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Special Education: De-mandate, De-regulate, De-fund

Bev Johns
Learning and Behavior Consultant
Jacksonville, Illinois
bevjohns@juno.com

In 1981, President Reagan began the first real attempt to de-mandate, de-regulate, and de-fund special education. A united special education community defeated those efforts (although funding was significantly cut).

I played a small part in opposing those efforts as one of 3 people who met in the White House with Reagan's Chief of Staff (James Baker, later Secretary of State) and his Public Liaison (Elizabeth Dole, now U.S. Senator).

Now we face "Reagan-lite". And the special education community is divided, not united.

Major special education groups, such as CEC, have applauded parts of IDEA 2004 (15 State 3-year IEP, elimination of short-term objectives, required "full inclusion" of special education students in NCLB testing, etc.). Other parts of the special education community actively support "response to intervention"; the use of 15% of all IDEA money to fund it and other "early intervening" for non-disabled students; or the 15 State waiver of almost ALL of IDEA (AND State regulations).

In addition, under Section 608 of IDEA, States are REQUIRED to "minimize" State regulations and policies, and to notify every local school district "in writing" of any State reg or State policy that exceeds those strictly required by IDEA 2004, stating they are "not required" by IDEA 2004.

Reagan would have loved it.

Some States, such as Illinois, are beginning a coordinated State effort (between the Governor and the State Board of Education) to de-regulate special education. If you have NCLB testing of all students and the aim of full inclusion of all students in the general classroom, why do you need all the regulatory burdens of IDEA?

Congress just cut the increase in funding for IDEA from the over $1 billion last year to less than $520 million this year. Of course this happened within 24 hours of the promise in IDEA 2004 of yearly increases of over $2.2 billion. We just went from the promise of over $2.2 billion to the reality of less than $520 million in less than 24 hours.

Reagan would have been proud.

Earlier this year, Learning Disabilities, a Multidisciplinary Journal, published my article "NCLB and IDEA: Never the twain shall meet." It stated, "If some want every child in the general education classroom, every child will eventually have the same rights (or to be more precise: the same lack of rights). After all, equal is equal."

A form of that article can be seen at: http://www.connsensebulletin.com/bjohns1.pdf

© 2004 ConnSENSE Bulletin