Conference Report on H.R. 1350, Individuals With Disabilities Education Improvement Act of 2004
CONFERENCE REPORT ON H.R. 1350, INDIVIDUALS WITH DISABILITIES EDUCATION IMPROVEMENT ACT OF 2004 -- (House of Representatives - November 19, 2004)
Mr. SESSIONS. Mr. Speaker, by the direction of the Committee on Rules, I call up House Resolution 858 and ask for its immediate consideration.
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Mr. PETRI. I thank my colleague for yielding me this time.
Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of the rule. Initially, I would like to thank the gentleman from Ohio (Mr. Boehner), the gentleman from California (Mr. George Miller), the gentleman from Delaware (Mr. Castle), and the gentlewoman from California (Ms. Woolsey) for over 2 years of work on the important legislation that the rule makes in order.
I am pleased that this conference agreement includes a new provision that is similar to bipartisan legislation I sponsored with the gentleman from California (Mr. George Miller) to help provide specialized textbooks to students with visual disabilities. The law we are reauthorizing today, the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, requires that all disabled students be provided with educational opportunities. For students with visual disabilities, this includes access to specialized instructional materials, such as braille, large print and audio textbooks. Translating a textbook into these successful formats, however, is a cumbersome, time-consuming, and expensive process for States and school districts. As a result, visually impaired students oftentimes receive their textbooks long after school has started and can be needlessly left behind their sighted peers.
The legislation before us today will help solve this problem. It creates a centralized clearinghouse that States and local school districts can use to obtain electronic copies of textbooks to be translated into the appropriate format for visually impaired students. That is a simple solution that will make a big difference in the quality of education provided to visually impaired students. I commend my colleagues for the work they have done to include this provision in this legislation and urge support of the rule.
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