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ESEA, APPROPRIATIONS BILLS KEEP SPECIAL ED UNDERFUNDED

January 20, 2002

WASHINGTON -- After the special ed community came tantalizingly close to getting a commitment from Congress to pay the whole bill for federally mandated special ed services, the final version of the Elementary and Secondary Education reauthorization bill emerged from last fall's behind-the-scenes wrangling with no promise of adequate special ed funding. With the ESEA debates finally closed, Congress followed a week later with an $8.67 billion special ed funding package, nearly $9 billion short of what the states need from the federal coffer.

Though it was dubbed the "No Child Left Behind Act," the new bill has some special ed supporters wondering how schools will be able to help students with disabilities progress when state education agencies receive less than 15 percent of the additional money they need to educate these children.

"Despite broad and deep bipartisan support to lift the unfunded mandate of special education, education bill conferees rejected the will of the majority in Congress to fully fund special education," National Education Association President Bob Chase said in a statement. "This action is simply irresponsible and misses the opportunity to truly leave no child behind."

However, others say disagreement about whether and how to change various provisions in IDEA, and how to tie IDEA funding to improved special ed performance, were key reasons the full-funding plan failed to gain enough support for inclusion in the ESEA bill. "The early and accurate identification of learning disabilities is critically important. But because of flaws in the current Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, too many children are being wrongly placed in special education classes," argued Rep. John Boehner (R-Ohio), chairman of the House Education and Workforce Committee. "Over-identification is causing countless children to be placed in special education classes they don’t belong in, and driving up the cost of special education nationwide."

On a positive note, Congress increased the overall federal special ed allocation 17 percent from its 2001-02 appropriation. State grants for preschool, elementary and secondary special ed programs and services for 2002-03 went up 19 percent -- they will get $7.53 billion compared to the $6.34 billion they received for the current school year. Congress also boosted funding for special ed teacher training 10 percent to $90 million for next year.

And the ESEA bill was just the first of two prime opportunities special ed supporters on Capitol Hill have to push a special ed funding mandate through Congress. With the federal special ed law, the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, needing reauthorization by next fall, Congressional supporters say they will use that process to reintroduce some version of the six-year funding ramp-up plan that was cut from the ESEA bill. Sens. Ted Kennedy (D-Mass.), Tom Harkin (D-Iowa), Chuck Hagel (R-Neb.) and James Jeffords (Ind.-Vt.) and Rep. George Miller (D-Calif.) are among special ed funding's leading advocates.

Reading Problems Slow Learning; Learning Problems Slow Reading

Bush's new emphasis on reading yielded the states $900 million in "Reading First" grants, up from $286 million last year. Those funds, plus an additional $75 million earmarked as "Early Reading First" money for projects in low-income areas, must be spent on U.S. Department of Education-authorized and research-supported literacy efforts. With a new $12.5 million allocation, school libraries will also join in the nationwide reading effort, which aims to have every child reading by third grade.

Another notable change to ESEA under the new law is that students with disabilities will be increasingly included in national, standardized achievement testing, as a way to increase schools' accountability for the progress of students in special ed. Though results of national and state assessments now must be reported based on more specific demographics, including poverty, race and ethnicity, disability and English proficiency, the law lets states determine how to improve reading and writing performance among those groups. 8