully funding these programs 
that work in public schools realizing that private schools 
while they're different, and it's not apples to apples, but we 
can learn from one another.
    So coming out of COVID with all this pressure, with an 
increase in the needs with autism and other issues, and because 
of COVID, maybe you can talk about what you're seeing in 
terms--and I had a bill, and I intend to reintroduce it to 
provide more services for advocacy for both of you. And I hate 
the litigious nature of this, but it's necessary in my view 
because we've never fully funded or met our obligations to this 
segment of the population.
    So maybe you can help me understand how we can use this 
opportunity perhaps, coming out even though there will be 
greater needs to fully fund these programs in a way that works 
for the clients. Mr. Hager and then Ms. Littleton.
    Mr. Hager. Representative DeSaulnier the protection 
advocacy system was created in the mid-70s because of horrible, 
horrible exposes in institutional settings, and that was really 
supposed to be the focus of the Protection Advocacy Network.
    We came into existence almost the same time as IDEA went 
into effect. So we had all these parents of children with 
disabilities desperate for support, desperate for 
representation, coming to the P&A Network.
    So from the beginning we've had a tension between our 
mission to protect individuals that are institutionalized, but 
also this pressure to provide services to the families that are 
at special ed threat. So we don't have any dedicated funding 
for special ed advocacy.
    We've used our other funding from other programs to do 
that. So one of the things that would definitely help us is the 
ability to get funding that would be dedicated to duly 
education advocacy. As I said during my testimony, we have 
obviously as everyone else has been stressed with trying to 
meet the needs of families and parents that are not getting the 
services they need.
    And we know that it's going to increase as parents come 
back because there's going to be so many families there in 
desperate situations because the kids have lost so much. So we 
definitely are anticipating additional need. Thank you.
    Mr. DeSaulnier. And to your point before going to Ms. 
Littleton, the history in California was it was an L.A. Times 
series that got Governor Brown's attention, Governor Pat Brown, 
and then came this historic bill here that was led by a 
republican conservative Member of the State assembly.
    But the revenue savings from for instance, selling a lot of 
those institutions that were higher cost that didn't serve the 
community well morally, ethically, or just from a cost 
standpoint, never went back to reinvest in the savings.
    And that was somewhat Governor Reagan's fault. Ms. 
Littleton, I think you could add to the observations.
    Ms. Littleton. Well similar to the P&A system, the parent 
centers also began in the 70s through efforts from parent 
advocates, and individuals with disabilities themselves. And so 
the key component of the parent centers is to promote parent 
advocacy, and we do that by educating parents and supporting 
parents to understand the process.
    So we find that if they are educated, they can work with 
their school teams to get the supports needed for their 
individualized child. IDEA is about individualism, and IEP is 
going to be written specific to the needs of the specific 
child. So we see spectrum disorders where one kid may need one 
service, and another needs another one.
    But if that parent can advocate for their child, then we 
have seen great success, even through remote learning we've 
seen great success with parents being able to advocate for 
their children's needs.
    So funding the parent training and information centers is 
highly important so that we can continue to do that work and 
supporting and educating parents and creating advocates among 
parents and among individuals so that they can advocate for 
themselves, because there will never be enough educational 
advocates to support all families who need that supporting too.
    Chairman Sablan. Thank you. Thank you very much. Ms. 
Wilson, I skipped you, my sincerest apologies, but let me 
recognize Mr. Keller for five minutes and then you're next. Mr. 
Keller please you have five minutes.
    Mr. Keller. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I was pleased to see 
that over half the population of Pennsylvania has had an 
opportunity for at least one dose of COVID-19 vaccine. We are 
clearly approaching the end of the emergency period of this 
pandemic.
    However, schools should have been opened long ago the 
science is clear. School aged children are less likely to 
transmit COVID-19 to others. The frontline workers, the 
elderly, at-risk populations, and those with underlying health 
conditions have largely been given access to the vaccine.
    We need to be getting students back into the classroom so 
they can take advantage of precious learning opportunities. 
Only 46 percent of the schools are currently open for in-person 
instruction which is unacceptable.
    I thank you for sharing your story. I wish nothing but the 
best for your family as we begin to get students back into 
school full-time. Can you explain why many schools reopened 
back in the fall of 2020?
