Summary of Amendments Submitted to the Rules Committee on
H.R. 1350 - Improving Education Results for Children with Disabilities Act of 2003
April 29, 2003 (5:00 p.m.)
Allen #24 Increases funding authorization levels over a 7 year period in order to fully fund 40 percent of the average per pupil expenditure for IDEA, Grants to States programs.
Bass/Ferguson/Simmons #25 Creates a discretionary - mandatory hybrid funding obligation requiring increases above the FY03 $8.9 billion funding level to be mandatory, while allowing the appropriators to have discretion over the first $8.9 billion year after year; Provides communities increased flexibility for budgeting the federal increase if the community is in compliance with IDEA mandates.
Bradley #21 Strikes the current Part B set-aside funds of $500,000 and replace it with $750,000. Strikes the parenthetical provision that references the inflationary adjustment, in order to provide more opportunity for administrative growth in small states.
Castle/Boehner #12 Manager’s Amendment - Makes several conforming and consolidating changes to a series of GAO reports that were added during the consideration of the bill in the Education and Workforce Committee. Increases the amount of funds that the State can reserve out of its State-level activities for programs designed to serve children with disabilities with high-cost special education and related services needs. Makes a clarifying change to reflect the updated authorization levels that were modified by the FY 2004 Budget Resolution—this level reflects the increased funding the FY 2004 Budget Resolution included for IDEA Part B State Grants. Makes a clarifying change to ensure that evaluations are provided to children in the language and form designed to obtain useful information—this change reflects longstanding terminology used throughout the implementing regulations and elsewhere in the Act. Makes a change to the issues that can be raised at dues process hearings to ensure that parents and local educational agencies both have a fair opportunity to understand the issues being raised at the hearing in order to resolve the dispute more effectively. Adds language to the section prohibiting the Federal control of curriculum to ensure it is the exact language as present in the No Child Left Behind Act, which ensures that there continues to be local control over the curriculum. Makes changes in the Part D programs to ensure that the needs of limited English proficient children with disabilities are met through the training of school personnel and effective data collection. Modifies the section regarding support for captioning programs to enable news programs to be captioned until 2006, which is when Federal Communications Commission requirements require all news programs to be captioned. Makes several clarifying and technical conforming amendments.
Cox # 32 Permits the award of attorney’s fees to prevailing parties only for civil actions in federal courts and state courts of competent jurisdiction; Requires mediation prior to a due process hearing. (LATE)
Davis, Susan (CA) #26 Inserts the definition of a free, appropriate, public education, the language contained in the Supreme Court Decision known as Rowley, which states that the goal for a child with disabilities is the same as for all other children—to have the educational and related services necessary for that child to access the general curriculum.
Davis, Susan (CA) #27 Requires the local agency to attempt to collect funds, but if unsuccessful after 30 business days, it would bill the state educational agency which would be responsible for paying the local educational agencies and making the appropriate collections. Makes the state the payer of last resort.
DeMint # 6 Amends Part D (National Activities) to allow for the Secretary of Education to fund the design, development, and initial implementation of parental choice programs for students with disabilities; Amends Part B (Assistance for Students Ages 3-21) to allow states to let federal money follow the child along with the state money to the selected public or private school.
Fattah # 20 Requires that at the beginning of each school year local educational agencies notify parents of children receiving services covered under IDEA and make available information regarding the professional qualifications of the professionals serving their children in the local schools.
Garrett #13 Requires the Secretary of Education to conduct a study within 2 years after the enactment of the act on the cost to each state for compliance with this act.
Graves #1 Prohibits school administrators and teachers from recommending or requiring that a child be placed on psychotropic medication as a condition of staying in school
Graves #2 Provides that a child suspected of having Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD) or Attention Deficit Hypertension Disorder (ADHD) can only be diagnosed as having a disability by a licensed medical practitioner in order to be eligible to receive special education services.
Kirk #29 Expresses the sense of Congress that providing special needs students with a safe, and drug-free learning environment is a laudable goal. Makes reference to random locker searches conducted by school administrators as an effective way to assess the gravity of the drug situation at a particular school, as well as to indicate to students that the use of drugs on school property will not be tolerated.
