ON IDEA FULL FUNDING -- (House of Representatives - November 01, 2000)
 

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   The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the gentleman from Kansas (Mr. MORAN) is recognized for 5 minutes.

   Mr. MORAN of Kansas. Mr. Speaker, as our conferees deliberate the appropriations for the Department of Labor, Health and Human Services and Education, I would like to take this opportunity to urge and insist upon the highest level of funding possible for special education State grants.

   November 29 of this year celebrates the 25th anniversary of the enactment of IDEA. For almost a quarter of a century now, the Federal Government has assisted in the education of our children with disabilities and for almost that same quarter of a century, the Federal Government has failed to meet its obligations.

   A Kansas school on average uses 20 percent of its budget for special education purposes. Schools in my area of Kansas cannot afford to put one-fifth of their entire budget into special education. This year Kansas schools will spend $454 million in meeting the Federal special education mandate. Of this total, only $38 million, about 8 percent, will come from the Federal Government despite our previous commitment 25 years ago of a 40 percent commitment.

   In my previous service as a member of the Kansas Senate, we struggled 

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each and every year to adequately fund the education of students in our State. In actual dollars if special education were actually funded at that 40 percent, Kansas would receive $181 million from the Federal Government. This means $143 million in Kansas State and local education funds would be available for other educational needs.

   These numbers make it clear that special education costs consume education budgets of State and local school districts. Schools are not maintained properly, teachers do not get hired, and classroom materials do not get purchased. Our schools are not asking for new Federal programs. They are asking for the Federal Government to pay its share of special education costs so that other funds can be freed up for maintaining buildings, hiring teachers and buying classroom materials.

   Congress has made significant progress in recent years to increase Federal funding for special education. In my 4 years as a Member of Congress, we have increased IDEA State grants from $3 billion to $5 billion. That is a 67 percent increase in just 3 years.

    

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   We still have a long way to go. For far too long, the Federal Government has mandated this program without paying its share. Today let us make the commitment to change all that and support full funding of IDEA.

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