    Mr. Bush. So around where we lived there were many schools 
that opened up as far as private schools that opened up. There 
weren't really any public schools in the D.C. area that opened 
up. But I know that there were schools in other states that 
were opening up full-time, and that was quite a mystery to us 
as how were these other school systems doing it and our school 
system can't seem to do it?
    Again, we are one of the most well-funded school systems in 
the country. I was part of a group of parents advocating for 
the return. We brought in a doctor from Harvard to help the 
school system with ventilation. We did everything we could, but 
we just kept hearing every month, month after month we've got 
to wait another month, wait another month, wait another month.
    And at some point, you see your kids suffering and it's 
just like you know like you sort of throw your hands up and say 
why can't we open the schools when so many other schools are 
doing it successfully?
    And so you know where we're at right now there is this 
projected 12 million dollar surplus coming on to the end of the 
school year, and that's before the American Rescue Plan, yet 
the schools still are only open in a hybrid fashion, that's 2 
days a week for the majority of the kids.
    Monday is a remote day, and Tuesday through Friday are 
shortened days where kids mostly go only 2 days a week. And so 
to me it's a mystery that so many private schools have been 
able to open up, and some other public schools in the country, 
but our school system here, and a lot of the schools in the 
D.C. area haven't.
    Mr. Keller. Did they give you any specifics as to why 
they've been so hesitant to reopen the Arlington County 
schools?
    Mr. Bush. I mean I think initially there was a lot of 
concern about how the disease spread, and the safety for kids 
returning, and I certainly understood that. But as I said, 
there was a lot of systems that had the ability to do it. Then 
we heard there were logistical issues, and most recently so 
it's just too logistically complicated to open up the schools.
    I think that's kind of selling you know, selling things 
sort. The kids need schools to be open, and logistically you 
know, it is again they opened up schools in Haiti last fall. If 
they can open up schools in Haiti, why can't they open up 
schools in Arlington, Virginia, one of the most well-funded 
school systems in the whole country?
    Mr. Keller. Yes, I would agree with that. And another 
question I guess I would like to get your perspective on is 
what do individual education programs or IEP's for students 
with disabilities look like in the part-time schooling 
environment you described?
    Mr. Bush. Well for kids that have high number of hours like 
30 hours of service, reduced school weeks being reduced hours 
of services. And these are reduced learning hours that they 
will never be able to get back. So and then as far as 
application of things like PT and OT, speech therapy, these 
things done over a virtual environment.
    I'll say the speech therapist working with our kids has 
really done a phenomenal job of trying to do it virtually, but 
you know for the kids doing physical therapy, you just can't 
replicate that in a virtual environment. And then certainly for 
doing things like reading.
    My son if you sit there and read next to him, he's engaged. 
But when the teacher reads to him over an iPad, he's completely 
unengaged. So reading, that's one of the reasons he's fallen 
behind with reading is he just cannot engage virtually. So kids 
with special needs, they don't have typical--a lot of them 
don't have what we call typical brains, they're neural atypical 
and it's very hard for them to engage with their IEP's.
    So you know from a standpoint of IEP's in the law, of the 
school systems really are not meeting the law for these kids 
for their IEP's.
    Mr. Keller. Well thank you for that and I wish that we can 
get everybody back, but I'm hopeful that we can get everybody 
back, all our students in the classroom so they can get the 
education they need and deserve. With that I thank you and I 
yield back.
    Mr. Bush. Thank you.
    Chairman Sablan. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Keller. And now 
the very patient, my apologies, Ms. Wilson please.
    Ms. Wilson. No worries, Mr. Chair. I just want to remind 
everyone that we are in the midst of a very serious pandemic. 
And I live in Miami, and our schools are half open, half 
closed, but it's parental choice. And those children who do go 
to school they can't even go for a long period of time because 
a quarantine happens in the school every week.
    So they have to close down certain classes. So I have a 
granddaughter who caught COVID because her mother's a 
principal, and she tried to go to school with her, and she 
brought COVID home to the whole family. So this is very 
dangerous. This isn't something that we're just playing with 
and deciding that schools must be closed.
    People died. Grandmothers died because children brought the 
COVID home. And so teachers had to be very cautious about this. 
Our school district was very cautious. We tried to accommodate 
our Governor who is not very well, who made the schools open, 
but it didn't help because the children were back and forth 
because of quarantine.
    However, we passed the American Rescue Plan to try to 
remedy all of this, so that all of our children could go back 
to school, and not one single republican, Mr. Bush, voted for 
the plan to help your children go back to school. All the 
democrats had to do all of the work and pass this plan.
