Date: 2004-11-19
Speaker: GEORGE MILLER (democrat)
Chamber: H
State: California

Mr. Speaker. I want to begin my remarks by also thanking people because I think many people are surprised. myself included. that we are here today. This has been a rather toxic season in the political arena and in this Congress. There is not a lot of evidence that there is a lot of bipartisan action taking place in the Congress of the United States. But in this committee on this subject we were able to work through all of those environmental concerns about the atmosphere and arrive at legislation that is going to be very good for those children with special needs. And I want to thank the gentleman from Ohio .. our chairman. for all of his time. his effort. his political skill within his caucus and I think within my caucus. too. to get us to this point. And to the gentleman from Delaware . who. as we all know. is absolutely committed to getting good legislation on the books. to write good law. and to do it on behalf of our Nations school children to see that they get a good opportunity at the education that should be offered to them. I want to thank Senator TED KENNEDY and Senator JUDD GREGG for their cooperation in deciding even before the election that we would take a shot at getting this passed before this session closed down. and we were able to do it. I also want to thank the gentlewoman from California on our side. who managed this legislation for the minority. who took it from the early days when it was clearly very confrontational. to smoothing out some of the rough spots and finally helping us arrive at the compromised positions that maintain the integrity of IDEA. to also improve IDEA and make sure that our commitment to these young children and their educational opportunities are clear as a matter of Federal law. I want to thank the staff on our side. Alex Nock and Alice Cain. Ruth Friedman and Lloyd Hoowich. for all of their help. This was long hours by the staff. And on the Republican side. David Cleary. Sally Lovejoy. Melanie Looney. Krisann Pearce for all of their help in working with people on the Democratic side. And on the Senate Republican side. Denzel McGuire. Bill Lucia. Senate Democrats Connie Garner. Roberto Rodriguez. and Michael Yudin for their help. This would not have been done had these people not been able to come together and work their way through bill? that were different in many ways. But the fact of the matter was it did happen. and I think the children with special needs who need this law are going to be well served. as are their parents. as are their schools. and as are their teachers. I have a special connection to this law because I was in Congress and served as one of the original authors of this law when it was first passed in 1974. And in 1974 when we surveyed the Nations schools and the State systems of school. we found that children were. on an ordinary basis.* on a regular basis. excluded from the classrooms of this Nation. They were put into basements. They were put intosegregated schools. They were put into separate classrooms. They were not allowed to come into classrooms if they were in a wheelchair. if they needed assistance for their *physical disabilities. and a dramatic percentage of minority students. were labeled as retarded. were labeled as having an inability to take advantage of an education in numbers that defied any statistical understanding that any population would be labeled in that fashion. Hundreds of thousands of children mislabeled and therefore not allowed to go to the schools of this Nation. And at that time we passed the Education for all Handicapped Children. as it was called in those days. And from that time forward. this law has become one of the basic civil rights laws of this Nation for those children with special .needs. for their families. and for those schools. recognizing the commitment that this Congress made to these children and their families. that they would get a free and appropriate education in the least restrictive environment to make sure that. where possible. these children would be in the mainstream classrooms of our Nations schools. They would be able to participate with their peers on a regular basis. They would be able to enjoy the benefits of that educational opportunity. that no longer by simple reason of their special needs would they be segregated. no longer by reason of their special needs would they be discriminated against. This has not been a smooth road to make sure that these children would have educational opportunity and have access to that free and appropriate education in the least restrictive environment. It has been a struggle. It has been a struggle for our school districts. It has been a struggle for our taxpayers. It has been a struggle for the families of these children. But each and every time we have made progress. and we do so again with this legislation. We make sure that they will. in fact. have qualified teachers. But we make sure that we do not drive the teachers from the teaching field by the law that we have passed here. We have provided that kind of flexibility so we can have the best of both worlds. [2 1030 We can have qualified teachers. and we can make it workable for those teachers and for the school districts. We make sure that those children who might act out in class. who might be a discipline problem can be separated from the general population if they are a danger. but we also make sure that we do not discontinue their educational opportunities in that separate setting. however restrictive it might be. And there is a process for doing that. both to protect that child. to protect their educational opportunity. and to protect the general school population. a very important change. We make sure that. while trying to enforce this law. that we make every effort to make sure that the child has access to a workable. individualized education plan. But we also want -to make sure that. in the enforcement of those efforts. we do not engage in frivolous lawsuits. we do not engage in trying to extort the school district into positions. So we make sure that you can have access to those programs. but you do not get to take advantage of the taxpayers and the efforts that are being made. From 1974 onward. I have had hundreds and hundreds of parents who have come to me and said. or written to me from all over the country. that. but for this law. my child would not have gotten an education. but for. this law. my child would not have been able to be in the public schools. Some of those were long letters of the detailed effort by parents. taking months and thousands of dollars. to challenge the right of their child to be in an educational setting. along with the rest of the schoolchildren in this Nation. But it is this law. that made it possible. and it is law that we extend with this reauthorization. It is this law that we extend the civil rights protections of our Constitution to the Nations schoolchildren. to those children with special needs. and it is this law that gives their parents a voice and a say in the direction of their education. It is this law that makes sure that- the educational establishments of this country respond to those needs. And it is this law that tries to provide the means to work that out by offering alternative dispute resolution. by offering mediation. by offering a means by which parents and teachers and school personnel can sit down together and. at the end of that day. that child win have a chance at that educational opportunity. and the district will be in a position to provide it. But there is something that is still lacking in this law. and that is the funding of this legislation. This is the funding of this legislation. Back in 1974. we said we would pick up 40 .percent of the excess cost of the education of these children. and we have not done it. We have not done it as Democrats. We have not done it as Republicans. In the last few years. we have made a rather substantial march on that effort. but we still never get there under the budget. Yet we have Members of Congress voting for full funding and mandatory funding of special education. We have Members signing letters to the President asking for full funding of special education. We have votes in the Senate. a majority. bipartisan votes demanding full funding for special education. But somehow we can never get there. And even in this legislation. I am glad to see that we have laid out a roaqlmap for over the next 7 years. I believe it is. we will arrive at full funding. But I am worried that later tonight. as we pass an omnibus appropriations bill. we will not even meet the target in this legislation before the ink is dry or even before the President has signed it. The President said he has not fully funded No Child Left Behind because he did not read the bill. I want the President to read this bill. because the compact with these parents and with this Congress is that we are going to reach full funding in 7 years. And if we do not. if we do not. the full educational opportunity for these. students and for the other students is not going to be realized because the funding is not following this legislation. It is very important that that happen and that we start to keep our commitments on special education. that we start to keep our commitments on No Child Left Behind. It is not enough. and we cannot continue the practice. We did it when we were in control. It is not enough to put figures into authorizations and tell people that is the law. that is what we have done. and then look behind and say we never intended to do that. We should say what we mean. and we should mean what we say. If we cannot do it in 7 years. then tell the public when we are going to do it. But this is the statement of the Congress that we will reach full funding in those 7 years. and I think that is most important. Mr. Speaker. I include for the RECORD an editorial from this mornings Washington Post. [From the Washington Post. Nov. 19. 2004]