As a member of the Education and Workforce Committee in Congress, I am a strong supporter of giving state and local school systems, along with their teachers and parents, much more say in the child’s education.  At the same time, I have worked to move our increased federal education dollars (a nine percent increase in federal education spending in grades K-12) out of Washington, DC to instead be spent directly on our children in our Tennessee classrooms.  As we continue this process, it is obviously very important for Congress to continue to get input on federal education policy from the local level.

During the August recess, I invited Education and Workforce Committee Chairman Bill Goodling to convene a field hearing of our committee in Tennessee.  We held the hearing on August 24th at Gibbs High School in Knox County.  It was a great opportunity to hear from local educators and parents.

The field hearing focused on the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA).  IDEA is a program that requires states and local school districts to give disabled children the same educational opportunities to learn as other children.  This is obviously a worthy goal.  However, many school administrators feel IDEA strains their budgets, and many teachers and principals believe it ties their hands when it comes to disciplining disruptive students.  In my opinion, these concerns are well-founded and need to be addressed.  In part, that’s why I brought our committee to Tennessee.

IDEA Full Funding

When IDEA was passed in 1975, the federal government pledged to fund 40 percent of the national average per pupil expenditure in order to assist with the additional costs of educating students with disabilities.  Neither the Congress nor the President has lived up to that commitment.

In 1995 (the most recent year data was available), the share of IDEA the federal government originally committed to fund would have amounted to $240,534,900 in Tennessee.  The State of Tennessee actually received only $46,942,700 from the federal government to offset the additional costs of IDEA.  If the forty percent promise had been kept, Tennessee would have received an additional $193,592,200 in 1995 alone.  These additional funds would make a huge difference for Tennessee’s school children.

During my tenure on the House Education and Workforce Committee, and under the leadership of Chairman Bill Goodling, the federal contribution to IDEA has grown from roughly seven percent of the average per pupil expenditure to almost thirteen percent.  This year, I co-sponsored the “IDEA Full Funding Act of 2000,” which the House passed.  The act sets a schedule to meet the federal government’s 40 percent funding commitment by 2010.

I believe we must meet the federal government’s pledge to fund forty percent of the costs of IDEA.  Such an action will not only help the disabled children this act was intended to serve, but will also give local schools more flexibility in the use of their own funds, which would then be freed up to spend on smaller classrooms, teacher salary increases or any number of other needs.

Better Discipline

A good part of the hearing was spent discussing school discipline problems and IDEA.  Many teachers and principals feel they have lost the ability to maintain order in the classroom because some special needs children are receiving protections beyond those originally envisioned by IDEA due to the fear of lawsuits.

The tightrope we must walk in order to protect the rights of disabled children while not infringing on the rights of other students to learn in an orderly environment may be the toughest task facing students, teachers and school administrators today.  We must find a solution that takes into account the needs of educators as well as the students they teach.  Our laws should create an environment where all students can interact and learn the information they need to be successful in the future.

I appreciate the testimony of our witnesses:  Jacksboro Middle School teacher Jamie Baird, Tennessee Department of Education Commissioner Dr. Vernon Coffey, State Representative Jamie Hagood, IDEA parent Angie Irick and Knox County School Superintendent Dr. Charles Lindsey.  Thanks to their input, as well as that of others who submitted written testimony, I believe that those of us on the House Education and Workforce Committee will have a better understanding of the problems IDEA presents local schools, as well as some new ideas on how to tackle these problems.
 
 

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