President Bush Reauthorizes IDEA
On December 3, 2004, President George W. Bush signed Public Law 108-446, 118 Stat. 2647, the Individual with Disabilities Education Improvement Act of 2004, amending the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA). This bill, which reauthorizes IDEA will:
Improve accountability and results for students with disabilities;
Improve services to students with disabilities;
Reduce procedural and paperwork requirements;
Encourage cooperation with parents in the special education process;
Ensure less adversarial methods are used to resolve disputes between parents and school district;
Focus federal and State monitoring, technical assistance and enforcement on meeting performance goals and indicators to improve the outcomes for students with disabilities;
Establish a seven-year course to fully fund IDEA and increase the State's discretionary dollars;
Provide flexibility in the use of IDEA funds by school districts to support improved achievement of students with disabilities;
Provide federal grants and national activities to support State and local efforts to improve results;
Report on National Disability Policy Available from NCD
The National Council on Disability (NCD) has released a report, National Disability Policy: A Progress Report. The annual report reviews federal policy impacting disability related issues from December 2002 through December 2003. Some of the areas addressed in the report are housing, long-term care, healthcare, telecommunications, and transportation. Based upon its findings the report details recommendations that NCD will make to the executive and legislative branches of the Federal Government.