    So I have lots of questions that I need to ask, so I'm 
going to submit them for the record. But I do want to ask Ms. 
Kovach now that we have 3 billion dollars in IDEA funding, what 
other resources should we consider offering to ensure that the 
social and emotional needs of students are met as they 
transition back into in-person learning very carefully.
    Ms. Kovach. Thank you so much for that question. And I do 
want to say first that I think we can all agree that we do want 
our students back in school, but I think we all do know that 
school should be a place for students where they feel safe, 
where they feel loved, and they feel cared for.
    And I agree with you by saying you know COVID is dangerous, 
and this is because of COVID and there are so many unknowns. 
And I do have concerns about my students and their social 
emotional health, and we do need to as we get back into school, 
focus on our students.
    We need to make sure that we are putting money into 
personnel that can be equipped to handle our students. And this 
is not just students with disabilities. This is students across 
the board who are going to need assistance when they come back 
into school, and they do now.
    Also to provide teachers with the training on how to help 
their students dealing with what they have been through over 
this pandemic. So there's definitely you know those resources 
alone, the training for teachers, more professionals in the 
classroom to help them are certainly ways that we can help our 
students as we transition back.
    Ms. Wilson. Ms. Littleton would you please tell us more 
about the experiences of low-income students with disabilities 
who may have had limited access to technology or high-speed 
internet, and how we can best support them as they transition 
back.
    Ms. Littleton. Well thank you for that question 
Representative Wilson. Some of the barriers that we saw for 
low-income students was again the lack of devices, lack of 
access to internet and things like that and also a lack of 
support to help them during remote learning.
    So we did see in Michigan a lot of districts being very 
innovative in the way that they service those students whether 
it was recording lessons on a flash drive and sending that 
home, so that they didn't need internet access. Whether it was 
providing assistive technology and educational materials 
through paper packet, where the parent could come and pick it 
up, and then they also provided training on how to navigate 
learning platforms, or how to work with children at home.
    So I think investing in you know different ways, 
innovative, creative strategies for educators to use to support 
students would be very beneficial for low-income students as 
well.
    Ms. Wilson. OK Mr. Hager can you tell us why you think it's 
important to provide an extended year of eligibility for 
service under IDEA?
    Mr. Hager. Well it's going to take a long time for students 
to catch up. Thank you for the question Representative Wilson, 
sorry, and for students who are nearing the edge of their 
education eligibility it's probably going to need a good year 
for them to catch up, so that is I think one of the important 
things to look at.
    Ms. Wilson. Thank you I yield back. I have questions for 
the record to submit to the Committee Mr. Sablan.
    Chairman Sablan. Thank you. All right, thank you Ms. 
Wilson. I now recognize Mrs. McBath please, five minutes Lucy.
    Mrs. McBath. Thank you so much Mr. Chair and thank you to 
each of our witnesses for being with us today and helping us to 
kind of really understand the impact that this pandemic has had 
on our students with disabilities. And I know that we realize 
that even though some students have been successful in a 
virtual learning environment, you know, that's not the case for 
everyone.
    That's not the case for every student. And we need to 
understand how best to support all of our students as they 
transition back to the in-person classroom. In March this 
Subcommittee, we had a hearing on what educational equity 
should look like post-COVID-19.
    And one of our witnesses at the hearing, it was Ms. Selene 
Almazan, told us how the Department of Education's Secretary 
Cardona reached out to the disability community within the 
first week of his confirmation, and has worked with 
organizations such as Center for Learning Equity, and we'll 
call it COPA, and National Center for Learning Disabilities to 
ensure students with disabilities are our priority in school 
reopening plans.
    Ms. Kovach because Secretary Cardona has really stressed 
the importance of prioritizing returning students with 
disabilities to the classroom as soon as it's safe to do so in 
accordance with the public health guidelines, many school 
districts across the country brought students with disabilities 
back to the classroom even before other students were able to 
do so.
    So in fact this was the case for students in Cobb County, 
in my district. Part of you know Cobb County which is in my 
district. And when did your students actually begin to return 
to in-person learning, and how was that transition? How has 
that been so far for the students that you're taking the time 
and effort to teach?
    Ms. Kovach. Thank you so much for that question. My school 
district, the entire district opened up in September, and for 
students in general education they had an alternating A-B week 
schedule, so where one group of students was in class, the 
other group was hybrid.
