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108th CONGRESS
1st Session
S. 1248
To reauthorize the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, and for
other purposes.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
June 12, 2003
Mr. Gregg (for himself and Mr. Kennedy) introduced the following bill;
which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Health,
Education, Labor, and Pensions
_______________________________________________________________________
A BILL
To reauthorize the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, and for
other purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the
United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ``Individuals with Disabilities
Education Improvement Act of 2003''.
TITLE I--AMENDMENTS TO THE INDIVIDUALS WITH DISABILITIES EDUCATION ACT
SEC. 101. AMENDMENTS TO THE INDIVIDUALS WITH DISABILITIES EDUCATION
ACT.
Parts A through D of the Individuals with Disabilities Education
Act (20 U.S.C. 1400 et seq.) are amended to read as follows:
``PART A--GENERAL PROVISIONS
``SEC. 601. SHORT TITLE; TABLE OF CONTENTS; FINDINGS; PURPOSES.
``(a) Short Title.--This Act may be cited as the `Individuals with
Disabilities Education Act'.
``(b) Table of Contents.--The table of contents for this Act is as
follows:
``Part A--General Provisions
``Sec. 601. Short title; table of contents; findings; purposes.
``Sec. 602. Definitions.
``Sec. 603. Office of Special Education Programs.
``Sec. 604. Abrogation of State sovereign immunity.
``Sec. 605. Acquisition of equipment; construction or
alteration of facilities.
``Sec. 606. Employment of individuals with disabilities.
``Sec. 607. Requirements for prescribing regulations.
``Sec. 608. State administration.
``Sec. 609. Report to Congress
``Part B--Assistance for Education of All Children With Disabilities
``Sec. 611. Authorization; allotment; use of funds;
authorization of appropriations.
``Sec. 612. State eligibility.
``Sec. 613. Local educational agency eligibility.
``Sec. 614. Evaluations, eligibility determinations,
individualized education programs, and
educational placements.
``Sec. 615. Procedural safeguards.
``Sec. 616. Monitoring, technical assistance, and enforcement.
``Sec. 617. Administration.
``Sec. 618. Program information.
``Sec. 619. Preschool grants.
``Part C--Infants and Toddlers With Disabilities
``Sec. 631. Findings and policy.
``Sec. 632. Definitions.
``Sec. 633. General authority.
``Sec. 634. Eligibility.
``Sec. 635. Requirements for statewide system.
``Sec. 636. Individualized family service plan.
``Sec. 637. State application and assurances.
``Sec. 638. Uses of funds.
``Sec. 639. Procedural safeguards.
``Sec. 640. Payor of last resort.
``Sec. 641. State Interagency Coordinating Council.
``Sec. 642. Federal administration.
``Sec. 643. Allocation of funds.
``Sec. 644. Authorization of appropriations.
``Part D--National Activities To Improve Education of Children With
Disabilities
``Sec. 650. Findings and purpose.
``Subpart 1--State Personnel Preparation and Professional Development
Grants
``Sec. 651. Purpose; definition; program authority.
``Sec. 652. Eligibility and collaborative process.
``Sec. 653. Applications.
``Sec. 654. Use of funds.
``Sec. 655. Authorization of appropriations.
``Subpart 2--Scientifically Based Research, Technical Assistance, Model
Demonstration Projects, and Dissemination of Information
``Sec. 660. Purpose.
``Sec. 661. Administrative provisions.
``Sec. 662. Research to improve results for children with
disabilities.
``Sec. 663. Technical assistance, demonstration projects,
dissemination of information, and
implementation of scientifically based
research.
``Sec. 664. Personnel development to improve services and
results for children with disabilities.
``Sec. 665. Studies and evaluations.
``Subpart 3--Supports To Improve Results for Children With Disabilities
``Sec. 670. Purposes.
``Sec. 671. Parent training and information centers.
``Sec. 672. Community parent resource centers.
``Sec. 673. Technical assistance for parent training and
information centers.
``Sec. 674. Technology development, demonstration, and
utilization; and media services.
``Sec. 675. Authorization of appropriations.
``Subpart 4--Interim Alternative Educational Settings, Behavioral
Supports, and Whole School Interventions
``Sec. 681. Purpose.
``Sec. 682. Definition of eligible entity.
``Sec. 683. Program authorized.
``Sec. 684. Program evaluations.
``Sec. 685. Authorization of appropriations.
``(c) Findings.--Congress finds the following:
``(1) Disability is a natural part of the human experience
and in no way diminishes the right of individuals to
participate in or contribute to society. Improving educational
results for children with disabilities is an essential element
of our national policy of ensuring equality of opportunity,
full participation, independent living, and economic self-
sufficiency for individuals with disabilities.
``(2) Before the date of the enactment of the Education for
All Handicapped Children Act of 1975 (Public Law 94-142), the
educational needs of millions of children with disabilities
were not being fully met because--
``(A) the children did not receive appropriate
educational services;
``(B) the children were excluded entirely from the
public school system and from being educated with their
peers;
``(C) undiagnosed disabilities prevented the
children from having a successful educational
experience; or
``(D) a lack of adequate resources within the
public school system forced families to find services
outside the public school system.
