James M. Jeffords: “As the 108th Congress comes to a close, the House and the Senate are considering a significant legislative initiative…”

“As the 108th Congress comes to a close, the House and the Senate are considering a significant legislative initiative, the Individuals with Disabilities Education, UDEA, Improvement Act. The purpose of the IDEA Improvement Act is to reauthorize the law that was enacted 29 years ago, the Education for All Handicapped Children Act. That law, now known as IDEA, was based upon a series of court decisions in the early 1970s that found that children with disabilities were no different than other children and were, and still are, entitled to a free and appropriate education. I was one of the original authors of the 1975 law. A key provision of that law was the inclusion of language that committed the federal government to pay 40 percent of the national average per pupil expenditure for each disabled child's education. Unfortunately, this is a commitment that has yet to be met. This year, my own state of Vermont had to spend $22 million in state funds to make up the shortfall from the Federal Government. I do not believe the bill before us, the IDEA Improvement Act of 2004, will provide the Federal funding to sufficiently accommodate all children with disabilities. As we approach the 30th anniversary of the original IDEA law, it is unconscionable that we, the Congress, will have once again failed to fulfill our commitment to pay the 40 percent share we promised almost three decades ago. In fact, as of today, we are not even halfway there.”