James M. Jeffords: “with my colleague, Senator Frist, I am introducing the Individuals With Disabilities Education Act Amendments of 1997.…”

“with my colleague, Senator Frist, I am introducing the Individuals With Disabilities Education Act Amendments of 1997. This legislation is identical to S. 1578, which was reported out of the Labor and Human Resources Committee in the last Congress. Senator Frist did a tremendous job in assisting, getting that prepared and passed out of committee. Unfortunately, the bill did not pass in the last legislative session. We are introducing this legislation today so everyone will have a common frame of reference. However, I want to make it very clear to my colleagues in the Senate and to my colleagues and friends within the education and disability community across the Nation that this legislation is not perfect and it can and will be improved. This is the beginning of the process, not the end. I am well aware that there are still issues to be resolved and I intend to work with my colleagues to examine these issues and to move forward with revisions to this important law that are commonsense solutions to issues which are very real at the local school level.”