Copyright 2000 St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Inc.
St.
Louis Post-Dispatch
May 4, 2000, Thursday, FIVE STAR LIFT EDITION
SECTION: NEWS, Pg. A2
LENGTH: 396 words
HEADLINE:
HOUSE VOTES TO SHARPLY INCREASE FEDERAL FUNDS FOR SPECIAL EDUCATION;
BUT THE
MONEY STILL NEEDS TO GET VOTED ON EACH YEAR
BYLINE: The
Associated Press
DATELINE: WASHINGTON
BODY:
The House agreed Wednesday to live up
to a promise made a quarter-century ago by gradually increasing federal backing
for special education from $ 5 billion this year to $ 25 billion in 2010.
Full funding for the Individuals with Disabilities Education
Act has been a top priority of Republicans, but the 421-3 vote also
reflected strong backing from Democrats. The money still would have to be
approved in annual budget bills. The legislation, which now goes to the Senate,
would authorize spending of $ 7 billion next fiscal year, which starts Oct. 1,
and allow an increase of $ 2 billion a year until the figure reaches $ 25
billion in 2010. At that level, the federal government would be providing about
40 percent of the extra costs needed to give children with special needs access
to education.
The 1975 law requiring schools to educate children with
disabilities allows the federal government to contribute up to 40 percent of
those costs. But it has never come close to that amount, shifting the cost
burden to the states and local school districts.
"We didn't put our
money where our mouth was," said Rep. Bill Goodling, R-Pa., the chief sponsor
and chairman of the Education and the Workforce Committee. Goodling said that in
the past four years, the GOP-led Congress has managed to more than double the
money for the act to $ 5 billion. But that still only takes care of 12.6 percent
of the national average of $ 6,300 a child that it takes to educate the 6
million children with special needs.
Rep. Matthew Martinez, D-Calif.,
who has promoted similar legislation, said the Los Angeles Unified School
District must spend $ 891 million a year to educate 81,000 special needs
children. He said it received $ 500 million from the state and $ 42 million from
the federal government, meaning that it must tap into its general education
funds to make up the more than $ 300 million shortfall.
Even with
passage of the bill, it still remains for the Appropriations Committee to
actually insert the money in the annual budgets, and that could be a problem.
"We think the difficult work comes in finding appropriations to meet
those levels," said Erica Lepping, an Education Department spokeswoman. She said
the administration supports full funding, "but in order to achieve that goal,
other important initiatives shouldn't be jeopardized."
LOAD-DATE: May 4, 2000 
