[Congressional Record Volume 148, Number 83 (Thursday, June 20, 2002)]
[Senate]
[Pages S5853-S5856]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
By Mr. SANTORUM (for himself and Mr. Miller):
S. 2653. A bill to reduce the amount of paperwork for special
education teachers, to make mediation mandatory for all legal disputes
related to individualized education programs, and for other purposes;
to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions.
Mr. SANTORUM. Mr. President, today, I am pleased to announce the
introduction, along with my colleague Senator Miller, of the bipartisan
Teacher Paperwork Reduction Act of 2002. During the 107th Congress, we
have been successful in legislating sweeping reforms in education with
the passage last year of the No Child Left Behind Act. We also hope to
complete reauthorization of another important Federal education
initiative, the reauthorization of the Individuals with Disabilities
Education Act, IDEA, this year. As we consider this legislation, our
greatest responsibility is to improve the quality of the education that
students with special needs receive.
One of the problems fostered by the current system, which stands in
direct contrast to our purpose, is the excessive paperwork burden
imposed on our special education teachers. This burden takes valuable
time away from classroom instruction and is a source of ongoing
frustration for the special education teachers working on the
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frontlines. As a result, this undermines the goal of providing the best
quality education possible to all children. The Teacher Paperwork
Reduction Act addresses this problem and seeks to offer solutions that
will benefit special education teachers and most importantly the
children they instruct.
This bipartisan legislation includes four main provisions to correct
the problem of burdensome paperwork. First, the Department of
Education, in cooperation with state and local educational agencies,
would be required to reduce the amount of paperwork by 50 percent
within 18 months of enactment of the legislation and would be
encouraged to make additional reductions. Second, the General
Accounting Office GAO, would conduct a study to determine how much of
the paperwork burden is caused by Federal regulations compared to State
and local regulations; the number of mediations that have been
conducted since mediations were required to be made available under the
1997 IDEA amendments; the use of technology in reducing the paperwork
burden; and GAO would make recommendations on steps that Congress, the
U.S. Department of Education, and the states and local districts can
take to reduce this burden within six months of the passage of this
legislation.
Third, mediation would be mandatory for all legal disputes related to
Individual Education Programs IEPs to better empower parents and
schools to focus resources on a quality education for children rather
than unnecessary litigation within one year of enactment of this
legislation. Fourth, the Department of Education is directed to conduct
research to determine best practices for successful mediation,
including training practices, that can help contribute to the effort to
reduce paperwork, improve student outcomes, and free up teacher
resources for teaching. The Department would also provide mediation
training support services to support state and local efforts. The
resources to fund these requirements would come from money appropriated
through Part D of IDEA.
The Council for Exceptional Children, CEC, states, ``No barrier is so
irksome to special educators as the paperwork that keeps them from
teaching.'' According to a CEC report, concerns about paperwork ranked
third among special education teachers, out of a list of 10 issues. The
CEC also reports that special education teachers are leaving the
profession at almost twice the rate of general educators. Statistics
concerning the amount of time special education teachers spend
completing paperwork are telling. 53 percent of special education
teachers report that routine duties and paperwork interfere with their
job to a great extent. They spend an average of five hours per week on
paperwork, compared to general education teachers who spend an average
of two hours per week. More than 60 percent of special education
teachers spend a half to one and a half days a week completing
paperwork. One of the biggest sources of paperwork, the individualized
education program, IEP, averages between 8 and 16 pages long, and 83
percent of special education teachers report spending from a half to
one and a half days each week in IEP-related meetings.
There are three primary factors associated with burdensome paperwork.
The first factor is federal regulations. The 1997 IDEA regulations set
forth the necessary components of the IEP and require teachers to
complete an array of paperwork in addition to the IEP. According to the
National School Boards Association, NSBA, ``These requirements result
in consuming substantial hours per child and cumulatively are having a
negative impact on special educators and their function.'' Second,
there are misconceptions at the state and local levels regarding
federal regulations that result in additional requirements imposed by
the states and local school districts. The U.S. Department of Education
compiled a sample IEP with all the necessary components, and it is five
pages long. However, most IEPs are much longer. The third factor is
litigation and the threat of litigation. In order to be prepared for
due process hearings and court proceedings, school district officials
often require extensive documentation so that they are able to prove
that a free appropriate public education (FAPE) was provided to the
special education student.
A key provision of the bill makes mediation mandatory for all legal
disputes related to IEPs. There are several benefits to using mediation
as an alternative to due process hearings and court proceedings.
According to the Consortium for Appropriate Dispute Resolution in
Special Education, CADRE, mediation is a constructive option for
children, parents, and teachers and allows families to maintain a
positive relationship with teachers and service providers. Parents have
the benefit of working together with educators and service providers as
partners instead of as adversaries. If an agreement cannot be reached
as a result of mediation, parties to the dispute would retain existing
due process and legal options.
