OSEP Leadership Conference

On May 29, 2003, Annie White (Labor Counsel from the Senate Committee on Health Education, Labor, and Pensions) and Connie Garner (Policy Director for Disability and Special Populations (Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions) addressed attendees at the OSEP Leadership Conference. They really tried to summarize how the current the Senate conversations were going and helped people in the audience better understand what to anticipate in the Senate's bill.

Here is a summary of some of their key messages (combined within this list):

• Senators Gregg and Kennedy are hoping to introduce a bipartisan bill in early June.


• There will be at least two weeks between the introduction and the mark-up. It is important that people read the bill and send their comments.


• The bill looks toward protecting the rights of students with disabilities, yet address the needs that schools have.


• The bill looks to align with No Child Left Behind.


• It considers recommendations from the President's Commission's Report.


• Unnecessary paperwork and procedures have been looked at and will be "clarified and simplified."


• The public should not be "wedded to current law." They are getting many comments to keep IDEA the way it is. Connie and Annie said that this is not helpful to them at this point, because things are certainly going to change. They need concrete suggestions.


• They are looking at Positive Behavior Support for all kids, but the discipline issues are still up in the air. This is being talked about, but not decided.


• Issues that may come up on the floor include: full vs discretionary funding, school choice, attorneys' fees, and discipline (if it can't be settled in a bipartisan way within the bill).

These bullet points were rewritten from my notes, wearing a parent “filter,” and by no means catch everything. Annie and Connie seemed keenly aware of the many issues that parents talk about at many of our meetings, such as teacher quality, discipline, and the like. Even though it seems that they are aware of our issues, controversy between the parties on specific issues still exist. Connie and Annie encourage us to contact them and our senators with our concerns and suggestions.

So, keep on doing your good work and contact your Senators' offices. We need to talk with and teach all of them about concerns that touch our children most.

For more background information, please scroll down and look at this whole homepage, and look around this Web site. We have our work cut out for us folks. Let's continue to support each other and keep on going.

Shari Krishnan
parentvolunteer@ourchildrenleftbehind.com