    For our students in special education which would be my 
classroom as well, we came back because we have a smaller 
group. We were in-person fully, and the goal was to have all of 
our students in special education in school fully.
    Unfortunately, within the first I think it was 7 days, my 
class was the first that had to quarantine because of COVID 
exposure. So from that time until now we have been in-person 
quarantined, in-person and quarantined. So there definitely was 
some inconsistencies for my students which was difficult to 
adapt to, but we took each moment as a learning moment, and we 
focused on the importance of our health and our safety.
    We were not happy with the situation of going virtual, but 
that was the world that we were in. And you know making sure 
that my students were instructed in the technology that we were 
using was key. And when it was safe for us to return to the 
classroom we did so, and we tried very hard. We focused on the 
positive.
    And you know we're back in person now in a half day, and my 
students are with me virtual from my classroom in the 
afternoon. So I'm hoping, and I'm staying positive that we will 
be able to stay in-person until the end of the school year.
    Mrs. McBath. Well thank you for that. And I hope that does 
really happen. And Ms. Littleton, the American Rescue Plan 
provides significant Federal funding to districts for 
elementary and secondary schools, about 130 billion dollars I 
believe. And Congress was clear that these funds should be used 
to address the academic, the social and emotional and mental 
health impacts of the pandemic on our Nation's children's 
students.
    And so particularly with those groups of students that were 
disproportionately impacted, and how do you think those funds 
should be used to address students' needs?
    Ms. Littleton. Thank you for that question Representative 
McBath. Again speaking as not only you know the Director of a 
parent training and information center, but also the parent of 
three students who have experienced challenges during this 
pandemic. I believe that investing in high school curriculums 
that focus on acceleration of learning, not just recovery of 
learning, but acceleration of learning is one step.
    Also investing in hiring more educators as we face a 
significant teacher shortage, you know, recruiting educators 
back into the field to work with students, especially our 
students who are receiving special education. And also, 
professional development and training for current existing 
support staff and professional educators on again implementing 
the use of multi-tiered systems and supports will be so 
beneficial because there are a number of different challenges 
that students are going to face, whether they're learning 
virtually, or and as they transition back into the classroom.
    And in Michigan we are transitioning back into the 
classroom and identifying the barriers that students have faced 
from remote learning. And we are doing our best to address 
those challenges with the additional funding. I think the 
additional funding, especially for IDEA is important.
    Mrs. McBath. Thank you for that, but my time, I yield back 
the balance of my time if there's any.
    Chairman Sablan. Thank you. Thank you, Mrs. McBath. And now 
for the most patient Member of this Subcommittee Mr. Bowman. 
Sir you have five minutes. Thank you.
    Mr. Bowman. And I used to be a middle school principal, so 
I know how to be patient, so thank you very much. And I'm 
asking these questions and making my comments both as a parent 
of three children, one with special needs, as a former middle 
school principal, and as a public school educator for 20 years.
    I just first want to acknowledge that you know I hate to 
politicize anything relating to our children, but I think we 
should acknowledge that when the Coronavirus first hit our 
shores, the Administration did not take it seriously initially, 
and if we did take it seriously and respond accordingly, maybe 
we would have been able to get our schools open more quickly 
and more safely, but unfortunately there was lag time, and 
we're still seeing the ramification of those struggles.
    So my question is to Dr. Hagar, Ms. Kovach, and Ms. 
Littleton OK. I'm putting the three of you in charge of 
designing the perfect learning environment for our children 
when they return. I'm so excited that we passed the American 
Rescue Plan, we have a lot of resources coming in.
    But as you all know, as we all know, it's not just money. 
It's about the design of the learning spaces. And you've all 
mentioned things like individualization, social and emotional 
learning, acceleration of learning, MTSS.
    I would like you all to speak to and try to be brief 
because I know we don't have as much time. Speak to what an 
ideal learning environment might look like once we fully open 
for our kids, assuming everyone is safe, and the resources are 
there. We'll go Littleton, Kovach, Hager.
    Ms. Littleton. Thank you Representative. I think the ideal 
learning environment would be one that focuses on universal 
design on equal learning and has staff who are fully trained to 
support all students' needs, whether they be students who are 
receiving special education, or our typical general education 
students. So having a fully trained staff of educators and 
support staff would be ideal.
