Frank Riggs: “First of all, the contention has been made that amendments that involve a relatively small, even insignificant amount of…”

“First of all, the contention has been made that amendments that involve a relatively small, even insignificant amount of money like 4 million extra, the vocational education amendment, or $11 million more will not do much to meet the Federal obligation to pay 40 percent of the cost of special education in America today. I would submit that just the opposite is true. We want colleagues to keep moving in the direction, and I should not have to tell this to a distinguished senior member of the Committee on Appropriations, but we want to move in the Senate's direction. The other body has increased funding in their version of this bill by $830 million, building on the $700 million increase in last year's bill for special education. Why? Because apparently they take more serious than the House of Representatives the obligation of Federal taxpayers to pay 40 percent of the cost of special education pursuant to the original legislation back in the mid-1970s. Second, again the point that I made last week, if we can reach $1 billion in new Federal spending for special education, local school districts are then able to redirect the money that they are spending on special education to meet other important local educational needs.”