Kirk #30 Provides for the full funding of the federal Impact Aid program. LATE
Larson # 17 Makes mandatory a minimum level of 40 percent for Federal grant payments to States for assistance for education of all children with disabilities.
McKeon/Woolsey #10 Requires that any additional increases in federal funding, above Fiscal Year 2003 levels be passed down directly to the local level.
Meeks #28 Ensures that the Local Education Agencies (LEA) that currently over identify children of certain races and ethnicities are doing so by properly evaluating there students. Makes mandatory additional instructional services for educators who are evaluating this particular population of children. Makes these services mandatory until the Secretary of Education determines that such over identification has been significantly reduced.
Millender-McDonald #11 Retains language in current law requiring state and local educational agencies to attain parental consent prior to conducting a full and individual initial evaluation. The amendment also retains current law relating to the discipline of students.
Musgrave #22 Allows school districts the option of offering parents of disabled children in private schools a certificate to be used for their child’s specific special education needs. The amount of the certificate would be equivalent to the per-pupil proportionate IDEA dollars generated to the school district by private school children. Certificates could be redeemed at eligible providers that meet health, safety and civil rights laws and are fiscally sound.
Nethercutt #4 Provides parents in consultation with the Individualized Family Service Plan (IFSP) team the ability to decide what setting is appropriate for each child.
Ney # 23 Allows funds under IDEA to be treated as local funds for the purpose of meeting the matching funds requirement under Title XIX of the Social Security Act. Clarifies that activities in IDEA are eligible for reimbursement if they are used to provide educational or related services for a child with a disability, which includes children with disabilities covered by Section 602(3) in the Medicaid eligible services.
Sanchez, Loretta (CA) #5 Would authorize the use of funds to develop and improve programs to train school safety personnel and first responders who work at educational facilities in the recognition of autism.
Sessions #15 Strikes language in the bill pertaining to discipline. Retains current law with regard to discipline measures for children with disabilities for school personnel.
Sessions #16 Allows appropriate discipline measures to be taken if a teacher deems a student to be a disruption, but only if the behavior constituting the violation is not due to the child’s disability. Assures the teacher takes into account the child’s disability when determining proper punishment for a disturbance within the classroom.
Shadegg # 31 Requires that a student’s disability be diagnosed by a physician or person certified by a state health board. (LATE)
Shadegg #33 Expressing the sense of Congress and finds that students are over-identified and misidentified as students with disabilities. Therefore students should not be classified as being disabled without having been judged by a physician and state health board. (LATE)
Smith, Chris (NJ) #9 Provides that 10 percent of the funds made available for technical assistance, demonstration projects, dissemination of information, and implementation of scientifically based research (Sec. 664) are set aside to improve results for children with autism or autism spectrum disorders; Provides that the Secretary shall ensure that 10 percent of the funds made available for personnel development (Sec. 665) are set aside to improve results for children with autism or autism spectrum disorders (ASD).
Tancredo #7 Adds language to the procedural safeguards section of IDEA requiring parents to be alerted to the long-term health risks and possible long-term effects of early exposure to such substances covered by the Controlled Substances Act.
Tancredo #8 Redefines ‘specific learning disability’ as a disorder due to a medically detectable and diagnosable psychological condition relying on physical and scientific evidence.
Vitter #18 Adds a provision in Part A (GAO Review) mandating that the review will include recommendations to reduce or eliminate the excessive paperwork burdens for teachers, related services providers, parents and school administrators; Amends Part B (GAO Report) to require a GAO report be submitted 2 years after the date of enactment and submitted every 2 years thereafter.
Vitter # 19 Requires the Department of Education and all school districts that receive federal funding under IDEA to seek to reform, streamline and update the forms and requirements mandated on both teachers and parents in an effort to focus on spending more time on education and less on regulatory compliance issues.
Woolsey/Van Hollen/McCollum #14 Fully funds part B grants to states over six years, and makes all new funding mandatory.
Wu #3 Amends the State Competitive Grant Program in the bill to give priority to applications that provide for the establishment of professional development program regarding methods of early and appropriate identification of children with disabilities.
* Summaries derived from information submitted by the amendment sponsors.