Mediation is also a much less costly, less time consuming alternative
for all parties concerned. Parents do not have to pay for mediation
sessions, because under the 1997 IDEA amendments, states are required
to bear the cost for mediation. States and local districts save a lot
of money as well. According to the Michigan Special Education Mediation
Program, MSEMP, the average hearing cost to the state is $40,000; it
pays approximately $700 per mediation session. The NSBA reports that
attorney fees for school districts average between $10,000 to $25,000.
In contrast, the Pennsylvania Bureau of Education says that it pays
mediators $250 per session. The cost effectiveness of mediation is
apparent. Not only does mediation save money, it saves time as well.
According to the Washington State Department of Education, a mediation
session may generally be scheduled within 14 days of a parental
request, whereas it may take up to a year to secure a court date.
Most importantly, mediation is a successful alternative to due
process hearings. At least some form of agreement is reached in 80
percent of sessions nationwide. In Pennsylvania, 85 percent of
voluntary special education mediations end in agreement in which both
parties are satisfied. According to the New York State Dispute
Resolution Association, mediation ending in resolution of the conflict
occurs for 75 percent of referrals, and in Wisconsin, approximately 84
percent of those who chose mediation would use it again.
The Teacher Paperwork Reduction Act is meant to alleviate a serious
problem that causes frustration and discouragement among dedicated
special education teachers who expend energy and countless hours in
order to give students with disabilities an equal opportunity to learn.
It is only fair and right to find ways to reduce paperwork in order to
give teachers more time to spend educating our students and changing
their lives, and less time wading through inanimate stacks of paper. I
would invite my colleagues to join us in cosponsoring this legislation
to help teachers, schools, and parents provide a better education for
all students so that no child is left behind.
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By Ms. CANTWELL (for herself, Mr. Thomas, Mr. Cleland, Ms. Snowe,
Mr. Johnson, Mr. Smith of Oregon, Ms. Landrieu, Mr. Hagel, Mr.
Conrad, Mr. Roberts, Mr. Durbin, Mr. Torricelli, Mr.
Rockefeller, and Mr. Wyden):
S. 2654. A bill to amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to exclude
from gross income loan payments received under the National Health
Service Corps Loan Repayment Program established in the Public Health
Service Act; to the Committee on Finance.
Ms. CANTWELL. Mr. President, I rise today with Senator Craig Thomas
to introduce legislation that would exclude loan repayments made
through the National Health Service Corps from taxable income. I am
pleased that Senators Cleland, Snowe, Johnson, Gordon Smith, Landrieu,
Hagel, Conrad, Roberts, Durbin, Torricelli, Rockefeller, and Wyden are
also cosponsoring this important legislation.
There have been many developments in the area of health care in the
last few years from managed care reform, to increases in biomedical
research, the mapping of the human genome, and the use of exciting new
technologies in both rural and urban areas such as telemedicine. In
fact, it seems that almost every day we hear of astounding new
scientific breakthroughs. But unfortunately, while we are making great
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strides in the quality of health care, we are losing ground on the
access to health care for so many.
The sad truth is that there are currently 38.7 million Americans
without health insurance coverage, 9.2 million of whom are children. In
Washington, 13.3 percent of the population, and 155,000 children, lacks
health insurance. Many of the 42.6 million uninsured Americans are
lower-income workers who do not have employer-sponsored coverage for
themselves, but earn too much to be eligible for public programs like
Medicaid and the State Children's Health Insurance Program.
Access to health insurance for the uninsured is of the utmost
importance, we know that at the very least, health insurance means the
difference between timely and delayed treatment and at worst between
life and death. In fact, the uninsured are four times as likely as the
insured to delay or forego needed care, and uninsured children are six
times as likely as insured children to go without needed medical care.
But even insurance isn't enough if there are no available providers.
Hospitals and other health care providers across the country are facing
an increasingly uncertain future. The sad truth is that it is
increasingly more difficult to recruit health care providers to work
with underserved communities, especially in rural areas. In addition to
economic pressures, rural areas must overcome the environmental issues
involved with recruiting a doctor who may have been raised, educated,
and trained in an urban setting.
The National Health Service Corps was created in 1970 by Senator
Warren Magnuson, one of the most distinguished Senators to come from
Washington State. He saw the need to put primary care clinicians in
rural communities and inner-city neighborhoods, and developed this
program to fill that need.
Since then, the Corps has placed over 22,000 health professionals in
rural or urban health professions shortage areas. There is no doubt
that National Health Service Corps has been extremely successful. In
fact, the most recent available data show that more than 70 percent of
providers continued to provide services to underserved communities
after their Corps obligation was fulfilled, 80 percent of these health
care providers stayed in the community in which they had originally
been placed.
Under current law, the National Health Service Corps provides
scholarships, loan-repayments, and stipends for clinicians who agree to
serve in urban and rural communities with severe shortages of health
care providers. In 1986 the IRS ruled that all payments made under the
program are considered taxable income. Understanding the immediate
detriment to scholarship recipients, who were forced to pay the tax out
of their own pockets, Congress eliminated the scholarship tax in 2001.
