• On November 9th Call Congress to Save Funding for IDEA, Gifted & Talented Program
  
• Senate Rejects 'Vouchers', But Still Provides Aid To Individual Students In Hurricane Relief Measure
  
• Department of Education Seeks Input on Part D of IDEA In Online Survey by Nov. 11
  
• GAO Reverses Course and Now Says 40 Percent of Students with Disabilities Not Counted in Nation’s Report Card

On November 9th Call Congress to Save Funding for IDEA, Gifted & Talented Programs

Next Wednesday, November 9th, the education community will be sending a message to Capitol Hill – Do Not Cut Education Funding! Call your Representative and Senators toll free 1-800-426-8073 using the talking points below!

Talking Points
-- Thirty years ago, Congress committed to fully fund IDEA at 40 percent per pupil cost, but both the House and Senate versions of H.R. 3010 only allocate enough funds to pay 18.1 percent and 18 percent, respectively, leaving states and school districts to pay the balance. Currently, IDEA is funded at 18.6 percent, so Congress is actually taking steps backwards!

-- The House of Representatives has eliminated funding for Javits Grants for students with gifts & talents, the only federal initiative that provides educational opportunities for gifted & talented students. We need to support the Senate proposed funding level of $11 million for 2006.

-- The two versions of H.R. 3010, together, eliminate more than $900 million in funding for programs such as Even Start, and comprehensive school reform, and chop funding for education technology, and teacher quality enhancement grants.

On November 9th, Tell Congress to Fund IDEA and Javits Grants!
Call your Senators and Representative toll-free: 1- 800-426-8073

It’s easy to call.

Step 1: On November 9th, call 1-800-426-8073 to be connected toll-free to the Capitol Switchboard. Ask to speak to your Representative. (If you don’t know who your Representative is, the people at the Capitol Switchboard can tell you or you may visit CEC’s Legislative Action Center http://capwiz.com/cek/home/ )

Step 2: After you are connected to your Representative’s office, say:
“My name is _______________ and I live in (your town/city). I would like Representative [name] to support:

-- Funding for IDEA at the highest proposed level, and recognize that IDEA remains drastically under funded.

-- Maintaining funding for Javits Grants for students with gifts & talents.

-- Not making cuts to education to pay for the recent Hurricanes, now is the time to support our schools and students.

Add any other personal anecdotes or information about how these drastic cuts will affect you and your community.

Step 3: Call again and ask to speak to your Senators with the same message!

Senate Rejects 'Vouchers', But Still Provides Aid To Individual Students In Hurricane Relief Measure

On November 3, the Senate overwhelmingly rejected an amendment to provide vouchers to students displaced by Hurricane Katrina in legislation that is part of a larger budget bill. The legislation, aimed at assisting students displaced by the hurricane, provides $1.65 billion for one-time only impact aid to students through the states while also cutting fees on student loans.

Instead of funding a traditional voucher program, which would have given funds directly to families of students displaced by the hurricane, an amendment to the legislation provides $1.2 billion to public and private schools that enroll students displaced by Katrina. The money will go to districts in quarterly installments for each student enrolled in a public or private school, with a maximum payment of $6,000 per student and $7,500 for each student with disabilities. This amount cannot exceed the cost of tuition at private schools. An additional $450 million will go towards repairing schools damaged by the hurricane.

The amendment also included $1 billion to reduce student loan origination fees from 3 percent to 2 percent.

Although not a true voucher program, the amendment to provide funds through the schools to displaced students concerns CEC and its members, many of whom sent letters to their Senators urging them to vote against vouchers in hurricane relief legislation. Despite the assurances that this is a one-time program designed to mitigate the affects of an extraordinary disaster, CEC remains dismayed that the Congress continues to find veiled paths around the politically charged voucher debate. CEC has long opposed vouchers, and we will continue to monitor the progress of this issue as the House and Senate come together to work out the differences in their respective measures to provide relief for the approximately 370,000 students displaced by Hurricane Katrina.

Department of Education Seeks Input on Part D of IDEA In Online Survey by Nov. 11

The Department of Education Office of Special Education Programs (OSEP) seeks your input on programs that will support individuals with disabilities and their families, covered under Part D of IDEA. Your input will assist OSEP in the development of its long-range plan for national activities which will establish OSEP’s investment directions and strategies across programs authorized in IDEA ’04. The deadline for survey submissions is November 11.

This is a unique opportunity for you to share your views with OSEP. CEC encourages all of its members to participate in this 10-minute, anonymous survey. Click here to take the survey.

GAO Reverses Course and Now Says 40 percent of Students with Disabilities Not Counted in Nation’s Report Card

Last week, the Government Accountability Office (GAO), the investigative arm of Congress, indicated that 40 percent of students with disabilities were excluded from the National Assessment of Educational Progress, also known as the Nation’s Report Card. CEC is outraged that so many students with disabilities were not counted in the Nation’s Report Card, a report that seeks to demonstrate how all students are performing.

GAO had previously reported that 5 percent of students with disabilities were excluded from national assessments, in the report titled No Child Left Behind Act: Most Students with Disabilities Participated in Statewide Assessments, but Inclusion Options Could be Improved, released in July. GAO stated that the discrepancy between the two figures was due to a miscommunication between GAO and the Department of Education.

Look for CEC’s Press Release on this next week.

To read GAO’s letter on the exclusion of 40% of students with disabilities, click here.

To read the original GAO report on assessment rates of students with disabilities, click here.

For CEC’s analysis on the original GAO report, click here.