Johnny Isakson: “Mr. Chairman, it may have been about choice the other day, it may have been about options the other day; it is about…”

“Mr. Chairman, it may have been about choice the other day, it may have been about options the other day; it is about children today. No lesser authority than the United States Supreme Court has authorized the portability of Federal funds for students with special education needs. There is not a Member of this body that does not represent a State that does not have students whose tuition to private schools is paid in full under their eligibility because of IDEA and because the State determines that it cannot meet the needs of those children. This is not about mandating choice to a parent. This is about giving the option of portability to a public school system that determines that might be necessary in a special ed case; for example, a student with severe hearing disability who goes on to an audio trainer in a rural system who might be able to serve a semester or a year in another institution to learn how to use that audio trainer; or a cerebral palsy student profoundly disabled and handicapped who, through assistive technology, may have the ability to learn how to function in the public school classroom. Should we say no if a State makes that determination, and a parent chooses, to send most of the money which is theirs, the State's, to follow that student? I think not.”