[Congressional Record Volume 148, Number 132 (Wednesday, October 9, 2002)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1807]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




        INTRODUCTION OF THE IDEA PAPERWORK REDUCTION ACT OF 2002

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                            HON. RIC KELLER

                               of florida

                    in the house of representatives

                       Wednesday, October 9, 2002

  Mr. KELLER. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to introduce the ``IDEA 
Paperwork Reduction Act of 2002.'' This legislation will increase the 
quality instruction time a teacher can spend with their students in the 
classroom while also ensuring that special education students are 
receiving a quality education.
  Due to the approaching reauthorization of the Individuals with 
Disabilities Education Act, IDEA, I went and toured local schools in my 
district of Orlando, FL last year to get a first-hand understanding of 
the problems that parents, teachers and administrators face 
implementing a successful special education program. I heard many 
familiar complaints being made about discipline and funding of the 
program, but what really took me by surprise was when a teacher took me 
into an office where he showcased a typical day's work of filing out 
all of the required forms for a special education student. I was 
shocked to learn that teachers spend so much of their time complying 
with process instead of being able to teach and assist students in the 
classroom.
  I think I speak on behalf of most Members here, when I say that IDEA 
was never intended to take teachers' time away from the classroom, 
rather it was intended to make sure that special education students 
were able to receive the same classroom instruction as their general 
education peers. Unfortunately, over time the paperwork trail has grown 
as states and local districts try to ensure that they have complied 
with the federal law. The threat of being sued has encouraged an 
overabundance of paperwork in order to document the school's compliance 
with the law. When did ``process'' overshadow the importance of actual 
quality instruction and results?
  When a principal testifies that their IEP Teams spend an average of 
83.5 hours filling out paperwork in preparation to sit down for an 
Individualized Education Plan, IEP, with a student's parents--something 
makes me wonder about the 83.5 hours taken away from classroom 
instruction time. IEP's are of course an important aspect of IDEA, but 
there can be some commonsense reforms put in place to reduce the 
redundancy of the process.
  The ``IDEA Paperwork Reduction Act of 2002'' will call for a study by 
the Department of Education to be furnished within 6 months of 
authorization to determine where the burden is stemming from, and 
provide suggestions to mitigate the issue. The Department will be 
required to issue a streamlined IEP for school districts to use as a 
model. It will also call for a pilot program for 10 states to enter 
into an agreement with the Department of Education to perform their own 
paperwork reduction programs to see if any reforms can stem from State 
innovation. The legislation will implement a pilot program to create a 
3-year IEP review process. This would allow the process to occur at 
natural transition points for the child instead of every year, but 
there will always be a safeguard in place for parents to request an IEP 
review at any point within the 3 years to ensure that their child is 
receiving all of the services they deem necessary.
  These commonsense reforms included in the ``IDEA Paperwork Reduction 
Act of 2002'' will ensure that IDEA is results-driven, not process-
driven. The legislation will improve the academic achievement of 
special education students, while also doing away with an overly 
prescriptive and burdensome process for teachers. It will enable 
teachers to save valuable classroom instruction time for exactly that--
classroom instruction. I encourage my colleagues to call my office to 
cosponsor the ``IDEA Paperwork Reduction Act of 2002.''
  Thank you and I reserve the balance of my time.

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