96 organizations join COPAA on Expert Fees Legislation

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--Advocacy & Consulting Services - IEPadvocate4you Carol Sadler, Special Education Consultant/Advocate GA Advocacy Office PLSP I Graduate 1105 Rock Pointe Look Woodstock, GA 30188 CarolSadler@... www.IEPadvocate4You.com http://iepadvocate4you.blogspot.com "There is nothing more unequal than the equal treatment of unequal people." ---- Jefferson CONFIDENTIAL AND PRIVILEGED Information contained in this communication is confidential and privileged. It is not meant to represent legal or medical advice, but rather advice given based on my knowledge as a trained Parent Advocate by the GA Advocacy Office, Council of Parent Advocates & Attorneys, CHADD, LDA, the GA DOE Parent Mentor program as an invited guest and the special education attorneys that I often work with on educational

matters. Please do not forward without my permission.

-------------- Forwarded Message: -------------- To: COPAA-NEWS@... Subject: [COPAA-NEWS] 96 organizations join COPAA on Expert Fees Legislation Date: Thu, 28 Feb 2008 22:31:17 +0000 Dear COPAAns,Today, COPAA sent the letter below to Congress, urging Representatives to support H.R. 4188 (the IDEA Fairness Restoration Act), which would permit prevailing parents to recover their expert witness fees for due process and litigation. A broad coalition of NINETY-SIX disabilities organizations signed on to the letter. These sign-on occurred because of the hard work of many COPAA members and we wish to thank you for that work. In addition, 16 organizations signed on to an earlier letter from the Consortium of Citizens with Disabilities (CCD) that COPAA also took part in. Together, over 100 organizations and parent groups support the right of parents to recover their expert witness fees. Many parents cannot afford the thousands of dollars for qualified medical, educational, and technical expert testimony, and are left at a substantial disadvantage to school districts who can use experts on their payrolls or use taxpayer money to hire experts. This bill would restore Congress' original intent in adding the attorneys' fees provisions in 1986.We would like to give special thanks to our friends at the National Disability Rights Network, who worked with us to gather signatures, and the National Down Syndrome Society and National Down Syndrome Congress, which have strongly supported the bill. The letter has been signed by a broad coalition of 96 disability organizations, ranging from national organizations like NDRN, DREDF, the Center for Law and Education, and TASH to state organizations, like California Association for Parent-Child Advocacy a

nd Florida's Statewide Advocacy Network on Disabilities, and local organizations and parent groups. The earlier CCD letter urging a legislative override was signed by the ARC, Easter Seals, National Council on Learning Disabilities, UCP, CHADD, Higher Education Consortium for Special Education, Learning Disabilities Association of America, and others. Thanks to the many COPAA members who worked to gather sign-ons from organizations for this letter. We really appreciated all that you did, especially as many of you are busy with your practices, your families, and many other issues. We also thank the many organizations which signed on to COPAA's letter and to the CCD letter 2 weeks ago. We are continuing to accept organizational sign-ons for COPAA's letter and will do a second letter in 4-6 weeks. We ask individual members of COPAA and the public to take 5 minutes and send an email to your Congressional representative and ask

them to support H.R. 4188, the IDEA Fairness Restoration Act. Unlike organizations, you are voters and Congress needs to hear from you directly! Go to https://forms.house.gov/wyr/welcome.shtml to email Congress. We would appreciate copies of your emails to protectidea@...Thanks again for all of your help and support. We thank all organizations who signed on for joining with us. Please feel free to forward this email to others. , COPAA ChairBob Berlow, COPAA Govt. Relations Chair Marshall, Executive Directorand the Board of Directors of COPAAprotectidea@...*******************************************************************February 28. 2008 Re: H.R. 4188, IDEA Fairness Restoration ActDear Member of Congress,The undersign

ed 96 organizations ask you to cosponsor the IDEA Fairness Restoration Act, H.R. 4188. This bill, sponsored by Congressman Van Hollen (D-MD) and Pete Sessions (R-TX), will restore Congress' original plan to enable parents of children with disabilities who prevail in judicial proceedings to recover their expert witness fees. Passing this bill is important to keep the process fair for the nearly 7 million children with disabilities.The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act requires school districts to provide children with a free appropriate public education. But when school districts provide an education so inferior that it fails this basic legal obligation, parents can seek an impartial due process hearing to protect their child's rights. Expert testimony is often necessary in such cases. While parents who prevail can recover their attorneys' fees, they cannot recover expert witness costs as a result of the Supreme Court's decision in Arl

ington Central School District v. (2006). The IDEA Fairness Restoration Act will override this decision and help make the process fair for parents. (Parents proceed to litigation only as a last resort. In 2003, the GAO reported that there were only 5 hearings per 10,000 special education students. Only parents who prevail can recover attorneys' fees and would recover expert witness fees.) H.R. 4188 will restore Congress' original intent when it passed the Handicapped Children's Protection Act of 1986--to allow prevailing parents to recover their expert witness fees. Congress knew then that parents have far fewer resources than school districts and most cannot afford expert witness fees. Twenty-one years later, this remains true. Approximately 36% of children with disabilities live in families earning less than $25,000 a year; about 2/3 live in families earning less than $50,000 a year. Few parents can afford the t

