I

107TH CONGRESS

1ST SESSION H. R. 1912

To amend the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act to provide full

funding for assistance for education of all children with disabilities.

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

MAY 17, 2001

Mr. SIMMONS introduced the following bill; which was referred to the

Committee on Education and the Workforce

A BILL

To amend the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act

to provide full funding for assistance for education of

all children with disabilities.

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Keeping Our Promise

5 to Special Education Act of 2001’’.

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

7 The Congress finds the following:

8 (1) Children with disabilities are guaranteed an

9 equal opportunity to an education under the 14th

10 Amendment to the Constitution.
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1 (2) While States and local educational agencies

2 are responsible for providing an education for all

3 children with disabilities, it is in the national inter4 est that the Federal Government have a role in as5 sisting State and local efforts to educate children

6 with disabilities in order to improve results for those

7 children and to ensure equal protection of the law.

8 (3) It is estimated that the excess expense of

9 educating a child with a disability is equal to 40 per10 cent of the national average per pupil expenditure.

11 (4) Under the Individuals with Disabilities Edu12 cation Act, Congress committed the Federal Govern13 ment to contributing up to 40 percent of the na14 tional average per pupil expenditure for the purpose

15 of educating children with disabilities.

16 (5) To date, the Federal Government has never

17 contributed more than 15 percent of the maximum

18 state grant allocation for educating children with

19 disabilities under the Individuals with Disabilities

20 Education Act.

21 SEC. 3. PURPOSE.

22 It is the purpose of this Act to reach the Federal Gov23 ernment’s goal of providing 40 percent of the national av24 erage per pupil expenditure for the purpose of education

25 all children with disabilities by fiscal year 2011.
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1 SEC. 4. AMOUNT OF GRANT FOR STATES UNDER PART B OF

2 THE INDIVIDUALS WITH DISABILITIES EDU3 CATION ACT.

4 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 611(a) of the Individuals

5 with Disabilities Education Act (20 U.S.C. 1411(a)) is

6 amended—

7 (1) by redesignating paragraph (2) as para8 graph (4); and

9 (2) by inserting after paragraph (1) the fol10 lowing:

11 ‘‘(2) MINIMUM AMOUNTS.—The minimum

12 amount of the grant a State is entitled to receive

13 under this section is—

14 ‘‘(A) the number of children with disabil15 ities in the State who are receiving special edu16 cation and related services—

17 ‘‘(i) aged 3 through 5 if the State is

18 eligible for a grant under section 619; and

19 ‘‘(ii) aged 6 through 21; multiplied by

20 ‘‘(B) the following percentages of the aver21 age current per-pupil expenditure in public ele22 mentary and secondary schools in the United

23 States for the following fiscal years:

24 ‘‘(i) 20 percent for fiscal year 2002.

25 ‘‘(ii) 22 percent for fiscal year 2003.

26 ‘‘(iii) 24 percent for fiscal year 2004.
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1 ‘‘(iv) 26 percent for fiscal year 2005.

2 ‘‘(v) 28 percent for fiscal year 2006.

3 ‘‘(vi) 30 percent for fiscal year 2007.

4 ‘‘(vii) 32 percent for fiscal year 2008.

5 ‘‘(viii) 34 percent for fiscal year 2009.

6 ‘‘(ix) 37 percent for fiscal year 2010.

7 ‘‘(x) 40 percent for fiscal year 2011

8 and each subsequent fiscal year.

9 ‘‘(3) NO INDIVIDUAL ENTITLEMENT.—Para10 graph (2) shall not be interpreted to entitle any indi11 vidual to assistance under any State program,

12 project, or activity funded under this part.’’.

13 (b) CONFORMING AMENDMENTS.—(1) Section 611 of

14 the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (20 U.S.C.

15 1411) is amended by striking subsection (j).

