“There are major problems in the special education system today that money alone won’t fix for teachers, parents, and children with special needs,” House Education committee chairman John Boehner (R-OH) said. “Teachers want the special education paperwork burden reduced. Parents of students with special needs want better results and options. And too many children, particularly minorities, are being wrongly placed in special education classes they don’t belong in.”

     “Turning special education into a new federally-administered entitlement spending program would be a disaster for anyone hoping to see these disturbing problems corrected,” Boehner said. “The commission has done a great service to students with special needs as well as teachers and parents by soundly rejecting the notion.

     “Does anyone really believe creating a new federal entitlement spending program will result in less paperwork for American teachers, or better academic results for children?” Boehner asked. The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) paperwork burden is driving many highly qualified special education teachers out of the profession, one of the primary factors contributing to a growing national shortage of qualified special education teachers.

    "After decades of neglect, the Congress has made great strides in meeting the needs of students with disabilities. While that investment will continue, we must have the budgetary flexibility to reexamine our commitment to prevention and early intervention to ensure children will succeed when the get to first grade, not after they have failed in grades 3, 4 and 5," House Education Reform Subcommittee Chairman Mike Castle (R-DE) said. "We must think creatively to ensure all children get appropriate resources and services which will hopefully lead to improved academic achievement, higher levels of employment and greater opportunities for independent living. Budgetary flexibility--coupled with reforms that ensure children learn and grow--will help this Congress extend its promise of a quality education to all children, especially those with disabilities."

     While avoiding calls for creating a new entitlement program through mandatory spending, President Bush's budget for the upcoming fiscal year includes a $1 billion increase in discretionary funding for IDEA. The budget resolution passed by House Republicans this spring calls for full funding of IDEA within 10 years - contingent on enactment of much-needed reforms such as paperwork reduction and increased accountability for improving academic results for children.

     Boehner also noted that Democrats never supported mandatory full funding of IDEA while they were the majority party in Congress, and in fact provided significantly less support for special education during that time than Republicans have. From 1996 to 2001, budgets crafted by Republican majorities provided an overall funding increase of 172.4 percent for IDEA Part B grants to states. But from 1990 to 1995, budgets crafted by Democrat majorities provided an increase of just 50.6 percent for IDEA Part B grants to states.