[Congressional Record Volume 150, Number 135 (Saturday, November 20, 2004)]
[Senate]
[Pages S11675-S11676]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                  IDEA CONFERENCE REPORT RATIFICATION

  Mr. ALEXANDER. Mr. President, I say a few words about the legislation 
passed last night that we call IDEA, to help children with 
disabilities.
  The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) which we have 
enacted is critical for the approximately 6.5 million children with 
special needs across the country, 125,000 of which I've in my home 
state of Tennessee.
  The bill makes a number of substantial reforms. I would like to 
highlight two that I think are particularly important:
  No. 1, the bill clarifies the definition of a highly qualified 
teacher, and
  No. 2, the bill also creates a seamless early childhood program for 
children from birth until school age.
  Research has shown that students taught by effective teachers greatly 
outperform those taught by ineffective teachers. That's why it is a 
priority for me to ensure that students have a highly qualified teacher 
in their classroom, especially special education students.
  I am grateful language was included to clarify for schools what the 
definition of a highly qualified teacher means. This is particularly 
important for the 6,037 Certified Special Education teachers employed 
by Tennessee's public schools, especially for middle and high school 
teachers.
  After the passage of No Child Left Behind, many middle and high 
school special ed teachers were concerned that they would have to 
become highly qualified in every subject--reading, math, history, 
science. The language in the Conference Report allows states to develop 
a Highly Objective Uniform State System of Evaluation, HOUSSE, for 
special ed teachers teaching multiple core subjects. Teachers can also 
be deemed highly qualified if they meet the educational requirements 
for each subject under NCLB test or degree. This important flexibility 
gives states more options to determine what makes a special education 
highly qualified so that we can keep veteran teachers in these 
classrooms and enable new teachers to become highly qualified and 
dedicate their careers to these special children.
  I am a strong supporter of early intervention to help children with 
special needs before they reach school age, so that when they enter 
school they can succeed. I'm pleased by the changes to the Part C early 
intervention program included in the conference report. This program 
has enabled millions of infants and toddlers with disabilities to enter 
school with the skills they need to learn, grow and prosper. The bill 
before us today makes two needed changes to Part C.
  First, it allows States to give parents the option of either (a) 
keeping a child in the Part C program until reaching school age, or (b) 
having their child transferred to the pre-school program at age three. 
This provides a comprehensive and fluid system of services for special 
needs children from birth to school age.
  Second, it provides incentive grants to States that choose to give 
parents that option. Under the conference report, 15% of appropriated 
funds in excess of $460 million for Part C will be dedicated to these 
incentive grants.
  In Tennessee, about 5,730 children participate in the Part C program. 
One of these children is Kaylie, a little girl who was born with Down 
Syndrome. The hospital referred her family to the Kiwanis Center for 
Child Development for services as part of the Part C early childhood 
program. At the Kiwanis Center, Kaylie receives physical, occupational, 
and speech therapy--there is even a therapeutic pool. She is provided 
with child care where she interacts with other children her age. All 
these services are provided through various federal and state programs, 
but the Part C program was the critical link that coordinated these 
programs so she can receive them all at one site. Kaylie was only 8 
months old when I told this story at our Senate HELP Committee mark-up 
of this bill; today she's about two years old. Under the current Part C 
system, when Kaylie turns 3 she will no longer be able to continue to 
receive this seamless system of services at Kiwanis. She will have to 
attend the half-day pre-school program at the local elementary school. 
That date is fast approaching. But the changes included in this 
Conference Report, that we are about to ratify, will allow the state of 
Tennessee to give Kaylie's family the option to stay in the Part C 
program and continue receiving services at the Kiwanis Center until she 
goes to Kindergarten. Any fees that Kaylie's family currently pays they 
will continue to pay. If Kaylie's family would like her to attend the 
local public school for pre-school they still will have the opportunity 
to send her. We ought to give her parents that choice, and I'm grateful 
we're acting in time to make that possible.
  This is one more example of the Senate working in a bipartisan way.
  This is a complex bill. It affected 6.5 million children with special 
needs across this country, and 125,000 of them were in Tennessee.
  Again, I want to focus on two aspects of it, especially how it 
affects teachers and children and families all across the country.
  First, it clarifies the definition of a highly qualified teacher. 
That is important because of the No Child Left Behind Act.
  Second, it allows children with special needs who are receiving 
services in

[[Page S11676]]

the community to continue to do that after age 3 all the way up to the 
time they enter school. Today, those children may be provided one 
service here and one service here and one service here. When they get 
to age 3, they suddenly have to go into a certain preschool program. 
This gives more parents more choices, more flexibility, and it is a 
great advantage.
  One very important aspect of the bill--it is the first thing I 
mentioned--is the definition of highly qualified teacher. This may not 
sound very important to people who aren't teachers with special needs 
children, but this has been a source of a lot of anxiety for teachers.
  In elementary schools, in early grades, teachers teach a lot of 
subjects. If you are certified to be an elementary school special needs 
teacher, then you can be a highly qualified teacher. But when you get 
to the middle school and high school level, you will be teaching 
special needs children in math, science, English, history, and 
geography. The original legislation said a special needs teacher in 
Shawnee, KS, or Fort Dodge, KS would have to be qualified in special 
needs in English, in math, in science, history, and geography. That is 
quite a burden for a special needs teacher in high school in some 
districts. This legislation creates some flexibility. It creates a way 
for States to look at this in a practical way, and says in middle 
schools and high schools across this country when teachers are teaching 
special needs children, we are going to come up with a commonsense way 
to make sure they are highly qualified because these children deserve 
that, too, but to take into account the reality. We are talking about 
maybe 100,000 teachers in the middle and high schools, maybe 15,000 or 
20,000 schools.
  We have to be careful when we write a sentence about elementary and 
secondary education in America. We are not the national school board, 
or at least we shouldn't be. We need to make sure it is practical and 
realistic and gives as much flexibility as possible to communities and 
States to come up with what actually works with an individual child in 
an individual classroom. This is one disappointment I have with the 
bill.
  Senator Sessions from Alabama and I tried to change the effective 
date of the definition of a highly qualified teacher for middle and 
high school. We said it ought to be a year from now. But the majority 
felt this new requirement should go into effect in August of next year, 
which is 6 or 7 months from now. I think that is a mistake.
  What has to happen is the President has to sign this bill in 
December. Then the U.S. Department of Education has to interpret its 
regulations--that is January or February. Then the States have to come 
up with their new, flexible ways of determining what ``highly qualified 
teacher'' is. Then the teachers have to read it. They have to perhaps 
do some professional development. They have to become certified. And 
all of this has to be done by July or August.
  This is the kind of thing that does not build support for the No 
Child Left Behind Act. I think it very important that we remember while 
we may have a very good idea, we are not a national school board of the 
small school districts. This is a massive country with many different 
parts to it. We are dealing in this case with probably 100,000 
teachers.
  Overall, this is a very important bill and I am delighted to be a 
part of it. I commend especially Senators Gregg and Kennedy for their 
leadership.

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