16 (2) Section 611 of the Individuals with Disabilities

17 Education Act (20 U.S.C. 1411), as amended by para18 graph (1), is further amended—

19 (A) in subsection (b)(1), by striking ‘‘From the

20 amount appropriated for any fiscal year under sub21 section (j), the Secretary shall reserve not more than

22 one percent, which shall be used’’ and inserting

23 ‘‘From the amount available for any fiscal year to

24 carry out this part (other than section 619), the

25 Secretary shall use not more than one percent’’;
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1 (B) in subsection (c), by striking ‘‘From the

2 amount appropriated for any fiscal year under sub3 section (j), the Secretary shall reserve’’ and inserting

4 ‘‘From the amount available for any fiscal year to

5 carry out this part (other than section 619), the

6 Secretary shall use’’;

7 (C) in subsection (d)—

8 (i) in paragraph (1)—

9 (I) by striking ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—’’;

10 and

11 (II) by striking ‘‘paragraph (2) or

12 subsection (e), as the case may be’’ and in13 serting ‘‘subsection (e)’’; and

14 (ii) by striking paragraph (2);

15 (D) in subsection (e)—

16 (i) in the heading, by striking ‘‘PERMA17 NENT’’;

18 (ii) in paragraph (1)—

19 (I) by striking ‘‘subsection (d)(1)’’

20 and inserting ‘‘subsection (d)’’; and

21 (II) by inserting after ‘‘subsection (j)’’

22 the following: ‘‘(as such subsection was in

23 effect on the day before the date of the en24 actment of the Keeping Our Promise to

25 Special Education Act of 2001)’’; and
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1 (iii) in paragraph (3)(B)—

2 (I) in clause (ii)—

3 (aa) in subclause (I)(bb), by

4 striking ‘‘amount appropriated under

5 subsection (j)’’ and inserting ‘‘amount

6 available to carry out this part (other

7 than section 619)’’;

8 (bb) in subclause (II)(bb), by

9 striking ‘‘appropriated’’ and inserting

10 ‘‘available’’; and

11 (cc) in subclause (III)(bb), by

12 striking ‘‘appropriated’’ and inserting

13 ‘‘available’’; and

14 (II) in clause (iii)(II), by striking ‘‘ap15 propriated’’ and inserting ‘‘available’’;

16 (E) in subsection (g)—

17 (i) in paragraph (2)—

18 (I) by striking subparagraph (A);

19 (II) by striking ‘‘(B) PERMANENT

20 PROCEDURE.—’’;

21 (III) by redesignating clauses (i) and

22 (ii) and subclauses (I) and (II) as subpara23 graphs (A) and (B) and clauses (i) and

24 (ii), respectively; and
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1 (IV) in subparagraph (B) (as redesig2 nated), by striking ‘‘clause (i)’’ and insert3 ing ‘‘subparagraph (A)’’; and

4 (ii) in paragraph (3)(A)—

5 (I) in clause (i)(I), by striking ‘‘appro6 priated’’ and inserting ‘‘available’’;

7 (II) in clause (ii), by striking ‘‘appro8 priated’’ and inserting ‘‘available’’; and

9 (F) in subsection (i)(3)(A), by striking ‘‘appro10 priated under subsection (j)’’ and inserting ‘‘avail11 able to carry out this part (other than section 619)’’.

12 SEC. 5. USE OF CERTAIN FUNDS UNDER THE INDIVIDUALS

13 WITH DISABILITIES EDUCATION ACT.

14 Section 613(a)(2)(C) of the Individuals with Disabil15 ities Education Act (20 U.S.C. 1413(a)(2)(C)) is

16 amended—

17 (1) by redesignating clause (ii) as clause (iii);

18 and

19 (2) by inserting after clause (i) the following:

20 ‘‘(ii) If a local educational agency

21 chooses to utilize the authority under

22 clause (i) to treat as local funds up to 20

23 percent of the amount of funds the agency

24 receives under this part that exceeds the

25 amount it received under this part for the
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1 previous fiscal year, then the agency shall

2 use those local funds to provide additional

3 funding for programs under the Elemen4 tary and Secondary Education Act of

5 1965, including, but not limited to, pro6 grams that address school safety, teacher

7 quality and professional development, be8 fore and after school learning opportuni9 ties, comprehensive school reform and lit10 eracy, class size reduction, school construc11 tion and modernization, or related edu12 cation programs authorized under Federal

13 or State law.’’.

14 SEC. 6. EFFECTIVE DATE.

15 This Act, and the amendments made by this Act,

16 shall take effect on October 1, 2001.

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