[Congressional Record Volume 160, Number 129 (Wednesday, September 10, 2014)]
[Senate]
[Pages S5509-S5511]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
STATEMENTS ON INTRODUCED BILLS AND JOINT RESOLUTIONS
By Mr. KAINE (for himself, Mrs. Boxer, Mr. Casey, and Mr.
Warner):
S. 2788. A bill to provide support for the development of middle
school career exploration programs linked to career and technical
education programs of study; to the Committee on Health, Education,
Labor, and Pensions.
Mr. KAINE. Mr. President, the key to America's continued success lies
in improving our Nation's educational system to meet the demands of the
21st century job market. Today, many students enter high school and
college with little knowledge of the careers available to them outside
of traditional pathways. With college costs continuing to rise, it is
critical that students have exposure to the wide range of available
work and career choices early in their academic careers so that, by the
time they enter high school, they are more informed about future paths
and what they need to do to pursue them.
Career and technical education, CTE, are a proven way to help
students explore their own strengths and preferences, as well as how
they match up with potential future careers. However, limited funding
for middle school CTE programming often means students have to wait
until high school for this exposure.
Studies have found that middle school students greatly benefit from
career and technical education development programs that promote career
exploration skills, as well as increase knowledge of career options and
career pathways. Middle school is an important time for students to
explore their own strengths, likes, and dislikes, and career and
technical education exploration programs are great tools to educate
them about the type of course or training that goes into a career field
that matches their interests.
This is why I am pleased to introduce the Middle School Technical
Education Program Act, which establishes a pilot program for middle
schools to partner with postsecondary institutions and local businesses
to develop and implement career and technical exploration programs.
This legislation will provide support for middle schools to create
career and technical education programs that will provide students with
introductory courses, hands-on learning, or afterschool programs.
Career guidance and academic counseling is vital to ensuring that our
students understand the educational requirements for high-growth, in-
demand career fields. Many times students receive this information too
late in their academic careers.
We need to make middle school more career-relevant and expose
students to the career pathways they may choose. This legislation also
requires that programs helps students draft a high school graduation
plan that demonstrates what courses would prepare them for a given
career field. If we give students at a younger age applied career and
technical opportunities, they will be more informed about future paths
and what they need to do to pursue them. I hope this bill spurs
discussion on how vital middle school is for exposing students to
career choices.
______
By Mr. HARKIN (for himself, Mr. Leahy, Mr. Durbin, Mrs. Murray,
Mr. Whitehouse, Mr. Reed, Mr. Johnson of South Dakota, Mr.
Bennet, Mrs. Shaheen, Mr. Casey, Mr. Blumenthal, Ms. Warren,
and Mrs. Hagan):
S. 2789. A bill to amend part B of the Individuals with Disabilities
Education Act to provide full Federal funding of such part; to the
Committee on Finance.
Mr. HARKIN. Mr. President, throughout my career in public service I
have focused on ensuring that each and every child with a disability is
ensured the right to a good education. To this end, I have fought
tirelessly to safeguard the rights of children with disabilities under
the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, IDEA, landmark
legislation that has been improving the educational outcomes of
millions of students across the nation since 1975 on the bedrock
principles of inclusion and equality.
When Congress passed IDEA, we understood that our commitment to
provide high-quality educational opportunities and serve the needs of
students with disabilities in our classrooms entailed excess costs
compared to others students, which would have a significant financial
impact on States and school districts. That is why Congress committed
to covering up to 40 percent of the excess cost of educating students
with disabilities. However, we have failed to deliver on that promise,
and the law has been consistently and grossly underfunded.
This is why I am pleased to introduce the IDEA Full Funding Act,
which will allow us to make good on the full federal commitment. Given
the current financial difficulties that many state and local
governments are facing, this legislation is more essential than ever
for ensuring that students with disabilities get the high-quality
education and services they need in order to fulfill their potential.
Since enactment of IDEA, students with disabilities across the United
States have made tremendous progress. Today, nearly 6.6 million
students receive special education services designed to meet their
individual needs. Ninety-five percent of students with disabilities
attend a neighborhood school, and almost two-thirds of those students
spend at least 80 percent of their day in the regular school
environment. Nearly 350,000 infants and toddlers receive early
intervention services. More than 6 out of 10 students with disabilities
graduate high school with a regular diploma--twice the percentage of 25
years ago. Moreover, approximately half of students with disabilities
enroll in postsecondary education. We must do our best to continue this
progress and make good on our 39-year-old promise because there is
still a long way to go. For instance, students with disabilities who
graduate from high school have an employment rate that is less than
half the employment rate of the general population.
Today, the Federal Government provides about 16 percent of the
additional cost of educating a student with a disability, less than
half the 40 percent that Congress committed to when we passed IDEA. In
the current fiscal year, this means Federal funding for IDEA is almost
$24 billion short, which forces states and school districts to make up
the federal shortfall at a time when they are cash strapped.
The IDEA Full Funding Act will fully fund the federal commitment to
IDEA by gradually increasing the federal government's share of the
excess costs of educating students with disabilities to its committed
level over 10 years. Specifically, this legislation will increase the
Federal dollars appropriated from $11.5 billion in fiscal year 2014 to
$35.6 billion in fiscal year 2023.
