Remarks by Lilliam Rangel-Diaz at the Back to School on Civil Rights News Conference

REMARKS by LILLIAM RANGEL-DIAZ
Member, National Council on Disability
at the
Back to School on Civil Rights News Conference
January 25, 2000

The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act is one of the most important civil rights laws ever written. IDEA's basic premise is that all children with disabilities have a federally-protected civil right to have available to them a free appropriate public education that meets their schooling and related service needs in the least restrictive environment, in regular classes, in the school the child will attend if not disabled. It is a law that works for children.

As a parent of six boys, two of them with disabilities Juan and Christopher who are here with me today I have first hand experience regarding what it feels like to fight for your own child's rights to a free appropriate inclusive education. In Juan's case, my oldest son, the fight was extremely difficult. No family should have to go through the pain, the suffering and the frustration that we went through to provide Juan with an opportunity to receive an appropriate education. Yet I know that too many families do, some of them are here with us today. Juan was my teacher and is the reason why I have chosen advocacy for children and youth with disabilities and their families as my professional career and the reason why I am here today. With Christopher, my stepson and our youngest child in the family, it has been very different. Christopher is living proof that when IDEA is adequately implemented and enforced, a child receives educational benefit. Christopher, who is in third grade and happens to have autism, has been fully included in regular classes at our neighborhood school and receives all the services and the supports that he needs and because of it, Christopher has exploded with language and social skills and is doing very well academically and socially. Christopher's future is very bright.

The focus of this report has been, and is, on the at least six million children and youth with disabilities who should be the beneficiaries under Part B of this important civil rights law. We are here because of our abiding commitment to them and to their futures. This is all about children; the very positive impact that improved enforcement of IDEA can have on the lives of children and their families.

The findings of our report are aimed at identifying the noncompliance problems that perpetuate low expectations, low achievement and life-long dependence among our children with disabilities. Amongst the findings of our report, the top three are:

Every state is out of compliance with IDEA requirements to some degree, and noncompliance has persisted in some states over many years.
The Department of Education has not developed any national compliance standards, objective triggers for withholding funds, or guidelines for referring States to the Department of Justice. There has been very limited use of these sanctions to correct persistent State noncompliance.
Too many parents of children with disabilities spend endless resources in confronting obstacles to their child's basic right to an appropriate education, often at the expense of their personal lives, their financial livelihoods and their careers.
The recommendations to the President and Congress in this report are intended to build on the provisions of the 1997 reauthorization of IDEA for a more assertive and consistent approach to enforcing this law. Here are the top three:
First, we need national compliance standards. The Department of Education should establish and use national compliance standards and objective measures to measure whether State's are in fact making progress.
Second, the Department of Justice must have a stronger role - the Department of Justice should have independent authority to litigate IDEA cases, and administer an individual complaint handling process at the federal level.
Finally, more resources are needed for implementation and enforcement: the Departments of Education and of Justice need greater enforcement, technical assistance and complaint handling capabilities; more funding is needed for low or no-cost legal advocacy services for families; and more programs, materials and services for self-advocacy training are needed for students with disabilities in every State.

The National Council on Disability sees implementation of IDEA and full inclusion of children with disabilities in the American educational system as a children's civil rights issue. Today we are fighting the same battle fought by civil rights advocates in Brown v. Board of Education in 1954: to put an end to the myth of "separate but equal".

Our report, with its key findings and recommendations are for all children with disabilities. For their sake, we are appealing to all federal and state agencies that have a role in the implementation and enforcement of IDEA to work together with students with disabilities and their parents to ensure persistent noncompliance is corrected wherever it exists. We stand ready to work with Congressional leaders, members of the Department of Education and the Department of Justice, and all stakeholders to develop an action plan that will mark the start of a new era in education for children with disabilities.

Thank you.