CEC Policy Insider

2019 Special Education Legislative Summit

Join other special educator and early intervention advocates this summer at the 2019 Special Education Legislative Summit. Enhance your advocacy skills through in-depth briefings on current proposals under consideration by Congress, real-time collaboration with your state teams, and high-level discussions around issues critical to the fields of special education and early intervention!

CEC Supports IDEA Full Funding Bills

As part of Public Schools Week, Representatives Jared Huffman (D-CA), John Katko (R-NY), Joe Neguse (D-CO), David McKinley (R-WV), Dean Phillips (D-MN), Brian Fitzpatrick (R-PA), and Kurt Schrader (D-OR), and U.S. Senators Chris Van Hollen (D-MD), and Pat Roberts (R-KS), introduced the IDEA Full Funding Act.

The bipartisan, bicameral legislation would finally ensure Congress' commitment to fully fund the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA). In 1975, Congress passed IDEA to ensure that every child with a disability has access to educational opportunity. The law was a historic step forward, but since its passage Congress has failed to provide the funding promised under this bill.

CEC along with the IDEA Full Funding Coalition, a group of education organizations dedicated to fulfilling the funding promise for the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, strongly support S.866 and H.R.1878.

"Every child deserves a quality education – and the Congress must keep its promises to fund its share. The federal government must stop shortchanging our students and make good on its commitment to fully fund IDEA. That's why I'm proud to introduce this legislation to support our schools and ensure a first-rate education for children with disabilities. I urge my colleagues to pass this common-sense, bipartisan bill immediately," said Senator Van Hollen (D-MD).

“Because the federal government has failed to honor its IDEA funding promise, K-12 schools and school districts throughout America have been forced to pay more than their fair share,” said Rep. Huffman (R-CA). “That means less funding for everything from teacher pay to class size to affording music, art, and physical education classes. That’s why the bipartisan IDEA Full Funding Act to finally honor the IDEA promise is probably the most significant thing the federal government can do to support K-12 schools.”

CEC has long supported full funding for IDEA and will continue to advocate for increased funding. Please visit CEC’s Legislative Action Center to write your members of Congress to increase appropriations for IDEA.

Read Senator Van Hollen’s Press Release featuring CEC’s quote

Read Representative Huffman’s Press Release featuring CEC’s quote

Read CEC’s Fiscal Year 2020 Education Appropriations Issue Brief

Read CEC’s Fiscal Year 2020 Budget Chart

Register Special Education Legislative Summit - July 2019

AACTE on Student Diversity

AACTE recently released a report, Education Students and Diversity: A Review of New Evidence, that provides new information on student diversity in U.S. colleges of education and is a supplement to AACTE’s signature report, Colleges of Education: A National Portrait. AACTE's report draws from of a recently released U.S. Department of Education survey to examine the personal, family, and socioeconomic characteristics of students working toward bachelor’s and master’s degrees in education, to compare these students to the general student population, and to identify key differences by race/ethnicity.

Education Projections to 2027

The National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) recently released Projections of Education Statistics to 2027. The report provides national-level data on enrollment, teachers, high school graduates, and expenditures at the elementary and secondary level, and enrollment and degrees at the postsecondary level for the past 15 years and projections to the year 2027. There are six sections: Elementary and Secondary Enrollment, Elementary and Secondary Teachers, High School Graduates, Expenditures for Public Elementary and Secondary Education, Enrollment in Degree-Granting Postsecondary Institutions, and Postsecondary Degrees Conferred. The projections presented in the report are based on assumptions regarding the population and economy with some statistic drawn from the U.S. Census Bureau.

OSERS New Guidance Letters

The U.S. Department of Education, Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services (OSERS) released four letters responding to requests for guidance on January 29. The letters address students with disabilities in correctional facilities, discipline procedures, children with disabilities place in private schools by their parents, and response to intervention.