[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 146 (2000), Part 18]
[House]
[Page 25880]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]



                          ON IDEA FULL FUNDING

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from Kansas (Mr. Moran) is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. MORAN of Kansas. Mr. Speaker, as our conferees deliberate the 
appropriations for the Department of Labor, Health and Human Services 
and Education, I would like to take this opportunity to urge and insist 
upon the highest level of funding possible for special education State 
grants.
  November 29 of this year celebrates the 25th anniversary of the 
enactment of IDEA. For almost a quarter of a century now, the Federal 
Government has assisted in the education of our children with 
disabilities and for almost that same quarter of a century, the Federal 
Government has failed to meet its obligations.
  A Kansas school on average uses 20 percent of its budget for special 
education purposes. Schools in my area of Kansas cannot afford to put 
one-fifth of their entire budget into special education. This year 
Kansas schools will spend $454 million in meeting the Federal special 
education mandate. Of this total, only $38 million, about 8 percent, 
will come from the Federal Government despite our previous commitment 
25 years ago of a 40 percent commitment.
  In my previous service as a member of the Kansas Senate, we struggled 
each and every year to adequately fund the education of students in our 
State. In actual dollars if special education were actually funded at 
that 40 percent, Kansas would receive $181 million from the Federal 
Government. This means $143 million in Kansas State and local education 
funds would be available for other educational needs.
  These numbers make it clear that special education costs consume 
education budgets of State and local school districts. Schools are not 
maintained properly, teachers do not get hired, and classroom materials 
do not get purchased. Our schools are not asking for new Federal 
programs. They are asking for the Federal Government to pay its share 
of special education costs so that other funds can be freed up for 
maintaining buildings, hiring teachers and buying classroom materials.
  Congress has made significant progress in recent years to increase 
Federal funding for special education. In my 4 years as a Member of 
Congress, we have increased IDEA State grants from $3 billion to $5 
billion. That is a 67 percent increase in just 3 years.

                              {time}  1615

  We still have a long way to go. For far too long, the Federal 
Government has mandated this program without paying its share. Today 
let us make the commitment to change all that and support full funding 
of IDEA.

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