FWD
Awake_Advocacy
Mike Savory

Fw: EMERGENCY message on saving the Individuals with Disabilities Education
Act, from California Association for Parent-Child Advocacy and from Kathryn
Dobel, Valerie Vanaman and Maureen Graves

PLEASE TAKE ACTION AND SPREAD THE WORD. Reauthorization of the basic federal
special education law -- the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act -- is
moving forward swiftly. Negotiations are occurring day and night, and the
process may well be over within a week. Core aspects of IDEA are being seriously
threatened for the first time since 1975. In light of the national election
results, this is likely to be our LAST BEST CHANCE to preserve as many as
possible of the protections which students with disabilities now have under
federal
law. Please cut and paste, personalize, and write and fax as many letters as
you can. Make phone calls. E-mails are better than nothing, but are very easily
deleted. For more information and action suggestions, go to dredf.org or
ourchildrenleftbehind.com.
Please e-mail capca@... (California Association for Parent-Child
Advocacy) if you are willing to be on a listserv for people who are concerned
about
special education law and policy issues in CA and nationally, and/or willing to
be part of the Autism Education Network (not limited to autism -- this is a
high-tech network which makes participating in the defense of special education
rights very fast and easy). A great deal will be happening in the next week or
month nationally, and in California it appears that we are in for a constant
stream of school district-sponsored legislative plans. So far we have beaten
back a bunch of measures (to shorten the statute of limitations, reverse the
burden of proof, and much more), but have lost on a big matter (a bill which
supposedly protects children in foster care, but in fact hurts most children in
special education). We also have some legislative ideas of our own, but we need
more people involved in order to escape from our current defensive posture.
We are working with other groups on some high-tech ways to make participating
EXTREMELY easy. Please let us know if we can forward your contact information
to the Autism Education Network, which has developed a way in which YOU can
e-mail, while the legislator you are writing to gets the correspondence as a
fax.

This e-mail includes: I) Two sample letters re IDEA for any member of
Congress, II) how to find your representative and senator, III) list of members
of
conference committee &IV) list of key legislators in negotiations re
reauthorization

I. Sample letters -- choose one or both

Inside address (faxed letters preferable)

Re: Keep the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act Strong

Dear Senator / Representative _____________:

There is a face behind the story that I want to tell you, but unfortunately
pictures don’t fax well. The face belongs to my _____ (relationship) (name),
who has ______ (disability) and who, in order to learn and become a productive
member of our society, needs the special education and related services that an
enlightened nation promised children like _______ (name) nearly 30 years ago—
special education and related services that I fear (he/she) will not receive
if current proposals for changes to the IDEA are enacted.

[And then tell the story; briefly describe one or more children about whom
you are especially concerned.]

I write for ____, and the millions of children with disabilities across
America, to urge you not to allow changes that will weaken the IDEA, and, in so
doing, reduce the chances that my _____ (relationship) can lead a happy and
productive life.

You have the power and the responsibility to ensure that children’s rights
and futures are protected. Please use your influence to ensure that whenever and
however IDEA is reauthorized, it remains strong [letter could end here, or go
on as follows], especially in the following aspects:

1) Preserve the “stay put” / “pendency” provisions of current law by
rejecting extremely broad “discipline” exceptions. Eliminating the stay put
provision in discipline cases could have devastating effects on children with
disabilities, punishing those who, in the vast majority of cases, can’t help
the
things they do. If children have behavioral issues, responsible adults should
address them, and current law tells schools how. But if the rules aren’t
followed—
i.e., if behavior plans aren’t developed and/or implemented—kids are simply
going to be kids. It’s not the law that needs changing but schools’ failure
to implement it. Congress cannot fairly expect children with disabilities to
control certain behaviors if the law it wrote seven years ago is ignored. But
that is what is happening, and that is what needs to change—not the law.

2) Preserve hearing rights under IDEA, including the right of prevailing
parents to recover reasonable attorneys’ fees. HR 1350’s approach allows
governors, who have a serious conflict of interest, to set fees for parents’
attorneys. It does nothing to cap the growing use of attorneys, often extremely
hardline practitioners, by school districts. In 1986, after two years of
negotiation,
Congress adopted a “compromise” attorneys’ fees provision which Senator
Hatch said provided for reasonable attorneys’ fees for prevaling parents while
“
protect[ing] against excessive reimbursement.” Nothing has changed since 1986
except that in 1997 Congress amended the law to prohibit fees for IEP meetings
and to allow states to not pay fees for mediation. Now, just as in 1986, most
parents can’t afford lawyers and most lawyers won’t take cases if they
can’t
get paid, at least when they win. Unlike school district lawyers who are paid
either way, parents’ lawyers only get paid when they win. Allowing state
governors to set the fees for parents’ lawyers will chill private lawyers’
willingness to take cases—and the lower the set rates, the deeper the freeze.
While
the Senate provisions are less draconian, the provsion allowing awards against
parents will have a chilling effect on the exercise of the rights so carefully
set out in the law.

