Parents, Educators, School Districts, Nonprofits, Coloradans Rally Around Polis's Bill to Fully Fund Special Education

Press Release

Rep. Jared Polis, D-Colo., introduced legislation today to provide teachers with the resources they need to effectively serve students with disabilities. The Defending Special Education Students and Families Act fully funds the Individuals with Disabilities in Education Act (IDEA).

Congress introduced IDEA in 1975 and committed to contributing 40 percent of the additional costs of educating students with disabilities, sharing the cost with states and districts. Today, 42 years later, the federal government covers less than 16 percent of those costs. The shortfall has dramatically impacted school budgets, causing some districts to cut or underpay teachers. In Colorado, districts scramble to cover 70 percent of the costs of special education on average.

"Education is the single best investment we can make in our future, but for decades we have underfunded our public schools," said Polis. "Our failure to fully fund special education has left too many students without the tools they need to succeed and dramatically impacted school budgets. All students in the U.S., regardless of ability, have the right to a top-notch education. Meeting the needs of all students should not be an unfunded mandate. Schools should have the resources to meet the learning needs of all students. It's time for Congress to fulfill its commitment to all students."

Polis drafted the bill after hearing from parents and teachers:

"My son Brady benefits from his education to be supported with his general education peers, which is the intent of LRE within IDEA. In order for Brady to access this level of educational inclusion and provide the special education supports that will help him realize his full potential and live the most independent life possible, IDEA needs to be fully funded. This funding benefits not only my son, but all of the students he goes to school with," said Tena Green, mother of Brady, a 7th grader who lives with Down Syndrome.

"Every child should have what he/she needs to reach their full potential - including our son who lives with autism. The support he and other children with autism would receive from IDEA being fully funded would not only benefit him, but his classmates, his school, and the entire community. We need to fully fund IDEA," said Cari Brown, mother of Craig, a 2nd grader who lives with Autism.

"The hardest part of my day, as a parent of a child with special needs, is not in the act of providing care for him. It's the nagging question that I ask myself when I lie down to sleep every night; "have I done enough?' Until the Individuals with Disabilities Act receives full funding, the answer will always be no. Until financial support is received that provides the tools and services required for true access to their education, our children will always be disadvantaged in ways that would never be acceptable for children without disabilities," said Misty Gregory, mother of Jake, a 4th grader who lives with Cerebral Palsy, Legal Blindness, and a Global Developmental Delay.

Several school districts and nonprofits are also advocating for the legislation and have been asking for additional IDEA funding for years.

"As the world's wealthiest and most powerful nation, I believe it is an ethical and moral imperative that we provide every child with an excellent education. Currently, resources for our special needs children under IDEA are severely lacking. Accordingly, I believe the time is now for our nation's leaders to act decisively. Acknowledging this critical funding deficit matters, acting on this extremely important issue matters more," Don Haddad Ed.D, Superintendent, St. Vrain Valley Schools.

"The Poudre School District Board of Education strongly supports increasing IDEA funding to 40% as originally agreed in 1975 from the current 16%. Districts have long been forced to spend general education dollars to support unfunded mandates to the detriment of their ability to provide an adequate education to all students. We are excited at the prospect that Congress will fulfill this promise," Board of Education, Poudre School District.

"One in 10 children in Colorado accesses special education services to receive the supports and interventions that help them thrive. Schools and districts absorb an increasing share of the costs for these services, at the same time they are experiencing funding cuts from the state. Ultimately, children and families are the ones being shortchanged. Additional federal support is needed to boost the quality and range of services available to students with disabilities. We applaud Congressman Polis's commitment to fulfilling the promise of IDEA and providing every child with the resources they need to succeed," Kelly Causey, President and CEO, Colorado Children's Campaign.

"The underfunding of IDEA has pushed school districts to figure out how to provide individualized instruction without having the fiscal resources to support the identified needs of their students. Under the spirit of IDEA, if we are expecting students to have better educational outcomes and school districts are going to be held accountable for providing appropriate special educational access at a level of the expectations in the new Supreme Court of the United States ruling, IDEA will need to be fully funded legislation," Matt Cloven, Lead Advocacy Specialist, The Arc of Larimer County.

"Politicians continue to call our public schools "failing,' when it is they who are failing our schools. It is time for Congress to step up to the plate and fund what they require of our schools. Rep. Polis's bill would be an excellent start," Cathy Kipp, Poudre School District Board of Education Member.

"Rep. Polis's bill will begin to provide schools with the resources they need to educate all students. The lack of funding for IDEA has led our district to divert general fund money away from other programs and offerings and into special education and as a result, all programs and students suffer. Fulfilling a promise is not only the right vote to make, but for the sake of all children in each of your districts, it is the smart decision as well," Frank Reeves, Superintendent, East Grand School District.

