|
 Commentary:
Proposed IDEA Legislation Does Too Little to Benefit Students
with Disabilities
August 28, 2003, Our Children Left
Behind
For more articles like this
visit
https://www.bridges4kids.org.
In a recent BraveNet poll, an overwhelming majority of the respondents indicated that the
proposed Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA)
legislation will do little to benefit students with
disabilities. And, in some cases, the poll results demonstrate
that the proposed legislation could actually be detrimental to
the present status of students.
Parent volunteers across the country identified the need for a
poll to validate their feelings to policymakers, since many fear
for their children's futures with the upcoming IDEA
reauthorization. With the introduction of No Child Left Behind,
and the proposed watering down of IDEA through H.R. 1350
(especially) and S. 1248 (which is better than H.R. 1350),
students are at risk of a system that promises less, rather than
more, access to learning in school. Thus, students with
disabilities would not only be left behind, they would be left
out of some or all educational opportunities.
Holding schools accountable for sound practices and processes,
demonstrating student progress, and prudent spending of special
education dollars are high priority topics to students,
families, and advocates. The poll results clearly demonstrate
this.
P.S. IDEA volunteers drafted nine questions for the poll,
concentrating on major areas of controversy between educators
and parents in this round of the IDEA reauthorization process.
These areas are most commonly referred to as:
*Dual Discipline
*Attorney Fee Caps
*Full Funding
*Mandatory Pre-Due Process Meetings
*Short Term Objectives (Benchmarks)
*State Assurances vs. Demonstrating Compliance to OSEP
*Risk Pool Funds
*15% Diversion of Funds for Pre-Referral
*Use of Dispute Resolution Reports
In less than one month, in a preliminary assembly of results, it
was found that each of the poll questions collected between
400-1200 responses. This is significant right now, since some
school administrative groups are supporting items in the
reauthorization proposals that clearly are not in the best
interest of students. Many families and advocates feel that the
administrators' organizations are using lobbying dollars to make
adult jobs easier, not learning opportunities for students
better.
An important finding, but not surprising to many parents and
advocates, is that most respondents indicated that attitudes
toward students with disabilities were bigger barriers to the
implementation of IDEA than full funding.
The PS IDEA
Reauthorization Poll will receive responses through August 31,
2003 at
http://members.aol.com/PSIDEA/polls.htm. Questions
rotate with each visit to the Web site. For more
information on the IDEA Reauthorization, visit
www.ourchildrenleftbehind.com.
back to the top ~
back to Breaking News
~ back to
What's New
|