housands of dollars needed to pay qualified medical, educational, and technical experts. While parents must hire expert witnesses to testify, school districts can use therapists, psychologists, and other expert witnesses on their payroll or hire witnesses at public expense.Please cosponsor H.R. 4188, the IDEA Fairness Restoration Act, and help protect the rights of the nearly 7 million children with disabilities to a free appropriate public education. For more information on this issue, please contact Bob Berlow or of the Council of Parent Attorneys and Advocates, Inc., or protectidea@.... 96 Organizations in Support of H.R. 4188the IDEA Fairness Restoration ActCouncil of Parent Attorneys & Advocates, Inc., COPAA National Disabil

ity Rights Network, NDRN Center for Law and Education, CLE Disability Rights Education & Defense Fund, DREDF National Down Syndrome Congress, NDSCNational Down Syndrome Society, NDSSThe Autism Society of America Autism National Committee International Dyslexia Association League of Special Education Voters The National Leadership Consortium Nonverbal Learning Disorders Association Our Children Left BehindcomSouthern Poverty Law Center School-to-Prison Reform Project TASH Tourette Syndrome Association, Inc., TSA slawcomAlabama Disabilities Advocacy Program (AL)California Association for Parent-Child Advocacy, CAPCA (CA)Learning Disabilities Association of California (CA)Bay Area Lawyers for Children (CA)B

urlingame Mother's Group of Kids with Special Needs (CA)Community Alliance for Special Education, CASE (CA)Families For Early Autism Treatment, FEAT (CA)Legal Advocates for Children & Youth (CA)Mills Legal Clinic - Youth & Education Law Project Stanford Law School (CA)Sacramento Asperger Syndrome Information & Support (CA)Solano Families for Effective Autism Treatment, Inc. (CA)The K.E.N. Project, parent advocacy organization (CA)see also Disability Rights Education and Defense Fund, DREDF above (CA)Autism Society of Boulder County (CO)African Caribbean American Parents of Children with Disabilities, Inc. (CT)Child Law Unit - New Haven Legal Assistance Association, Inc. (CT)Connecticut Legal Services, Inc. (CT)S.E.P.T.A. Network (CT)Advocates for Justice and Education, Inc. (DC)Bread for the City (DC)Juvenile and Special Education Law Clinic, Univ. of the District of Columbia - A. e School of Law

(DC)The Children's Law Center (DC)University Legal Services (DC)Florida Association of Special Education Attorneys (FL)Southern Legal Counsel, Inc. (FL)Statewide Advocacy Network on Disabilities, STAND (FL)Learning Disabilities Association of Illinois (IL)Advocacy Services of the Jewish Federation of Metropolitan Chicago (IL)Chicago Medical Legal Partnership for Children, Health & Disability Advocates (IL)Equip for Equality (IL)LIFE Center for Independent Living (IL)Mothers from Hell 2 (IL)Northwestern Illinois Center for Independent Living (IL)Self Advocacy Council of Northern Illinois (IL)Special Kids, Special Families (IL)Will-Grundy Center for Independent Living (IL)Kentucky Protection and Advocacy (KY)Disability Law Center (MA)Federation for Children with Special Needs (MA)see also Center for Law and Education, CLE above (MA)land Coalition for Inclusive Education Inc. (MD)land Disa

bility Law Center (MD)Mid Atlantic Chapter of TASH (MD)Anne Arundel County Chapter, Autism Society of America (MD)Learning Disabilities Assoc. of Calvert County, Inc. (MD)Shared Support land, Inc. (MD)Disability Rights Center of Maine (ME)Michigan Tourette Syndrome Association (MI)Paraquad Independent Living Center (MO)ADAPT Montana (MT)Montana Advocacy Program (MT)Education Law Center of New Jersey (NJ)New Jersey Protection & Advocacy, Inc. (NJ)New Jersey Special Education Practitioners, NJSEP (NJ)The Arc of New Jersey (NJ)Apraxia Network of Bergen County (NJ)Excellent Education for Everyone (NJ)Parent2Parent Group of New Jersey (NJ)Mr. G's Kids, Inc. (NJ)Seton Hall Law School Center for Social Justice (NJ)Statewide Parent Advocacy Network of New Jersey, SPAN (NJ)The Special Education Clinic Rutgers University School of Law (NJ)The Center for Learning Differences, Inc. (NY)Ohio Legal Rights Service (OH)The Ability Center of Greater Toledo (OH)Northwest Special Educational Services (OR)Disability Rights Network of Pennsylvania (PA)Education Law Center of Pennsylvania (PA)Jewish Family & Children's Service of Greater Philadelphia (PA)Pennsylvania Tourette Syndrome Association (PA)The Arc of Pennsylvania (PA)The Global and Regional Asperger Syndrome Partnership of Philadelphia (PA)Tennessee Disability Coalition on Education (TN)Down Syndrome Policy Network of Tennessee (TN)Spina Bifida Association of Houston Gulf Coast (TX)Advocating 4 Kids Parent Support Group (VA)Endependence Center, Inc., Disability Advocacy & Services (VA)Autism Society of Northern Virginia (VA)Disability Rights Wisconsin (WI)Wisconsin Family Assistance Center for Education, Training, and Support, FACETS (WI)The Arc of Racine County, Inc. (WI)