Congressional Ed. and
Appropriations Committees
- CEC Workshops on the New
IDEA
- President Bush Delivers State
of the Union Address; Budget Forthcoming
- House Republicans Introduce
Higher Education Reauthorization Bill
- Rosters of Congressional Education
and Appropriations Committees
- IDEA Regulation Meetings and
Regulation Process
CEC Workshops on the New IDEA
Spaces are filling up fast so donít delay! Register now for the CEC workshops
on the new IDEA law! CEC will hold five one-day workshops around the country to
provide information and implications of changes in the new IDEA law. CEC will
be in Providence, Rhode Island on February 11; San Francisco on February 18; Chicago
on February 23; at CECís Arlington, Virginia headquarters on March 4; and Miami
on March 11. For more information on these workshops and to register, go to http://www.cec.sped.org/conventions/maryland_2005/pdfs/IDEA_workshops.pdf
. Please share this information with your colleagues or anyone else you think
may be interested.
President Bush Delivers State of
the Union Address; Budget Forthcoming
On Tuesday night, President Bush delivered his annual State of the Union address,
which set forth his policy goals for the first year of his second term. Bush spoke
at great length about Social Security and the war in Iraq. The only statement
he made concerning education is this paragraph below.
ìTo make our economy stronger and more dynamic, we must prepare a rising generation
to fill the jobs of the 21st century. Under the No Child Left Behind Act, standards
are higher, test scores are on the rise, and we're closing the achievement gap
for minority students. Now we must demand better results from our high schools,
so every high school diploma is a ticket to success. We will help an additional
200,000 workers to get training for a better career, by reforming our job training
system and strengthening America's community colleges. And we'll make it easier
for Americans to afford a college education, by increasing the size of Pell Grants.î
The full text of Bushís speech can be found at:
http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2005/02/20050202-11.html
On Monday, February 7, President Bush will release his budget proposal for fiscal
year 2006. It is generally believed that Bush will not ask for large increases
in the budgets of most major programs. In fact, he remarked in his State of the
Union speech that he would like to see some federal programs eliminated. CEC will
provide comment on the Presidentís budget for education programs after it is released.
On or after February 7, you will be able to find the education portion of Bushís
budget on the Department of Education Web site at http://www.ed.gov/index.jhtml
If youíd rather read Bushís entire budget proposal, it will be posted on the White
House Web site at http://www.whitehouse.gov
. CEC is not responsible if the budget does not appear on either of these Web
sites.
House Republicans Introduce Higher
Education Reauthorization Bill
Earlier this week, Republicans in the House introduced legislation to reauthorize
the Higher Education Act (HEA). This bill will reauthorize those programs that
fund higher education and is largely a vehicle for funding student aid programs.
While elementary and secondary schools only receive about 8 to 9 percent of their
funds from the federal government, nearly one-third of higher education funds
come from the federal government. The bill introduced by the House Republicans
will focus on a wide range of HEA issues, including Pell Grant funding. Republican
and Democratic press releases on the HEA bill can be found at the respective Web
sites below. CEC will provide an analysis of this bill in the future.
Republican Comments:
http://edworkforce.house.gov/press/press109/first/02feb/hea020205.htm
Democratic Comments
http://www.house.gov/apps/list/press/ed31_democrats/rel2205b.html
Rosters of Congressional Education
and Appropriations Committees
For your information, and to assist in aiding your advocacy efforts, CEC is pleased
to provide you with the rosters of the congressional education and appropriations
committees for the 109th Congress. These have been taken from the committees'
Web sites. Individual committee member addresses and phone numbers can be found
by going to http://www.senate.gov/
or http://www.house.gov/
.
