[Congressional Record Volume 147, Number 34 (Wednesday, March 14, 2001)]
[House]
[Page H906]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                   FOCUS ON SPECIAL EDUCATION FUNDING

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from Wisconsin (Mr. Kind) is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. KIND. Mr. Speaker, as a member of the Committee on Education and 
the Workforce, I was delighted to see in last year's campaign all the 
attention that candidates, whether it was for Congressional or Senate 
offices, but especially at the Presidential level, devote so much time 
and attention and substance to education policy. In fact, this is a 
reflection of the concerns that the American people have genuinely, 
certainly the constituents who I represent in western Wisconsin. I am 
continuously reminded by them of the importance of education. They 
recognize, as I think we all do in this Chamber, that education must be 
a local responsibility, that there is a strong State interest, but it 
should be a national priority.
  That is why I am hopeful that as we are beginning work on the 
Committee on Education and the Workforce in this session of Congress, 
especially trying to reauthorize the elementary and secondary education 
bill, that there can be a lot of ground for bipartisan agreement, 
providing needed resources back to the local school districts with 
flexibility on how best to use those resources, but along with some 
accountability, so we see the desired results in student achievement in 
the classroom.
  However, one area of education policy that previous Congresses have 
woefully fell short on has been our responsibility to fully fund our 
share, our obligation, to special education needs throughout the 
country. In the last couple of sessions of Congress, there was a 
recognition that we were underfunding the IDEA, Individuals With 
Disabilities Education Act, and we were not living up to the promises 
that we made to so many children across the country. In the last 
session of Congress, we, in fact, increased the appropriation level by 
27 percent for special education needs. But nevertheless, we have a 
responsibility to fund that at 40 percent of the per pupil expenditure 
throughout the country. Even with that 27 percent increase last year, 
we are still only funding our share at slightly less than 15 percent of 
the 40 percent that we should be doing for local school districts.
  This is the number one issue I hear about back home from teachers and 
administrators and parents, that if we can do one thing right in this 
session of Congress, that is to live up to our responsibility and fully 
fund IDEA. But the fact that we are not funding it at the appropriate 
level has a dramatic impact on countless students across the country.
  Just some quick numbers. Roughly 6.4 million disabled children in 
America receive special education services. There are 116,000 of these 
students in my home State of Wisconsin alone identified as needing 
special education services. By 2010, it is expected that there will be 
an additional half a million students served by special education 
nationwide.
  With the advancement of medical technology and medical breakthroughs, 
school funding is on a collision course with modern medicine. Children 
who normally would not have survived to school age are now entering the 
public school system, increasing the responsibility of providing a 
quality education for these kids, along with the incumbent expense that 
comes along with it. I believe that this is more than just an education 
issue, it is a civil rights issue, that we make good by these students 
who, through particular needs, require more attention and more 
resources to meet their educational potential.
  As elected officials here in Congress, I believe it is our obligation 
to ensure that funding for programs assisting students with special 
needs meets the needs of the schools struggling to be fair and 
inclusive for these students in the school system. In fact, it is one 
of the fastest growing areas of virtually every school district budget 
throughout the country, and will continue to be so. Special education 
services will require a greater responsibility for us here in 
Washington and to live up to the commitment and the promises that we 
have made in the past. First, with the passage of the Education for All 
Handicapped Children Act of 1975, and then with the act which was 
renamed the Individuals With Disabilities Act back in 1990.
  Now, recently, 40 of my new Democratic colleagues here in Congress 
wrote to President Bush calling for the administration to commit 
greater resources to the IDEA mission. We are striving to see that that 
40 percent Federal responsibility in special education funding as 
required by law is, in fact, honored. We believe it is a matter of 
budgetary priorities, and we hope that the administration, when they 
finally submit a detailed budget plan, will show that commitment to 
IDEA funding. But, at the very least, we hope it will show the 
continued commitment that we have established now over the last couple 
of years in Congress for increasing Federal appropriations so we can 
finally achieve full funding at 40 percent.
  We also advocate increasing the Federal appropriations for part D of 
IDEA, which is used to provide professional development opportunities 
to special education instructors and staff. Again, it is a constant 
refrain that we hear from the school officials back in our school 
districts.
  It is imperative, however, that we do not embrace full funding of 
IDEA in exchange for reduced Federal funding for other ESEA-related 
programs. In this era of unprecedented budget surpluses, we have a 
unique opportunity to provide effective government support that is most 
sought after by American families and we should not squander this 
opportunity by shortchanging any of our children's educational 
potential.

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