Legislative Alert: Legislation Introduced to Fully Fund IDEA
Date: February 2, 2006
Action Requested: NASP encourages you to contact your Congressional
Senators and Representatives to request support for legislation
recently introduced to fully fund IDEA.
Legislation supporting the full funding of IDEA has been introduced
by Representative Bass (HR 3145) and Senator Hagel (S 2185). These
bills have bi-partisan support, and to date, more than 22 co-sponsors
have signed on to the Senate bill and 43 to the House bill. Both of
these bills mandate incremental spending increases over the next six
years in order to reach the 40% full-funding level authorized by Congress
in the passage of IDEA (2004). These bills present a feasible plan by
which Congress can meet this commitment.
Passage of this bill is critical! This is especially true given the
recent decrease in federal funding for IDEA. In the early hours of December
22, 2005, Congress did not have adequate support for the Labor HHS Education
funding bill and in order to win passage and avoid having to pass a
continuing resolution for the budget (and so that they could recess
for the Christmas holiday), they attached this bill to the Defense Appropriations
Bill (HR 2863). This move resulted in a 1% across the board cut (required
in the Defense bill) to all Department of Education programs, including
IDEA. The result was that overall funding for IDEA decreased from 18.6%
to 17.8%, not including the effects of inflation.
NASP asks you to join us in advocating for the full funding
of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act! Please participate
in the "1-Minute Solution" detailed below.
- 1. Send a letter to your local congressman/woman
through the NASP Advocacy Action Center. Click on the following link
and you will be guided through a simple 1-minute process for sending
an e-mail to your elected official. You only need your name and address
to submit this correspondence. Click on the address here or type it
in if your link fails. http://capwiz.com/naspweb/home Go
to the ACTION ALERT box and click on "Support the full funding of
IDEA." OR
- 2. If you know the name of your
Congressional Senators or Representative, you can call them by phone:
Call the Capitol Switchboard at 202-224-3121. Once you are connected
with your elected official, you will likely get a voicemail system
where you should say, "Hi, my name is (your name) from (your city
and state). I am calling to ask you to support HR 3145 (if you are
talking to a Representative) or S 2185 (if you are talking to a Senator).
This bill presents a six-year plan for phasing in the full funding
of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA). In the
passage of IDEA in 2004, Congress authorized that the federal share
for IDEA be at the 40% level. It is time that Congress takes steps
to fulfill this commitment. Thanks for your support of
this important legislation for families and children. If you need
to reach me for any reason, you can contact me at (your phone number)
or (your e-mail address)."
- 3. Forward this e-mail to any school
psychologist friends or colleagues that you think might be interested
in participating in this effort. They do not have to be NASP members
to participate.
Thank you for your advocacy efforts! If you have any
questions or comments about this alert, please feel free to contact
NASP Public Policy Director, Stacy Skalski, at sskalski@naspweb.org or
301-657-0270.
"I never worry about action, but only inaction."
--Winston Churchill