    Mr. Bowman. In 10 seconds, what is universal designed for 
learning. Please tell us that.
    Ms. Littleton. It is a technique that offers strategies for 
teachers to teach learners of all abilities. So whether they 
have a cognitive impairment, or behavioral issue, we are using 
strategies and techniques that will help all students.
    Mr. Bowman. Awesome. Thank you. Ms. Kovach?
    Ms. Kovach. So I think that based on what we've been 
through in the past, we need to look toward the future because 
I think education will look very different, and one of the 
things is access to technology for our students, especially for 
our students with disabilities to have the assistive technology 
that they need. Hopefully, we won't, but if the chance that we 
need to go virtually again, that they do have that access that 
they need to learn virtually and to be successful.
    And also again, focusing on our students, their social 
emotional learning and making sure that we have support for 
them in way of personnel and also training for everyone to help 
our students to be successful.
    Mr. Bowman. Ms. Kovach what does focusing on social and 
emotional learning look like? Can you give me a real concrete 
specific look at that in the classroom in the school, in the 
community?
    Ms. Kovach. I can. Actually one of the things I do with my 
students, and I brought it with me is we take a ``my full 
minute,'' every half hour, in between transition, my students 
have face cards where they are able to tell me how they're 
feeling matching the face. And then what we can do to help them 
keep going.
    And honestly, sometimes it's just a student will have the 
picture of I'm hungry. And I know, OK, I'm going to feed you. 
And that plays into their social and emotional learning. If the 
student is hungry, they're not going to be able to learn 
because they're focused on their growling tummy.
    So if something like this just to be in tune with how our 
students are feeling, and then knowing what I can give them to 
support them to make their education the best it could possibly 
be.
    Mr. Bowman. Thank you. Mr. Hager?
    Mr. Hager. Thank you for that question. First of all we 
have a lot of resources available in money. We need to get the 
personnel on the ground. So the support specialists, the mental 
health counselors, others that can provide that underlying 
support for the students is a critical one.
    We've heard about the lack of teachers. I would also say 
that teacher training is critical. One of the things I've seen 
over the years is that the students aren't really getting their 
individualized needs met because many of the teachers don't 
have the training to really know how to identify what is the 
learning style for that child. What is it when a student is 
acting out?
    What does that behavior communicate? How can we address 
that behavior in a way that's appropriate as opposed to using 
punitive approaches, whether it's discipline, it's suspension, 
or you stay in seclusion?
    So the teachers need the training so that they can 
appropriately interact with their students.
    Mr. Bowman. I will yield back, thank you.
    Mr. Hager. Thank you.
    Chairman Sablan. Thank you, Mr. Bowman. So I'm going to 
ask, I have several questions I want to ask the witness. Dr. 
Kovach because you have alluded to this in more than one 
instance. I was told with one set that I think it's educating 
the mind, educating the heart is no education at all.
    And I try to remind myself that I, and-- have to maybe 
because I have two teachers in my family, we should be 
celebrating the never-ending selflessness of our amazing 
teachers. And so we have heard about how difficult distance 
learning was for many teachers, parents, and most of all 
students, particularly students with disabilities.
    However, the pandemic has demonstrated that in some cases 
remote learning can be an effective teaching tool. So what 
lessons Dr. Kovach, what lessons can we learn about utilizing 
remote learning and the ways that it could potentially improve 
education in the future, particularly for our students with 
disabilities?
    Ms. Littleton. Thank you for that question. And the one 
thing that I found over this pandemic, and of course with 
education it's about building relationships. It's an entire 
community in order to help our students. And you know in a 
virtual world I've found that I've been able to connect with 
parents more than traditionally.
    So my virtual back to school night I had just about 100 
percent participation. IEP meetings virtually, all parents were 
there. Even our ways of communication now, just within this 
meeting that we're having I've gotten four or five messages 
from parents with questions on their student's homework.
    So our ability to communicate has been heightened, and 
building that family relationship as well, and parents being 
able to reach out and feel comfortable asking for help you know 
has really, I just love the bond that has brought us together, 
because we're all you know, we're in different boats, but we're 
in the same storm.
    So it's really brought us together. And I have seen so many 
successes with the virtual learning as well. It's not that we 
have not had any. You know working in small group one on one, 
even when the pandemic first started, and being able to work 
with my students virtually, I've had students that have gained 
you know levels in their reading because of you know us being 
able to go back and forth one on one, so there is definitely 
some progress as well.
