[Congressional Record Volume 151, Number 154 (Friday, November 18, 2005)]
[Senate]
[Pages S13342-S13343]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




  THE 30TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE INDIVIDUALS WITH DISABILITIES EDUCATION 
                                  ACT.

  Mr. KENNEDY. Mr. Chairman, I was proud to serve on the Education 
Committee when it recommended the original Education for the All 
Handicapped Children Act in 1975, and I am proud to join Senator Enzi 
today as a sponsor of this resolution, which recognizes the major 
impact of the law on the lives of disabled children and their families 
across the Nation, by guaranteeing the right of every disabled child to 
a free public education.
  We know that disabled does not mean unable. Children with 
disabilities have the same dreams as every other child in America to 
grow up and lead a happy and productive life. We know that IDEA helps 
them fulfill that dream.
  It says children cannot be cast aside or locked away because they 
have a disability. Those days are gone in America--hopefully forever.
  Children with disabilities have rights like every other child in 
America, including the right to learn with other children in public 
schools and prepare themselves for the future.
  But even as we celebrate 30 years of continuing success in the 
education of disabled children, we continue to hear objections to the 
act's high cost, its paperwork, and the burden of litigation. Those are 
important considerations, but we can't let them overwhelm the vast 
benefit of IDEA.
  The act is about disabled children and their rights. It is about 
their hopes and dreams of living independent and productive lives. It 
is about parents who love their children and struggle for them every 
day against a world that is too often inflexible and unwilling to meet 
their needs. It is about teachers who see the potential inside a 
disabled child, but don't have the support or training they need to 
fulfill it.
  IDEA is our declaration as a nation that these children matter and 
that we

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will do all we can to help their parents and teachers and communities 
achieve their education goals. That is why the government should make a 
clear commitment to provide adequate funds for special education. What 
is needed is a solid education plan for each child, a way to chart the 
child's progress, and a way to hold schools accountable if they fall 
short. That is not placing an unfair burden on schools. It is the 
correct expectation of a decent school system in America.
  Brown v. the Board of Education struck down school segregation by 
race and said that all children deserve equal access to education under 
the Constitution. But it wasn't until the passage of the Education for 
the Handicapped Act in 1975 that the Brown decision had real meaning 
for children with disabilities.
  Only then did we finally end school segregation by disability and 
open the doors of public schools to disabled children. Only then did 
the Nation's 4 million disabled children begin to have the same 
opportunities as other children to develop their talents, share their 
gifts, and lead productive lives.
  We must never go back to the days when disabled children were denied 
public education, when few if any preschool children with disabilities 
received services, and when the disabled were passed off to 
institutions and substandard schools to be kept out of sight and out of 
mind.
  We have made immense progress since those days. Six and a half 
million children with disabilities now receive special education 
services. Almost all of them--96 percent--are learning alongside their 
nondisabled fellow students.
  The number of young children with early development problems who 
receive childhood services has tripled in the past 30 years. More 
disabled students are participating in State and national testing 
programs. Graduation rates and college enrollment rates for disabled 
students are steadily rising.
  The opportunities for further progress are boundless. We know far 
more about disability today than a quarter century ago. We have much 
greater understanding of childhood disabilities, and how to help all 
such children to learn and achieve. We are finding out more and more 
each year about the power of technology to enable these children to 
lead independent lives. It means they can communicate with others, 
explore the world on the Internet, and move in ways we couldn't have 
imagined 5 years ago, much less in 1975 when the law was first enacted.
  I hope all our colleagues will join us in recognizing the 
extraordinary role of IDEA in protecting the rights and broadening the 
opportunities available to children with disabilities. Let's work 
together to renew our commitment to IDEA and fulfill its great promise 
of hope for the future.

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