3) Do not nullify IDEA’s substantive provisions by imposing a short statute
of limitations. A short statute of limitation would encourage parents to move
quickly into legal processes, contrary to Congress’ goal of encouraging
collaboration and alternative dispute resolution. A short statute of limitation
would
bar relief in the most egregious cases—situations in which districts have
ignored or mishandled students’ problems, and their legal obligations, over a
course of years.

4) Preserve record-keeping requirements so that students, parents, and
teachers will have meaningful information regarding student progress or lack
thereof. In 1997, Congress said that “goals, including benchmarks, or short
term
objectives,” were a “crucial” requirement of the law, yet the bills
currently in
conference would eliminate those benchmarks/objectives. Without them, parents
have no idea how their child is doing until a year is up and the annual goal
is hit or missed. Districts that do a good job educating students with
disabilities use paperwork for educational planning, and know that minor lapses
in
paperwork are very unlikely to create legal jeopardy for a district.
“Paperwork
reductions” can turn very easily into reductions in rights and services,
especially if a state can obtain a far-reaching waiver by which it is exempted
from
the need to collect the very information that would be needed to evaluate
whether the state’s performance, in fact, continues to warrant the issuance of
the
waiver.

5) Do not repeal the abrogation of sovereign immunity. State Departments of
Education are responsible for ensuring that their states are providing an
appropriate public education. When the State DOE cannot be held accountable for
statewide policy failures, countless numbers of children are negatively
affected.

Please let me know if I can meet with you to share more information about how
IDEA has protected a child I love, and how fundamental changes statute could
ruin (his/her) chance to be happy and productive. Again, I urge you to use
your influence to safeguard children's rights and futures. Whenever and however
IDEA is reauthorized, please keep it strong.



OR





Your contact info

Inside address



Re: PROTECT THE INDIVIDUALS WITH DISABILITIES EDUCATION ACT



My name is ________________; I am the parent of __________, who is ____ years
old and receives special education services as a result of having
_______________. (Room for personal comments
____________________________________).



I am writing to plead that you resist pressures to move backwards in the way
our society educates children with disabilities. As Congress noted in IDEA ’
97, we have learned a great deal about how to educate children with disabilities
for inclusive, independent lives. What has sometimes been lacking is a
commitment to apply that knowledge. Now, instead of adequately funding IDEA and
strengthening its enforcement, Congress seems to be on the brink of yielding to
pressures from the most resistant, outspoken school district bureaucrats –
those
who would rather fight the law than comply with it.



The issues of most concern to me are:



1) Access to legal representation and threat of forcing parents to pay for
school districts’ counsel: In the very rare cases that go to due process
hearing
or to court, parents desperately need legal representation. Letting governors
set parents’ lawyers’ fees would create a huge conflict of interest. Putting
parents and their lawyers at increased risk of paying the school district’s
attorney’s fees would be extremely chilling, especially for the many low and
middle income parents who rely on the fee-shifting provisions of IDEA to get
access to legal representation.



2) Statute of limitations: Setting a short statute of limitations would make
the “Child Find” requirements of IDEA meaningless. It would give school
districts a powerful incentive to conceal problems for as long as possible.
Those
parents who are aware of their rights and their children’s needs, and have the
resources to advocate, would be pushed into more frequent, probably more
costly disputes, since time spent in compromise negotiations would rapidly
forfeit
claims.



3) “Discipline”: “Discipline” is often a code word for unwarranted
segregation of students with disabilities. Current law strikes an excellent
balance
between the rights and needs of students with disabilities, on the one hand, and
their teachers and general and special education peers, on the other. It
creates desirable incentives for parents and school districts to work together
to
control problematic behaviors and, when problems arise, to compromise on
placement and service issues. Giving school districts unbridled power to change
placements whenever any “code of conduct” is allegedly violated, as in HR
1350,
or weakening discipline protections, as in S 1248, would create exactly the
wrong incentives. Districts seeking to change placements for any reasons (i.e.,
to save money by moving a student from support in a general education
classroom with aide support into a special day class with 18 students) would
have an
incentive to “set up” students for behavior problems. When behavior problems
arise, districts would be empowered to act unilaterally – without regard for
parent input or student needs.



For the most part, special education in our country functions well. It would
be more successful with adequate funding and with adequate enforcement of the
requirement that school districts use research-based, effective techniques,
but even at its current quality level, it enables many students to attain
self-sufficiency in adulthood, and reduces long-term care costs for many more
severely disabled students. (___________________ insert personal comments).



