The 40% Solution for IDEA

Congress is once again agonizing over funding for special education, specifically the budget for IDEA, the Individuals with Disabilities Act.

Three decades have passed since Public Law 94-142 promised a comprehensive education for disabled children between the ages of 3 and 22. It was a meritorious pledge, but our representatives were forced to face that this is a costly program that requires specially designed buses, specially trained teachers and small class sizes.

When Congress passed the law mandating these services in 1975, it committed to paying up to 40% of the excess cost. This year the federal government is paying 18% of the expenses, the highest percentage since the inception of the program.

As a result of the federal funding shortfall, each year Orange County schools must take $90 million from regular education programs, money that could be used to hire 1,800 new teachers, reduce class size, build seven neighborhood schools or provide students with 53,000 new computers.

Those hijacked funds could be used to buy new textbooks; increase the number of field trips; buy art supplies; hire music, art or science specialists; and make the difference between a good education and a great education.

No one denies that children with exceptional needs deserve an optimum education to capitalize on their strengths. The success of this nation is dependent on having the best-educated populace in the world. That requires an outstanding instructional program and highly qualified teachers for every child, including those with special needs. The issue is, who pays?

Ways to Cut Costs

Special education costs can be reduced without compromising the quality and breadth of service provided, but Congress ignored most of the potential cost-saving when it reauthorized the law in 1997. Some of those savings include requiring mandatory mediation before any administration hearing; reducing the participation of attorneys in the hearing process; returning the cost of providing health care for special education students to health-care agencies; and reducing the amount of required paperwork.

This year and next, our representatives and their colleagues in Washington will again address reauthorization of IDEA. The Orange County Department of Education will be there, working with our representatives to reduce the cost without cutting necessary services to our children.

Close to 10% of our county’s 505,000 K-12 public school students are diagnosed for special education placement. For those children with mild disabilities, placement is often within their local school districts in special classes or, as appropriate, in “full inclusion” settings.

An example of full inclusion is the award-winning Deaf and Hard of Hearing Program operated by the O.C. Department of Education. Students in grades six to 12 attend Irvine’s Venado Middle School and University High School, where they are enrolled in classes with the regular education students; participate in extracurricular activities, including football and track; and are often in Advanced Placement classes. Visitors are amazed to see a U.S. history class at “Uni High” with two teachers--one lecturing, the other signing.

O.C.’s Experience

Orange County school districts and the Department of Education are working to control costs for special education students while continuing to provide them with a solid education. Severely disabled children, ages 3 through 21, are often taught on shared-site campuses, usually under the auspices of the department. One distinct advantage is the financial savings that come from the economy of scale, but an equally important advantage is the breadth of experience that is possible when children of vastly disparate physical abilities share the same school sites.

What can we do? Every one of us can call or write our Washington representatives at their local offices. Their numbers can be found in the front of the telephone directory. Tell them we have had enough. As Orange County taxpayers, we receive only 88 cents back for every dollar we send to Washing- ton.

But the need for special education funding reform is not a ploy to close that financial chasm. It is a firm request to our legislators to do what is fair and right for all our children. Congress must live up to its promise to pay up to 40% of the costs of providing special education services, freeing up the $90 million annually the children of Orange County deserve.

Our children have been paying the price for almost 30 years for Congressional reluctance to act responsibly. How much longer can we expect them to wait?