House Education and Workforce Committee http://edworkforce.house.gov/
Republicans
John A. Boehner, Ohio, Chairman
Thomas E. Petri, Wisconsin(Vice Chairman)
Howard P. "Buck" McKeon, California
Michael N. Castle, Delaware
Sam Johnson, Texas
Mark E. Souder, Indiana
Charlie Norwood, Georgia
Vernon J. Ehlers, Michigan
Judy Biggert, Illinois
Todd Russell Platts, Pennsylvania
Patrick J. Tiberi, Ohio
Ric Keller, Florida
Tom Osborne, Nebraska
Joe Wilson, South Carolina
Jon C. Porter, Nevada
John Kline, Minnesota
Marilyn N. Musgrave, Colorado
Bob Inglis, South Carolina
Cathy McMorris, Washington
Kenny Marchant, Texas
Tom Price, Georgia
Luis FortuÒo, Puerto Rico
Bobby Jindal, Louisiana
Charles W. Boustany, Jr., Louisiana
Virginia Foxx, North Carolina
Thelma D. Drake, Virginia
John R. "Randy" Kuhl, Jr., New York
Democrats
George Miller, California(Ranking Minority Member)
Dale E. Kildee, Michigan
Major R. Owens, New York
Donald M. Payne, New Jersey
Robert E. Andrews, New Jersey
Robert C. Scott, Virginia
Lynn C. Woolsey, California
RubÈn Hinojosa, Texas
Carolyn McCarthy, New York
John F. Tierney, Massachusetts
Ron Kind, Wisconsin
Dennis J. Kucinich, Ohio
David Wu, Oregon
Rush D. Holt, New Jersey
Susan A. Davis, California
Betty McCollum, Minnesota
Danny K. Davis, Illinois
Ra™l M. Grijalva, Arizona
Chris Van Hollen, Maryland
Tim Ryan, Ohio
Timothy H. Bishop, New York
John Barrow, Georgia
Senate HELP Committee
http://help.senate.gov/
Republicans
Mike Enzi (WY), Chairman
Judd Gregg (NH)
Senator Bill Frist (TN)
Senator Lamar Alexander (TN)
Senator Richard Burr (NC)
Johnny Isakson (GA)
Mike DeWine (OH)
John Ensign (NV)
Orrin Hatch (UT)
Jeff Sessions (AL)
Pat Roberts (KS)
Democrats
Edward Kennedy (MA), Ranking Member
Christopher Dodd (CT)
Tom Harkin (IA)
Barbara Mikulski (MD)
James Jeffords (I) (VT)
Jeff Bingaman (NM)
Patty Murray (WA)
Jack Reed (RI)
Hillary Rodham Clinton (NY)
House Appropriations Committee
http://appropriations.house.gov/
Republicans
Jerry Lewis, CA, Chairman
C. W. Bill Young, FL
Ralph Regula, OH
Harold Rogers, KY
Frank R. Wolf, VA
Jim Kolbe, AZ
James Walsh, NY
Charles H. Taylor, NC
David L. Hobson, OH
Ernest J. Istook, Jr., OK
Henry Bonilla, TX
Joe Knollenberg, MI
Jack Kingston, GA
Rodney P. Frelinghuysen, NJ
Roger F. Wicker, MS
Randy "Duke" Cunningham, CA
Todd Tiahrt, KS
Zach Wamp, TN
Tom Latham, IA
Anne Northup, KY
Robert Aderholt, AL
Jo Ann Emerson, MO
Kay Granger, TX
John E. Peterson, PA
Virgil Goode, VA
John Doolittle, CA
Ray LaHood, IL
John Sweeney, NY
Don Sherwood, PA
Dave Weldon, FL
Michael K. Simpson, ID
John Abney Culberson, TX
Mark Steven Kirk, IL
Ander Crenshaw, FL
Dennis R. Rehberg, MT
John Carter, TX
Rodney Alexander, LA
Democrats
David R. Obey, WI, Ranking Member
John P. Murtha, PA
Norman D. Dicks, WA
Martin Olav Sabo, MN
Steny H. Hoyer, MD
Alan B. Mollohan, WV
Marcy Kaptur, OH
Peter J. Visclosky, IN
Nita M. Lowey, NY
Jose E. Serrano, NY
Rosa L. DeLauro, CT
James P. Moran, VA
John W. Olver, MA
Ed Pastor, AZ
David E. Price, NC
Chet Edwards, TX
Robert E. "Bud" Cramer, Jr., AL
Patrick J. Kennedy, RI
James E. Clyburn, SC
Maurice D. Hinchey, NY
Lucille Roybal-Allard, CA
Sam Farr, CA
Jesse L. Jackson, Jr., IL
Carolyn C. Kilpatrick, MI
Allen Boyd, FL
Chaka Fattah, PA
Steven R. Rothman, NJ
Sanford D. Bishop, Jr., GA
Marion Berry, AR
Senate Appropriations Committee
http://appropriations.senate.gov/
Republicans
Ted Stevens, Alaska, Chairman
Thad Cochran, Mississippi
Arlen Specter, Pennsylvania
Pete V. Domenici, New Mexico
Christopher S. Bond, Missouri
Mitch Mcconnell, Kentucky
Conrad Burns, Montana
Richard C. Shelby, Alabama
Judd Gregg, New Hampshire
Robert F. Bennett, Utah
Ben Nighthorse Campbell, Colorado
Larry Craig, Idaho
Kay Bailey Hutchison, Texas
Mike Dewine, Ohio
Sam Brownback, Kansas
Democrats
Robert C. Byrd, West Virginia, Ranking
Daniel K. Inouye, Hawaii
Ernest F. Hollings, South Carolina
Patrick J. Leahy, Vermont
Tom Harkin, Iowa
Barbara A. Mikulski, Maryland
Harry Reid, Nevada
Herb Kohl, Wisconsin
Patty Murray, Washington
Byron L. Dorgan, North Dakota
Dianne Feinstein, California
Richard J. Durbin, Illinois
Tim Johnson, South Dakota
Mary L. Landrieu, Louisiana
IDEA Regulation Meetings and Regulation
Process
As weíve been reporting to you in recent weeks, the Department of Education is
holding a series of meetings around the country to solicit input from anyone wishing
to make comments or recommendations for the regulations for the new IDEA law.