Reauthorization should improve IDEA, not gut the core protections on which
approximately 10% of students depend.





II) To find your Congressperson or Senator, go to
http://www.congress.org/congressorg/dbq/officials

III)



Re: How Do I Contact The Conferees? (SpEdVoters)

AREA CODE = 202


~ SENATE ~

Jeff Sessions (Prim Formby)
221-4124; 224-3149 (fax)
335 Russell
sessions.senate.gov/contact.htm#form

Christopher Dodd (Grace Reef)
224-2823; 228-1683 (fax)
448 Russell
dodd.senate.gov/webmail/f...inion.html

Tom Harkin (Mary Giliberti)
224-3254; 224-9369 (fax)
731 Hart
harkin.senate.gov/contact/contact.cfm

Pat Roberts (Jennifer Swanson)
224-4774; 224-3514 (fax)
109 Hart
roberts.senate.gov/e-mail_pat.html

Barbara Mikulski (Rebecca Litt)
224-4654; 224-8858 (fax)
709 Hart
mikulski.senate.gov/mailform.html

Edward Kennedy (Connie Garner)
224-6390; 224-5128 (fax)
644 Dirksen
Connie_Garner@...

Christopher Bond (Kara Vlasaty)
224-5721
274 Russell
bond.senate.gov/contact/contactme.cfm

John Ensign (Lindsey Loveland)
224-6244; 224-2193 (fax)
364 Russell
ensign.senate.gov/forms/email_form.cfm

Judd Gregg (Stephanie Monroe)
224-6770
428 Dirksen
Stephanie_Monroe@...

Jeff Bingaman (Michael Uyuden)
224-5521; 224-2852 (fax)
703 Hart
senator_bingaman@...

Hillary Clinton (Suzie Saavedra)
224-2923; 228-0282 (fax)
476 Russell
Susie_Saaavedra@...

John Edwards (Sarah Pendergraft)
224-3154; 228-1374 (fax)
225 Dirksen
edwards.senate.gov/mailform.html

Mike DeWine (Mary Beth Luna)
224-2315; 224-6519 (fax)
140 Russell
dewine.senate.gov/request_form.htm

Jack Reed (Elise Wasch)
224-4642; 224-4680 (fax)
728 Hart
reed.senate.gov/contact.htm#DC

Lindsey Graham (Laura Bauld)
224-5972
290 Russell
www.lgraham.senate.gov/in...ontactform

Lamar Alexander (Kristin Benderman)
224-5800; 228-0412 (fax)
302 Hart
alexander.senate.gov/contact/

Bill Frist (Talivah Bayles)
224-3344; 228-1264 (fax)
461 Dirksen
frist.senate.gov/index.cf...ontactForm

James Jeffords (Sherry Kaiman)
224-5141
413 Dirksen
jeffords.senate.gov/contact-form.html

John Warner (JK Robinson)
224-2023; 224-6295 (fax)
225 Russell
warner.senate.gov/contact/contactme.htm

Patty Murray (Jamie Sasteau)
224-2621; 224-0238 (fax)
173 Russell
murray.senate.gov/contact/contact.cfm

Michael Enzi (Scott Fleming)
224-3424; 228-0359 (fax)
379A Russell
Scott_Fleming@...



~ HOUSE ~

John Boehner
225-6205; 25-0704 (fax)
1011 Longworth
johnboehner.house.gov/contact.asp

Michael Castle
225-4165
1233 Longworth

Vernon Ehlers
225-3831; 225-5144 (fax)
1714 Longworth

Ric Keller
225-2176; 225-0999 (fax)
419 Cannon

Joe Wilson
225-2452; 225-2455 (fax)
212 Cannon
Joe.Wilson@...

George Miller
225-2095
2205 Rayburn
george.miller@...

Lynn Woolsey
225-5161; 225-5163 (fax)
2263 Rayburn
woolsey.house.gov/emailform.asp

Major Owens
225-6231; 226-0112 (fax)
2309 Rayburn


IV) Key legislators:





Via fax 202-228-4222 or 202-228-5044

The Honorable Judd Gregg

Chairman, Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions

United States Senate

Washington, DC 20510



Via fax 202-224-5128

The Honorable Edward M. Kennedy

United States Senate

Washington, DC 20510



Via fax 202-226-1010

The Honorable John Boehner

Chairman, Committee on Education and the Workforce

U.S. House of Representatives

Washington, DC 20515



Via fax 202-225-3277

The Honorable George Miller

U.S. House of Representatives

Washington, DC 20515






Maureen Graves, Attorney at Law, 34 Schubert Court, Irvine, CA 92612; Office
phone (949) 856-0128; Fax (949) 856-0168; Pager (714) 266-1515; e-mail
maureengraves@....


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