TO: NDSC Members and Affiliated Parent Groups
FROM: Susan Goodman, Director Governmental Affairs
DATE:  July 5, 2007 

Most States Need I.D.E.A. “Intervention”

U.S. Department of Education Reports

The U.S. Department of Education has issued report cards for the 50 states and 8 territories. According to the Department, only 9 states met the standards for educating children with disabilities under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA). 41 states and 8 territories fell into the “needs assistance” or “needs intervention” categories. If these states do not significantly improve how children with disabilities are educated, they face sanctions, including loss of federal funds.

Weaknesses cited by the U.S. Department of Education include:

    * States fail to ensure that local school districts comply with the law
    * States fail to comply with requirements about the transition from school to college or work

To view the status of your state, go to: http://www.ed.gov/policy/speced/guid/idea/monitor/factsheet.html

How Are States Graded?

According to http://wrightslaw.com,

IDEA 2004 requires all states to develop Performance Plans to evaluate how well the state is implementing IDEA and how the state will improve. 20 U.S.C. 1416(b) (1)

The requirements a state must meet are those it sets for itself in its State Performance Plan (SPP). States tend to set extremely modest goals. A plan that calls for any increment in performance, no matter how small, was approved by the Department of Education.

How is progress measured? The Department of Education uses data from the Annual Performance Reports prepared by the states to determine if states meet the requirements of IDEA.

In other words, the reports are based on requirements established by the states and used data provided by the states.  http://www.wrightslaw.com/news/07/idea.report.cards.htm.

How likely is Enforcement?

According to a January, 2000 report entitled “Back to School on Civil Rights:

Advancing the Federal Commitment to Leave No Child Behind” issued by the National Council on Disability,

Federal data from the (states’) reports document widespread noncompliance, enforcement of the law is the burden of parents who too often must invoke formal complaint procedure and due process hearings, including expensive and time-consuming litigation, to obtain the appropriate services and supports that their children are entitled under the law.

Many parents with limited resources are unable to challenge violations successfully when they occur. Even parents with significant resources are hard-pressed to prevail over state education agencies (SEA) and local education agencies (LEA) when they or their publicly financed attorneys choose to be resistant.

The Department of Education has made very limited use of its authority to impose enforcement sanctions such as withholding of funds or making referrals to the Department of Justice, despite persistent failures to ensure compliance in many states. http://www.wrightslaw.com/news/2000/NCD_IDEA_Report_00_0125.htm.

What Can Parents Do?

The responsibility for a child’s educational program lies, first, with the Individual Education Program (IEP) team.   There is a wealth of resources to enable parents to become effective advocates for their child and all children with disabilities.  Parents have been a powerful force in getting excellent provisions in I.D.E.A. to provide quality education for their children.  A good resource entitled:  Doing Your Homework can be found at http://www.wrightslaw.com/heath/dyh.index.htm.  Another excellent resource on standards-based IEP’s can be found at http://www.schwablearning.org/articles.aspx?r=1116.

Susan Goodman, Director of Governmental Affairs and parent of an adult son with a disability, will be discussing how various provisions of I.D.E.A. affect your child at the NDSC Annual Conference in Kansas City, MO.  Parents who have made a difference in their states will also be presenting from their personal experiences.

Help Spread the News!

The NDSC’s Governmental Affairs Newsline is an excellent resource and one we encourage you to share with your parent group affiliate, or personal, listserv.

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