increase in spending for SPED...

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Subj: Senators Boost Special Education Funding 

Date: 9/12/2003 6:22:07 AM Central Standard Time

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Senators Boost Special Education Spending

Senators agreed Wednesday to boost spending on special education by $2.2 billion, more than twice the increase they first proposed for the upcoming budget year.

The Senate had planned a $1 billion increase. The extra $1.2 billion would bring spending on programs for children with disabilities to nearly $11.1 billion. That's one of the largest federal investments in education.

It represents a substantial commitment, and we're thankful for it, said Dan Fuller, president of the Committee for Education Funding, which advocates for greater federal support. But schools also deserve other

increases the Senate rejected this week, he said.

On Tuesday, the House had approved a $10 million private-school voucher plan for at least 1,300 poor students in the District of Columbia. The program would be the first federally funded voucher plan, and the Senate is expected to soon consider a similar experiment for the nation's capital.

The House voted 205-203 Friday to include the vouchers in the city's budget proposal; after opponents asked for another vote, it passed again Tuesday by just one vote, 209-208.

Republicans scrambled to get the measure passed in nearly party-line fashion, while opponents criticized GOP leaders for having the vote on the same night the Congressional Black Caucus held a Democratic presidential debate in Baltimore. Two House Democrats running for president – Dick Gephardt of Missouri and Dennis Kucinich of Ohio - missed the vote.

In the Senate, the spending deal was a bipartisan breakthrough in a debate over how much money to earmark for labor, health and education in the budget year starting next month.

Education groups for years have pushed lawmakers to cover 40 percent of the cost of educating disabled children, the amount Congress promised when it passed the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act in 1975. The federal share stands at less than 20 percent, meaning states and schools must make up the difference in serving 6.5 million disabled students.

It's long past time for the federal government to live up to its commitment of financial partnership with states to meet the needs of children with disabilities, said Sen. Kennedy, D-Mass.

The House has earmarked $9 billion for special education, a $1 billion increase.

Senate Democrats failed in other efforts to put more money behind the Bush administration's No Child Left Behind law. The law has raised expectations for the nation's students, but critics say Congress is not providing the resources to accomplish the goal.

The jobs of schools and universities to educate the next generation of leaders will be difficult with the minimal increases provided, Fuller said.

President Bush and other Republican leaders say they're investing record levels of federal money in support of No Child Left Behind, which calls for expanded testing, higher teacher quality and greater achievement among students, particularly those in poor districts.

A measure offered by Sen. Byrd, D-W.Va., would spend $18.5 billion on Title I, which provides aid to poor children and helps more than 90 percent of the nation's school districts. Bush and the Senate have proposed about $6 billion less - $12.35 billion for the budget year beginning next month.

Byrd's amendment failed. The Senate also rejected a measure by Kennedy to increase college aid to students by $2.2 billion, and turned away another by Sen. Dodd, D-Conn., to add $350 million for Head Start, the federal preschool program for the poor.

By Ben Feller, The Associated Press

http://www.kolr10.com/Global/story.asp?S=1437288 & nav=0RXJHw6c

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