While the first two of these meetings have been well attended, many people offering
comments on the regulations are trying to rewrite the law, which is not the purpose
of allowing the public to comment on the regulations. For this reason, CEC would
like to remind anyone attending these meetings what the regulatory process is
about.
When Congress passes a bill and the President signs it into law, it is much like
a composer writing a symphony: all the notes are in place. When the executive
branch writes regulations for a law, it is like a conductor instructing the orchestra
on how to play the symphony. None of the notes can be changed, but the conductor
can instruct the orchestra members how the notes should be played. When a new
law is passed, the executive branch looks at it and writes regulations to interpret
and give clarity to ambiguities in the law, but it cannot rewrite the law or issue
regulations for items not in the law. Some laws that are uncomplicated and succinctly
written often do not require that regulations be written for them.
So if you plan on attending any of the meetings to provide comment on the regulations
for the new IDEA law, remember that the Department of Education is not looking
for ideas on how to rewrite the law, but on how to interpret and implement the
law as it is written.
CEC would like to thank the following people for attending the meetings in Delaware
and Columbus on behalf of CEC:
Newark, Delaware January 28, 2005:
Laura Eisenman, CEC CAN Coordinator for the Division on Career Development and
Transition (DCDT);
Wendy Strauss, CEC CAN Coordinator for Delaware;
Chris Tabakin, CEC CAN Coordinator for Pennsylvania;
Dan Blair, CEC staff
Columbus, Ohio February 3, 2005:
Jan Kelley-Stafford, CEC Ohio President;
Margo Izzo, CEC Past President-DCDT;
Donna Tinberg, Policy and Legislation Chair for CEC Council of Administrators
of Special Education;
Deb Ziegler, CEC staff
You can find CEC comments on the regulations at http://www.cec.sped.org/cec_bn/cec_comments.html
.
The remaining dates for the Department of Education regulation meetings are listed
below. Note that last week the meeting in Atlanta was listed for February 18;
THE CORRECT DATE FOR ATLANTA IS FEBRUARY 15! CEC hopes that last weekís incorrect
listing for Atlanta does not inconvenience anyone.
San Diego, CA
February 11, 2005
1-5:30PM and 6-8 PM
San Diego Public Schools
Lindbergh Schweitzer Elementary School
6991 Balboa Avenue
San Diego, CA 92111
Atlanta, GA
February 15, 2005
3:30-5:30 PM
6:30-8:30 PM
Atlanta Public Schools
Frederick Douglass High School
225 Hamilton E. Holmes Drive, N.W.
Atlanta, GA 30318
Laramie, WY
February 18, 2005
Hours to be determined, but at this point
3:30-5:30 PM
6:30-8:30 PM
University of Wyoming at Laramie
Wyoming Union
2nd Floor
Laramie, WY 82071
Washington, D.C.
February 24, 2005
1:00 PM ‚ 5:00 PM
6:00 PM ‚ 8:00 PM
Academy for Education Research
Academy Hall
1825 Connecticut Ave, N.W.
Washington, D.C.
© 2005 ConnSENSE
Bulletin
