CEC Policy Insider

National Council on Disability: IDEA Series

The National Council on Disability (NCD) developed the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act Report Series on the implementation of IDEA. NCD is an independent federal agency charged with advising the President, Congress, and other federal agencies regarding policies, programs, practices, and procedures that affect people with disabilities. NCD is comprised of a team of Presidential and Congressional appointees, an Executive Director appointed by the Chair, and a full-time professional staff.

The IDEA five-part series include the following reports:

• Broken Promises: The Underfunding of IDEA
• English Learners and Students from Low-Income Families
• Federal Monitoring and Enforcement of IDEA Compliance
• Every Student Succeeds Act and Students with Disabilities
• The Segregation of Students with Disabilities

CEC Opposes Administration’s Proposal to Merge the U.S. Department of Education and Labor

The Administration recently released a proposal to merge the U.S. Department of Education and Labor into a new Cabinet - level agency, the Department of Education and the Workforce. (DEW). The merger is part of a comprehensive reform plan as outlined in Delivering Government Solutions in the 21^st Century, Reform Plan and Reorganization Recommendations. According to the plan, “the new agency would be charged with meeting the needs of American students and workers, from education and skill development to workplace protection to retirement security.” It appears from the organization chart in the reform plan that special education will continue to exist as an area under K-12 education. The Office of Management and Budget indicates, “the reform efforts will eliminate duplicative programs and reduce administrative costs.” The plan is short on details.

 

Congress will need to approve this reorganization plan as many of the functions of the two current departments are in statute. There have been past attempts to eliminate the Department of Education going back to the 1970’s. All failed due to lack of Congressional support. It is likely that this current plan will go nowhere, for the same reasons. Stay tuned!

Tell Congress to Oppose the PROSPER Act (H.R.4508)

Representative Foxx (R.– N.C.), the House education committee chairwoman is pushing for a full House vote on the PROSPER Act (H.R.4508) in the next several weeks. It is unclear whether the House has enough votes to pass the bill. The PROSPER Act seeks to reauthorize the Higher Education Act. The bill was passed out of the Committee on Education and the Workforce last year as a totally partisan bill.

CEC opposed the PROSPER Act in December 2017 as the act will undermine the preparation of highly effective special educators, access to higher education opportunities for youth with disabilities, and eliminates Title II, Teacher Quality Enhancement, the TEACH Grant Program and multiple loan forgiveness programs.

Go to CEC’s Legislative Action Center and tell your Representative in the U.S. Congress to oppose the PROSPER Act (H.R.4508).

FY 2019 House Labor – HHS - Education Funding Bill: Increases for Special Education

Last week the House Appropriations Subcommittee passed its fiscal year (FY) 2019 Labor – HHS - Education funding bill. The bill increases funding for the U.S. Department of Education by 0.1%. The bill increases funding for the U.S. Department of Education by $43 million over the FY 2018 level to a total of $70.9 billion. The bill was passed by a partisan vote. All democrats voted against the bill as the bill overall received no increase over last year.

The bill includes $12.3 billion for IDEA-Part B Grants to States, an increase of $50 million over the fiscal year 2018 enacted level. In addition, Impact Aid, Title IV-A, Charter Schools, Trio, Gear Up, Career and Technical Education and Adult Education, and Head Start all received slight increases.

Programs frozen at the FY 2018 level include, Title I Grants, School Improvement Programs, Promise Neighborhoods, Full Service Community Schools, Indian Education, English Language Acquisition, Institute of Education Sciences, Office for Civil Rights, and Child Care and Development Block Grant. It is anticipated that the bill will be marked up by the House Appropriations Committee on Tuesday, June 26 when amendments may be introduced. The Senate Subcommittee on Appropriations is anticipated to mark up its bill on June 25.

Alarming Data on Restraint and Seclusion

The U.S. Department of Education, Office for Civil Rights recently released new data from the 2015-2016 school year on restraint and seclusion in schools. The findings show that students with disabilities continue to be disciplined and experience restraint and seclusion at disproportionately higher rates than their peers without disabilities.

The 2018 passed federal spending bill included a directive to the U.S. Government Accountability Office to “conduct a further survey” on the restraint and seclusion data from the U.S. Office of Civil Rights. The language in the bill states, “There is concern that seclusion and restraint issues continue to be chronically under-reported. In particular, GAO is encouraged to evaluate recommendations for improving data collection at any school, including any special education or alternative school, that serves students, ages 3-21. In fulfilling the requested study, the GAO should also include recommendations, including examples of best practices, of how schools are adopting effective alternatives to these practices and reducing the incidence of seclusion and restraint.”

Read CEC’s Policy on Physical Restraint and Seclusion Procedures in School Settings