News Release

NCD #02-362
April 30, 2002
Contact: Mark S. Quigley
202-272-2004
202-272-2074 TTY
mquigley@ncd.gov

National Council on Disability Submits Testimony to Senate Help Committee on Discipline and Students with Disabilities

WASHINGTON--The National Council on Disability (NCD) today provided written testimony for the record of the U.S. Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee on discipline and the reauthorization of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA).

The testimony included NCD's 1998 Discipline of Students with Disabilities: A Position Statement (http://www.ncd.gov/newsroom/publications/discipline.html), which is as relevant today as it was in 1998. It shares NCD's concern about the way this issue is being characterized and the potential harm to children with disabilities that may come from Congressional efforts to revisit this issue.

NCD believes that instead of making it easier for schools to wash their hands of students with disabilities by giving schools new means to facilitate their discriminatory exclusion, policy makers must look for ways to address the needs of all students with and without disabilities so that they stay in school and succeed.

During the course of five studies on IDEA and one on transition issues, from 1989 to 2000, NCD consistently found that parents of children with disabilities are enthusiastic supporters of the law. They think it is a good law. Those studies include: Back to School on Civil Rights (2000) (http://www.ncd.gov/newsroom/publications/backtoschool_1.html); Transition and Post-School Outcomes for Youth with Disabilities: Closing the Gaps to Post-Secondary Education and Employment (2000) (http://www.ncd.gov/newsroom/publications/00publications.html); Improving the Implementation of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act: Making Schools Work for All of America's Children (1995) (http://www.ncd.gov/newsroom/publications/95school.html) and its supplement (1996) (http://www.ncd.gov/newsroom/publications/96school.html); Inclusionary Education for Students with Disabilities: Keeping the Promise (1994) (http://www.ncd.gov/newsroom/publications/inclusion.html); Serving the Nation's Students with Disabilities: Progress and Prospects (1993) (http://www.ncd.gov/newsroom/publications/progress.html); and, The Education of Students with Disabilities: Where Do We Stand? (1989) (http://www.ncd.gov/newsroom/publications/stand.html).

NCD's testimony is available at http://www.ncd.gov/newsroom/reauthorizations/idea/idea.html.