    Chairman Sablan. Thank you. Right and I can imagine being a 
student, I'd probably like you a teacher, you have heart Ms. 
Kovach. It's also halfway virtual. Also, actually if I may I 
think we have two Teachers of the Year in this virtual room, 
yes Dr. Kovach and Congresswoman Hayes, wow we're lucky.
    So let me also ask Ms. Littleton, in your testimony you 
talked about the challenges many parents face when implementing 
components of their child's individualized education program, 
their IEP plan at home. What ongoing supports do you think 
would be helpful to aid, to assist, in the transmission back to 
in-person learning?
    Ms. Littleton. Thank you, Chairman Sablan. I believe that 
the supports that will be successful to helping parents are 
some of the things that we've seen Michigan do which is to 
create trainings and webinars for families on implementing at 
home teaching strategies, working on literacy, and then working 
with schools as the children transition back into the building.
    Also training provided by the parent training and 
information center, including communicating with your school's 
IEP team, making sure that your student has individualized 
needs, working on dispute resolution if there is a situation 
that comes up and that you don't agree with.
    Our center offers one on one support to families to be able 
to do this. So we have been fortunate enough to partner with 
our Department of Education to really provide training, 
information, resources to families as we all try to navigate 
this pandemic.
    Chairman Sablan. Thank you. Thank you very much. So that 
basically concludes our Member questions. And so, I want to 
first thank our witnesses, let me see, Mr. Hager, Dr. Kovach, 
Ms. Littleton, and Mr. Bush. I want to thank our witnesses for 
taking the time to share their experiences and expertise.
    The compelling testimony we heard today shed a helpful 
light on the wide range of challenges that students with 
disabilities have endured during the pandemic. And it reminded 
us that like nearly every consequence of the pandemic, this 
challenge has existed long before COVID-19.
    However, we also heard how for some students with 
disabilities and their families, the pandemic and transition to 
remote learning have revealed unexpected opportunities for 
learning and collaboration.
    Whether negative or positive, all of these experiences are 
critical lessons, not only for future, national emergencies, 
but to better understand how we can meet the needs of students 
with disabilities moving forward.
    I am pleased that today we identified some of the steps 
that districts, schools, and educators must take to learn from 
these lessons and uphold students with disabilities right to 
free and appropriate education. As schools across the country 
reopen for full-time in-person instruction, I look forward to 
working with my colleagues to ensure that those students with 
disabilities can access equal education opportunities and reach 
their full potential.
    And seeing no further business before this Subcommittee I 
hereby adjourn and thank you again everyone for your patience.
    Hold on. Hold on, I am getting a message here. OK. I've got 
to do one more thing please thank you. Hold on. Now I have to 
find it. Oh man. Please bear with me I'm working with staff who 
are 8,000 miles away.
    Mrs. Hayes. Just so the witnesses know, the Chairman will 
get up at 3 a.m. sometimes to make our hearings, so we are 
always happy to be patient with him. He makes every hearing 
even though he's in a time zone halfway across the world.
    Chairman Sablan. Yes, actually I started at midnight. I'm 
trying to find something here. OK. I remind my colleagues that 
pursuant to Committee practice materials for submission for the 
hearing record must be submitted to the Committee Clerk within 
14 days following the last day of the hearing, so by close of 
business on May 20, 2021, preferably in Microsoft Word format.
    The materials submitted must address the subject matter of 
the hearing. Only a Member of the Subcommittee or an invited 
witness may submit materials for inclusion in the hearing 
record. Documents are limited to 50 pages each. Documents 
longer than 50 pages will be incorporated into the record via 
an internet link that you must provide to the Committee Clerk 
within the required timeframe.
    But please recognize that in the future that link may no 
longer work. Pursuant to House rules and regulations items for 
the record should be submitted to the Clerk electronically by 
emailing submissions to [email protected].
    Yes, so wow we did it in four hours. If there is no further 
business without objection the Subcommittee stands adjourned. 
Thank you everyone.
    [Additional submissions by Chairman Sablan follow:]
    [GRAPHICS NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]

    [Questions submitted for the record and the responses by 
Ms. Littleton follow:]
[GRAPHICS NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]

    [Questions submitted for the record and the responses by 
Ms. Kovach follow:]
[GRAPHICS NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]

    [Whereupon, at 4:24 p.m. the Subcommittee was adjourned.]

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