And while the scholarship program is now not considered taxable income
to the IRS, the loan-repayments and stipends are.
By statute, the current loan program awards also include a tax
assistance payment equal to 39 percent of the loan repayment amount,
which is to be used by the recipient offset his or her tax liability
resulting from the loan repayment ``income.'' This means that nearly 40
percent of the federal loan repayment budget goes to pay taxes on the
loan repayment ``income'' alone. If these federal payments were not
taxed, and the funding was freed up, more health professions students
could take advantage of the loan repayment program, and could be placed
in shortage areas, thereby increasing access to health care in both
urban and rural areas.
This is not a new problem. The tax burden that accompanies the
National Health Service Corps loan payments is a significant deterrent
to increasing the number of clinicians enrolling in the Corps. I do not
want to see a situation where, as happened several years ago, over 300
applicants actually left underserved areas because the Corps could not
fully fund the loan repayment program.
The legislation we are introducing today, the National Health Service
Corps Loan Repayment Act, would address this disincentive, making the
Corps available to more medical and health professionals, and thereby
bringing more providers into underserved areas. If loan repayments are
excluded from taxation, the National Health Service Corps will have
greater resources to provide aid to health professionals seeking loan
repayment, and will be able to increase the number of providers in
underserved areas.
There is no doubt that strengthening the National Health Service
Corps is a ``win-win'' situation. Corps scholarships help finance
education for future primary care providers interested in serving the
underserved. In return, graduates serve those communities where the
need for primary health care is greatest.
This bill is supported by over 20 national organizations including
the National Rural Health Association, the National Association of
Community Health Centers, the Association of American Medical Colleges,
and the American Medical Student Association. I am especially pleased
that the Washington State Medical Association is supporting this bill.
I ask unanimous consent that the complete list be included in the
Record after my statement.
I urge my colleagues to look at this bill and to join me in expanding
this vitally important and imminently successful program.
There being no objection, the material was ordered to be printed in
the Record, as follows:
National Health Service Corps Loan Repayment Act Endorsements
American Academy of Nurse Practitioners.
American Academy of Pediatric Dentistry.
American Academy of Physician Assistants.
American Association of Colleges of Osteopathic Medicine.
American Association of Colleges of Pharmacy.
American Association for Dental Research.
American College of Nurse-Midwives.
American College of Nurse Practitioners.
American College of Osteopathic Family Physicians.
American Counseling Association.
American Dental Association.
American Dental Education Association.
American Medical Student Association.
American Optometric Association.
American Organization of Nurse Executives.
American Osteopathic Association.
American Psychological Association.
American Student Dental Association.
Association of Academic Health Centers.
Association of American Medical Colleges.
Association of Clinicians for the Underserved.
Association of Schools and Colleges of Optometry.
National Association of Community Health Centers.
National Association of Graduate-Professional Students.
National Rural Health Association.
Washington State Medical Association.
Mr. THOMAS. I am pleased to rise today to introduce the National
Health Service Corps Loan Repayment Act of 2002 with my colleague from
Washington, Ms. Cantwell. Specifically, this legislation will exclude
loan repayments made through the National Health Service Corps (NHSC)
program from taxable income. Enactment of the National Health Service
Corps Loan Repayment Act of 2002 would increase the amount of federal
dollars available so more students could participate in the NHSC
program.
Under current law, the NHSC provides scholarships, loan-repayments,
and stipends for clinicians who agree to serve in national designated
underserved urban and rural communities. The tax law changes in 1986
resulted in the IRS ruling that all NHSC payments were taxable.
Congress eliminated the tax on the scholarship in 2001, but the loan-
repayments and stipends continue to be taxed.
To assist loan repayment recipients with their tax burden, the NHSC
loan program includes an additional payment equal to 39 percent of the
loan repayment amount so the loan repayment recipient can pay his or
her taxes. Close to 40 percent of the NHSC Federal loan repayment
budget goes to pay taxes on the loan repayment ``income.'' The current
situation should not be allowed to continue. Given the fiscal
restraints we are facing, we must ensure that federal dollars are spent
efficiently and effectively. It is obvious that today's NHSC loan
repayment structure does not meet that goal. Our legislation resolves
this issue.
For over 30 years, the National Health Service Corps (NHSC) program
has literally been a lifeline for many underserved communities across
the country that otherwise would not have a health care provider. I
know this program is critically important to my
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state of Wyoming and to many other rural states that has difficulties
recruiting and retaining primary health care clinicians.
There are 2,800 Health Professional Shortage Areas, 740 Mental Health
Shortage Areas and 1,200 Dental Health Shortage Areas now designated
across the country. However, the NHSC program is meeting less than 13
percent of the current need for primary care providers and less than
six percent of need for mental health and dental services. The National
Health Service Corps Loan Repayment Act of 2002 would increase the
number of students in the program and allow more provides to be placed
in these shortage areas.
The National Health Service Corps Loan Repayment Act of 2002 is
crucial to the future well being of many of our rural communities. I
strongly urge all my colleagues to support this important legislation.
______