This bill is supported by 34 organizations including: ACCSES, the
Association of Assistive Technology Act Programs, the Autism National
Committee, the Autism Society of America, the Council of Parent
Attorneys
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and Advocates, the Collaboration to Promote Self-Determination, the
Conference of Educational Administrators of Schools and Programs for
the Deaf, the Disability Rights Education and Defense Fund, the
Epilepsy Foundation, Easter Seals, the Kentucky Protection and Advocacy
Division, the Jonathan Foundation for Children with Learning
Disabilities, the National Association of School Psychologists, the
National Association of State Directors of Special Education, the
National Center for Learning Disabilities, the National Center for
Special Education in Charter Schools, the National Down Syndrome
Congress, the National Down Syndrome Society, the National Disability
Rights Network, Perkins School for the Blind, TASH, the School
Superintendents Association, the American Federation of Teachers, the
American Speech Language Hearing Association, the Association of
Educational Service Agencies, the Council of Great City Schools, the
Council for Exceptional Children, the National Association of
Elementary School Principals, the National Association of Secondary
School Principals, the National Association of State Directors of
Special Education, the National Education Association, the National
School Boards Association, the National Rural Education Advocacy
Coalition, and the National Rural Education Association.
By making good on our 39-year-old promise, we will supply schools
with the necessary funding to enhance the quality and range of services
available to students with disabilities. The funding increase will help
to raise salaries for teachers and related services personnel, thereby
allowing districts to enhance recruitment and retention high-quality
staff. It will support school districts in increasing graduation rates
and postsecondary enrollment rates of students with disabilities.
In these difficult times, it is essential for Congress to provide
these revenues without increasing the deficit. The IDEA Full Funding
Act is fully paid for by increasing income taxes for those with an
adjusted gross income greater than $1,000,000 per year. This increase
in funding for schools will have a powerful impact on the lives of
children with disabilities by improving their educational and future
employment outcomes.
I urge my colleagues on both sides of the aisle to support this long-
overdue legislation.
______
By Mr. HARKIN (for himself and Ms. Mikulski):
S. 2790. A bill to amend the Individuals with Disabilities Education
Act to permit a prevailing party in an action or proceeding brought to
enforce the Act to be awarded expert witness fees and certain other
expenses; to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions.
Mr. HARKIN. Mr. President: Ensuring that all students, regardless of
background or ability, have access to an education that gives them the
opportunity to live a successful and fulfilling life has always been a
major focus of my career in public service. To achieve this goal, I
have fought hard for students with disabilities to have access to the
general education curriculum and the services and supports they need to
succeed, and to safeguard their rights under the Individuals with
Disabilities Education Act, IDEA. That is why I am pleased to
reintroduce the IDEA Fairness Restoration Act. This critical
legislation will remove the financial barrier that families, especially
low- and middle-income families, face when they pursue their children's
rights to the free, appropriate public education they deserve and are
entitled to under the Fourteenth Amendment.
When Congress originally passed IDEA, we recognized the vital
importance of parent and school collaboration in special education and
required they jointly develop an Individualized Education Plan, IEP, to
identify goals to promote the academic achievement of students with
disabilities. Usually, this partnership serves students well. There
are, however, times when parents believe schools have not fulfilled
their responsibilities to provide an appropriate education to their
children. In these cases, IDEA provides parents the right to challenge
the schools through mediation and due process. The educational needs of
children with disabilities can be quite complex and when there is a
disagreement between the family and the school it may be necessary for
experts to lend their help in determining what interventions and
supports are best for the child. For families asking for mediation or a
due process hearing, the use of expert services can be costly, ranging
on average from $100 to $300 per hour. In one case, a single mother
whose son struggled with dyslexia and written expression disorders had
to borrow $1,400 to pay an independent evaluator to testify at a
hearing. She also had to pay for the expert's time spent being cross-
examined by the school district for two days. Without access to expert
witnesses, families may be unable to make an argument for the
educational needs of their children.
When Congress amended IDEA in 1986, it recognized the financial
barriers that parents face in pursuing due process to resolve
disagreements with their school and specified in the Conference
Committee Report that when the court finds in favor of the parents a
judge could award attorney's fees, including ``reasonable expenses and
fees of expert witnesses and the reasonable costs of any test or
evaluation which is found to be necessary for the preparation of the
parent or guardian's case.'' For years, parents who prevailed in
judicial proceedings were awarded these fees, as Congress intended. But
in 2006, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in Arlington Central School
District v. Murphy that courts could no longer award these fees because
Congress made its intention explicit in the Conference Report rather
than in statute. As a result, many parents are discouraged and even
prevented from pursuing meritorious cases to secure the rights of their
children. Low- and middle-income families are particularly put at a
disadvantage by this ruling.
The IDEA Fairness Restoration Act clarifies Congress' express intent
that parents should recover expert witness fees, as they currently can
do with attorneys' fees, if they prove that the school system has
wrongfully denied their child an appropriate education as defined by
IDEA. By including ``reasonable expenses and fees of expert witnesses
and the reasonable costs of any test or evaluation which is found to be
necessary for the preparation of the parent or guardian's case'' and
reestablishing the right of judges to award such fees to parents who
prevail in IDEA cases, as Congress intended, this legislation will
level the playing field and restore the ability of low- and middle-
income parents to be effective advocates for their children's
educational needs.
This bill is supported by 18 advocacy organizations including:
ACCSES, the Autism National Committee, the Autism Society of America,
the Council of Parent Attorneys and Advocates, the Conference of
Educational Administrators of Schools and Programs for the Deaf,
Collaboration to Promote Self-Determination, the Disability Rights
Education and Defense Fund, the Epilepsy Foundation, Easter Seals, the
Kentucky Protection and Advocacy Division, the Jonathan Foundation for
Children with Learning Disabilities, Our Children Left Behind, the
National Center for Learning Disabilities, the National Center for
Special Education in Charter Schools, the National Down Syndrome
Congress, the National Down Syndrome Society, the National Disability
Rights Network, and TASH.
This legislation is an essential step for protecting the rights of
students with disabilities and ensuring that all families, regardless
of their financial resources, can advocate for and protect their
children's rights through due process, consistent with Congressional
intent and I urge my colleagues to support this legislation.
[[Page S5511]]
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