[Congressional Record Volume 147, Number 34 (Wednesday, March 14, 2001)]
[House]
[Pages H906-H907]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                         FULL FUNDING FOR IDEA

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentlewoman from Oregon (Ms. Hooley of Oregon) is recognized for 5 
minutes.
  Ms. HOOLEY of Oregon. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to speak briefly 
about an issue that has become very near and dear to my heart. I spent 
the last several months speaking to superintendents, teachers, parents, 
and community leaders across my district, and one of the issues they 
say is the most important to them is full funding. When I talk about 
full funding, this is for the Individuals With Disabilities Education 
Act, full funding which, in this

[[Page H907]]

case, means going up to 40 percent of the excess cost.
  Mr. Speaker, we began this discussion 26 years ago when we agreed 
with States and local education agencies that we should provide a free 
and appropriate education to every child who has a disability. We knew 
this was going to require a large investment, not only by the States 
and local school districts, but by the Federal Government as well. The 
Federal Government made a promise. They said, we are going to pay up to 
40 percent of the excess costs for every student. However, we have not 
done that. In fact, this year we are doing the most we have ever done, 
and we are up to less than 15 percent.
  I participated in a lot of conversations regarding full funding of 
IDEA in the past couple of months with my colleagues, committee staff 
and leadership. Full funding is a large investment, I understand that, 
and it raises some concerns. One of the concerns I have heard is that 
if we increase the amount of money going to the States to educate 
children with disabilities, that the school districts will over-
identify these children to get more money. Well, I want to tell my 
colleagues that that is simply not true. Let us talk about the real 
situation that is happening in our schools.
  Again, the Federal Government right now is giving a little over one-
third of the money that they promised 26 years ago; and as a result of 
this underfunding, what has happened is schools have had to pull money 
out of other programs to make up for it. They have had to pull money 
out of textbooks and after-school programs and additional teachers. As 
a consequence, what we are seeing is an under-identification of 
children with disabilities. School districts hesitate to label a child 
with learning disabilities or behavioral problems or mental disorders 
because they cannot afford to provide them the services they need. 
Fully funding IDEA will not result in a mass frenzy of school districts 
to label as many children as they can with disabilities. In fact, just 
the opposite will happen. If we can get young children the services 
they need early on, we may prevent a need for more drastic intervention 
later on.
  Mr. Speaker, I have introduced bipartisan legislation with the 
gentlewoman from Connecticut (Mrs. Johnson) and many of my colleagues 
here today. Our bill would authorize funding to bring the Federal 
Government's share of educating children with disabilities up to the 40 
percent mark by 2006, so we are trying to do it over a period of time. 
It is expensive. This increase will cost about $3 billion a year. It is 
a large investment, but we must remember, if we do not pay our fair 
share of the cost, our share does not just go away; someone else is 
covering for us.
  Mr. Speaker, it is time we kept the promise that we made to our 
children 26 years ago and invest in the education of every child.

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