Fighting to Protect Endangered IDEA

What Is IDEA?

From Wikipedia: "The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) is a four-part (A-D) piece of American legislation that ensures students with a disability are provided with Free Appropriate Public Education (FAPE) that is tailored to their individual needs. IDEA was previously known as the Education for All Handicapped Children Act (EHA) from 1975 to 1990. In 1990, the United States Congress reauthorized EHA and changed the title to IDEA (Public Law No. 94-142). Overall, the goal of IDEA is to provide children with disabilities the same opportunity for education as those students who do not have a disability."

What's Happening with IDEA?

The promised 40% funding from Congress has not delivered, and decreases as levels stay stagnant (or are cut) and the need for services covered under IDEA skyrocket in public schools. I have seen the struggle to retain and train qualified educators and paraeducators in our local public school districts. It's become harder after fire destroyed a significant chunk of housing and increased cost of living in our area.

Our current head of education, Betsy DeVos, has been consistently trying to weaken or defund IDEA ever since she took office. Not only is she grossly unqualified to make decisions about education due to a lack of experience with the public, schools, and education, she doesn't care about the kids in public schools - especially the costly ones with special needs. She pushes charter schools, which may sound like a good idea at first but upon closer inspection basically shifts any responsibility for enforcement of IDEA off the shoulders of the federal government and leaves you at the mercy of people trying to make money off education. It's sneaky, and a huge leap backwards, widening the cracks our kids fall into between supports and services into something more like the Grand Canyon.

What can I do?

Contact your representatives in Congress and urge them to fund and protect IDEA. Show you understand it and that you consider it's enactment important for you and your community.

In March 2018 a Bill was introduced to increase funding and support for IDEA, S.2542 IDEA Full Funding Law. It has been referred to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (that's Betsy DeVos, incase you were wondering). In March 2019 an amendment bill to the IDEA Act introduced, S. 866 IDEA Full Funding Act. Write and urge your representatives to support these bills.

Not sure who is your Congressional rep? Here's a website to locate your congressional representatives.

Why is IDEA Important?

• Programs that benefit all students are likely to be cut.  Each year that Congress fails to meet its 40% promise, districts are forced to pay a higher proportion of the special education cost. Schools and districts have been facing budget cuts for years and there is a scarcity of resources in many of our nation’s schools.  As a result, districts are forced to make hard decisions about which programs to fund. Schools and districts are sometimes forced to divert funds from programs that serve all students (including students with disabilities) into IDEA. This should not be a choice schools and districts are forced to make.
   
• It becomes harder to recruit and retain qualified teachers.  Over time, as districts are forced to put more funds into IDEA, they are unable to use those funds to increase teacher salary, decrease class size, or update classroom resources. The continual funding crisis makes it hard for schools to invest in the types of activities that will bring in and retain the best teachers.
    
• Our schools cannot thrive until students with disabilities succeed.  It has long been proven that including students with disabilities in our general education classrooms benefits all students — those with and without disabilities. When schools focus on the success of students with disabilities, the school as a whole thrives. Until they have the resources they need from the federal government to fully fund IDEA, schools will continue to struggle to provide the comprehensive and high-quality services that students with disabilities deserve.

(from National Center for Learning Disabilities)