CEC Policy Insider

What will a $2 billion dollar cut to IDEA and Title I look like to children?

Unfortunately, our children might be able to answer this question very soon. Yesterday, the House of Representatives voted to approve a top line number for education funding for Fiscal Year 2014 that – if passed – will likely cut the following programs in the following approximate amounts:

	FY 12	FY 13	Potential FY 14	Potential FY 14 Cut
IDEA Part B State grants	11,577,855	10,974,866	8,933,541	-2,041,325
IDEA Preschool grants Section 619	372,646	353,238	287,536	-65,702
IDEA Part C Grants for infants and families	442,710	419,653	341,598	-78,055
English Language Acquisition	732,144	693,848	564,792	-129,056
Teacher quality State grants	2,466,567	2,337,567	1,902,780	-434,787
Title I Grants to LEAs	14,516,457	13,760,219	11,200,818	-2,559,401
Impact Aid total	1,291,186	1,223,649	996,050	-227,599

CEC opposes these cuts, which are happening in large part due to sequestration. Want to learn more about sequestration? Read this.

Yesterday, we joined with several other members of the IDEA Full Funding Coalition to express our deep concern about these proposed cuts and let the House know they must oppose this! Read our letter here.  What’s IDEA Full Funding? Read this.

Today, Representative John Kline, Chairman of the House Education and Workforce Committee issued the following letter, stating his commitment to IDEA and asking appropriators to take note of Congress’s failure to live up to its promise to fund 40% of the amount. Although CEC appreciate’s Chairman Kline’s support for IDEA, it is important to note as the Full Funding Coalition did in its letter that increasing funding for just IDEA, while deeply cutting so many other areas, will not help many children with disabilities who depend on federal resources and assistance in many areas.

This situation can be stopped. We can change this – join us! Tell your member of Congress to (1) vote against any bill that contains these cuts, (2) speak out against them and (3) tell their colleagues why investing in education is important. Go to our Legislative Action Center and send a letter today.

Our nation’s children need you.

Restraint and Seclusion Bill Introduced in the House!

Since 2009, CEC has supported federal legislation, which is closely aligned with our Policy on Restraint and Seclusion, and would restrict the use of restraint and seclusion in public schools, except in cases of emergency. Unfortunately, although introduced in the House and Senate for the last 2 Congresses, this legislation has never passed.

But recently, undeterred by the past, Congressman George Miller (D-CA), ranking member of the House Education & Workforce Committee and Congressman Gregg Harper (R-MS) re-introduced the Keeping All Students Safe Act, HR 1893.  The Keeping All Students Safe Act will provide vital protections for all American children.  Read the legislation here. 

In 2009, a Government Accountability Office study found that states lacked consistent training policies about the use of restraint and seclusion and often failed to collect data about these techniques use.  In March 2012, the Civil Rights Data Collection showed that nearly 40,000 students were physically restrained during the 2009-10 school year.  This data also showed that restraint and seclusion are disproportionately used upon students with disabilities and minority students.  CEC continues to work for strong federal legislation, in line with our Policy Recommendations, to ensure that all educators have the support they need in the classroom to provide appropriate safe instruction and that all children are protected.

CEC has continued to advocate in both the Senate and House to ensure responsible legislation is enacted. Read about some of our efforts here.

Read the legislation here.

Watch Congressman Miller talk about why he supports this legislation here.

House Education Committee Holds Hearing on Federal Role in School Accountability

Yesterday, the House Education and the Workforce Committee convened a hearing to discuss the appropriate role of the federal government in the educational accountability system, as it prepares for the reauthorization – rewrite – of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act/No Child Left Behind.

Raising the Bar: Exploring State and Local Efforts to Improve Accountability, featured four witnesses who all highlighted the need for the federal government to issue accountability parameters that maintain a key tenant of NCLB:  the public reporting of student achievement by subgroup.  Since NCLB, this requirement has allowed the public to know how students who have been historically disadvantaged, including students with disabilities, are performing.   Many members of Congress echoed keeping this requirement in the next version of ESEA, a position CEC supports. 