``(3) Since the enactment and implementation of the
Education for All Handicapped Children Act of 1975, this Act
has been successful in ensuring children with disabilities and
the families of such children access to a free appropriate
public education and in improving educational results for
children with disabilities.
``(4) However, the implementation of this Act has been
impeded by low expectations, and an insufficient focus on
applying replicable research on proven methods of teaching and
learning for children with disabilities.
``(5) Over 25 years of research and experience has
demonstrated that the education of children with disabilities
can be made more effective by--
``(A) having high expectations for such children
and ensuring their access to the general education
curriculum in the regular classroom to the maximum
extent possible in order to--
``(i) meet developmental goals and, to the
maximum extent possible, the challenging
expectations that have been established for all
children; and
``(ii) be prepared to lead productive and
independent adult lives, to the maximum extent
possible;
``(B) strengthening the role and responsibility of
parents and ensuring that families of such children
have meaningful opportunities to participate in the
education of their children at school and at home;
``(C) coordinating this Act with other local,
educational service agency, State, and Federal school
improvement efforts, including improvement efforts
under the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of
2001, in order to ensure that such children benefit
from such efforts and that special education can become
a service for such children rather than a place where
they are sent;
``(D) providing appropriate special education and
related services, and aids and supports in the regular
classroom, to such children, whenever appropriate;
``(E) supporting high-quality, intensive preservice
preparation professional development for all personnel
who work with children with disabilities in order to
ensure that such personnel have the skills and
knowledge necessary to improve the academic achievement
and functional performance of children with
disabilities, including the use of scientifically based
instructional practices, to the maximum extent
possible;
``(F) providing incentives for whole-school
approaches, scientifically based early reading
programs, positive behavioral interventions and
supports, and prereferral intervention to reduce the
need to label children as disabled in order to address
their learning and behavioral needs;
``(G) focusing resources on teaching and learning
while reducing paperwork and requirements that do not
assist in improving educational results; and
``(H) supporting the development and use of
technology, including assistive technology devices and
assistive technology services, to maximize
accessibility for children with disabilities.
``(6) While States, local educational agencies, and
educational service agencies are primarily responsible for
providing an education for all children with disabilities, it
is in the national interest that the Federal Government have a
supporting role in assisting State and local efforts to educate
children with disabilities in order to improve results for such
children and to ensure equal protection of the law.
``(7) A more equitable allocation of resources is essential
for the Federal Government to meet its responsibility to
provide an equal educational opportunity for all individuals.
``(8)(A) The Federal Government must be responsive to the
growing needs of an increasingly more diverse society.
``(B) America's ethnic profile is rapidly changing. In the
year 2000, 1 of every 3 persons in the United States was a
member of a minority group or was limited English proficient.
``(C) Minority children comprise an increasing percentage
of public school students.
``(D) With such changing demographics, recruitment efforts
for special education personnel should focus on increasing the
participation of minorities in the teaching profession.
``(9)(A) The limited English proficient population is the
fastest growing in our Nation, and the growth is occurring in
many parts of our Nation.
``(B) Studies have documented apparent discrepancies in the
levels of referral and placement of limited English proficient
children in special education.
``(C) This poses a special challenge for special education
in the referral of, assessment of, and services for, our
Nation's students from non-English language backgrounds.
``(10)(A) Greater efforts are needed to prevent the
intensification of problems connected with mislabeling and high
dropout rates among minority children with disabilities.
``(B) More minority children continue to be served in
special education than would be expected from the percentage of
minority students in the general school population.
``(C) African-American children are over identified as
having mental retardation and emotional disturbance at rates
greater than their white counterparts.
``(D) In the 1998-1999 school year, African-American
children represented just 14.8 percent of the population aged 6
through 21, but comprised 20.2 percent of all children with
disabilities.
``(E) Studies have found that schools with predominately
Caucasian students and teachers have placed disproportionately
high numbers of their minority students into special education.
``(11)(A) As the number of minority students in special
education increases, the number of minority teachers and
related services personnel produced in colleges and
universities continues to decrease.
``(B) The opportunity for minority individuals,
organizations, and Historically Black Colleges and Universities
to participate fully in awards for grants and contracts, boards
of organizations receiving funds under this Act, and peer
review panels, and in the training of professionals in the area
of special education is essential if we are to obtain greater
success in the education of minority children with
disabilities.
``(d) Purposes.--The purposes of this title are--
``(1)(A) to ensure that all children with disabilities have
available to them a free appropriate public education that
emphasizes special education and related services designed to
meet their unique needs and prepare them for employment,
further education, and independent living;
``(B) to ensure that the rights of children with
disabilities and parents of such children are protected; and
``(C) to assist States, localities, educational service
agencies, and Federal agencies to provide for the education of
all children with disabilities;
``(2) to assist States in the implementation of a
Statewide, comprehensive, coordinated, multidisciplinary,
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