"For decades, the federal government has failed to fund special education sufficiently. During the years I served in Congress, I tried, just like Rep. Polis is doing now, to elevate the funding priority for students who so desperately needed it. Years and years later, students with disabilities are still waiting. They simply shouldn't have to wait any longer. I applaud Rep. Polis's efforts to get states, school districts, and students the overdue funding the initial IDEA law promised them. I am hopeful my former Congressional colleagues, on both sides of the political aisle, can see this as the non-partisan issue it is, and support full funding of IDEA," Bob Schaffer, Former U.S. Congressman (R-CO-4), Principal of Liberty Common High School in Fort Collins.

"Having the federal government provide its full obligation of 40% funding for special education would be especially welcome in Colorado, where the state has the most restrictive Constitutional budget and revenue provisions in the country. This has prevented the Legislature from providing anything close to adequate funding for special education, leaving almost the entire burden on local school districts. We applaud any effort to have the federal government increase its support for children with disabilities. The effect of this bill, should it pass, would benefit all school children in Colorado in a dynamic way," Evie Hudak, Colorado PTA, Director of Public Policy.

"My family, specifically my sister, has benefited from services accessible through the public school system, which provided equitable access to educational opportunities. I can attest that my sister's success in life would have been significantly limited without these important services. The lack of funding for IDEA consistently created financial hardship for our family as we pursued opportunities to support her. Funding IDEA at 40%, as opposed to the current 16%, would not only be a short-term solution for families who are a part of public education, but more importantly, it's an investment in the long-term development of independent, productive citizens and happier/healthier families that support the children IDEA serves," Seth Kelley, Executive Director, BASE Camp.

"I applaud Congressman Polis's effort to fully fund the IDEA Act four decades after the commitment was made. The cost of educating a child with special needs can be many times the cost of educating the typical student. The Federal government's failure to meet its funding commitment results in school boards shifting resources away from the regular population to meet their statutory and moral obligation to special needs children. The result is everyone suffers. Please fully fund IDEA," Brad Rupert, Jefferson County Board of Education.

"Fulfilling a forty year promise to fund the education of students with disabilities is a crucial step forward for rural school districts. Our limited access to resources and support in our rural communities and schools make the work of supporting our students with disabilities and their families more challenging than it needs to be. Districts should not have to make decisions about which students don't get the support they need because we have unfunded federal mandates," Kerry Buhler, Superintendent, Summit School District.

"For almost 4 decades, our schools have not had the financial backing that the federal government promised to help educate students with disabilities. That has meant school districts needed to divert general education funds to fill in the gap. We take seriously our responsibility to educate every student of every ability. It is time that the federal government do the same and live up to its commitment to fully fund IDEA," Rob Petterson, Board of Education Member, Poudre School District.

"I am happy to hear that Congressman Polis is requesting funding IDEA at the level promised by Congress when the law was adopted in the 1970's. IDEA helps provide equity in education, allowing all students to have an opportunity to succeed regardless of needs," Kristen Draper, Board of Education Member, Poudre School District.

IDEA funding would be fully offset by collecting the excess revenue from President Trump's funding request for the Department of Defense (DoD). For FY2018, President Trump requested $603 billion dollars for the DoD, but the spending bill in the House of Representatives would give the DoD $658 billion, far exceeding the amount requested by the President. Under the Defending Special Education Students and Families Act, that additional money would be used to fully fund special education.

In addition to Colorado school districts and nonprofits, the Defending Special Education Students and Families Act is also supported by various national organizations, including:

· AASA, The School Superintendents Association

· Alliance for Excellent Education

· American Dance Therapy Association

· Association of Educational Service Agencies

· Association of School Business Officials, International

· Center for Applied Special Technology (CAST)

· Council of Parent Attorneys and Advocates (COPAA)

· Council of Administrators of Special Education

· Learning Disabilities Association of America

· National Association of School Psychologists

· National Association of Secondary School Principals

· National Center for Learning Disabilities

· National Center for Special Education in Charter Schools (NCSECS)

· National Rural Education Advocacy Consortium

· National Rural Education Association

· National School Boards Association

· School Social Work Association of America

Polis serves on the Committee on Education and the Workforce. He is the top-Democrat on the Early Childhood, Elementary, and Secondary Education Subcommittee and a member of the Higher Education and Workforce Development Subcommittee. Polis is the former chair of the Colorado State Board of Education, and the founder and former superintendent of The New America School - a network of charter schools in several states serving new immigrants and English-language learners - as well as the Academy for Urban Learning for homeless and at-risk youth. The district he represents today includes Colorado State University and University of Colorado.

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