Yesterday’s hearing featured testimony from:

• Mr. John White, Louisiana State Superintendent
• Dr. Chris Richardson , superintendent of the Northfield Public Schools, Minnesota
• Mr. Eric S. Gordon, Chief Executive Officer of the Cleveland Metropolitan School District, Ohio
• Mr. Matthew Given, Chief Development Officer, EdisonLearning, Inc.

The witnesses also spoke about the importance of recruiting and retaining effective teachers, which led some members of Congress to question what elements should comprise a teacher evaluation system.  John White, Louisiana State Superintendent, called for observations and evidence of student progress, and emphasized the need to have greater accountability for teacher preparation programs through reporting of entry requirements, measurable outcomes for programs, and performance of program graduates.

For the last six years, Congress has been working to reauthorize ESEA, a process which has had bursts of activity  followed by stalled gridlock.  Throughout this time, CEC has been working to ensure that as legislation is drafted, the needs of children and youth with disabilities and the professionals who work on their behalf are considered.  Read CEC’s ESEA Recommendations.  

Read or Watch an Archive of the Hearing

Calling all Stories about the Impact of Sequestration!

CEC is looking for stories about the impact of sequestration – not just the amount of education money cut from the budgets of districts, schools and states, but about the consequences of those budget cuts – layoffs, reduction or changes in services, fewer children/students served, etc. As many of you know, the sequestration cuts came about as part of Congress’s approach to the deficit, and include a 5% across-the-board cut to all education funding, including IDEA. Your district will see this cut in July. For more information on sequestration, you can read our one-pager here.

If you have any stories from your own schools, please send them our way! Reach out to other schools and districts as well. The more stories we have the better we’ll be able to demonstrate to Congress the detrimental consequences of sequestration. We would like to receive a first batch of stories by Tuesday, May 7. You can email them to pubpol@cec.sped.org. Please include your name, your school district, city and state, your role, and a contact phone number.

Help us continue to advocate for children and youth with disabilities, their families and the professionals who work with them. Send us your stories, and then, send a letter to Congress via CEC’s Legislative Action Center telling Congress to protect education funding. We need your help today – make your voice heard!

Dwindling Federal Support Results in Fewer Investments in Special Education Research

Today, the research arm of the U.S. Department of Education announced that it will not have sufficient funding to initiate a special education research grant competition for fiscal year 2014, a result of sequestration and the 30% -- or $20 million -- funding cut incurred by the National Center for Special Education Research (NCSER) over the last few years that CEC and special education advocates have been fighting to reverse.  

Instead, NCSER within the Institute for Education Sciences, will fund an expected 13 grant proposals in FY 2013 -- down from over 40 grants funded last year -- and in FY 2014 will fund new awards from the pool of proposals received in 2013, rather than hold a new competition

This is the first time since its creation in 2004 that NCSER has been unable to hold a new grant competition.  Annual grant competitions allow researchers to propose projects that address timely and relevant special education issues that concern children and youth with disabilities, their families and special educators.  The absence of a FY 2014 grant competition does little to grow, enhance, or foster the federal government’s special education research agenda.  CEC is gravely concerned that the future of NCSER will be severely inhibited if this funding trajectory continues.

Over the last year, at the urging of special education researchers and CEC, legislation and policies have been put forth in the U.S. Senate and by the Obama Administration to boost NCSER’s funding by $10 million.  However, to date, Congress has been unable to compromise on funding levels for government programs and instead has simply kept the federal government running at last year’s funding levels.  For NCSER, this means attempts to reverse the $20 million cut – or to restore some of this funding – has stalled. 

Join CEC in urging Congress to restore funding for special education research!  A healthy federal investment in special education research arms educators with the tools needed to be effective.   Email pubpol@cec.sped.org with ‘special education research advocacy’ in the subject line to become involved – particularly if you are an educator, parent, or researcher!

Read the official Federal Register Notice

Read CEC’s Special Education Research Advocacy resources

View a national overview of NCSER research and a state-by-state analysis