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91_SJ0048
LRB9110240CBcb
1 SENATE JOINT RESOLUTION
2 WHEREAS, The Congress of the United States enacted the
3 Education for All Handicapped Children Act of 1975 (P.L.
4 94-142), now known as the Individuals with Disabilities
5 Education Act (IDEA), to ensure that all children with
6 disabilities in the United States have available to them a
7 free and appropriate public education that emphasizes special
8 education and related services designed to meet their unique
9 needs, to assure that the rights of children with
10 disabilities and their parents or guardians are protected, to
11 assist states and localities to provide for the education of
12 all children with disabilities, and to assess and assure the
13 effectiveness of efforts to educate children with
14 disabilities; and
15 WHEREAS, Since 1975, federal law has authorized
16 appropriation levels for grants to states under the IDEA at
17 40% of the average per-pupil expenditure in public elementary
18 and secondary schools in the United States; and
19 WHEREAS, Congress continued the 40% funding authority in
20 Public Law 105-17, the Individuals with Disabilities
21 Education Act Amendments of 1997; and
22 WHEREAS, Congress has never appropriated funds equivalent
23 to the authorized level, has never exceeded the 10% level,
24 and has usually only appropriated funding at about the 8%
25 level; and
26 WHEREAS, The Illinois Budget for the 1999-2000 fiscal
27 year proposes $868,422,000 of funding for special education
28 programs; and
29 WHEREAS, The State of Illinois anticipates receiving
30 approximately $195,787,282 in federal special education funds
31 under Part B of the IDEA for the 1999-2000 school year, even
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1 though the federally authorized level of funding would
2 provide over $477,529,900 annually to Illinois; and
3 WHEREAS, Local educational agencies in Illinois are
4 required to pay for the underfunded federal mandates for
5 special education programs, at a statewide total cost of
6 approaching $281,742,600 annually, from regular education
7 program money, thereby reducing the funding that is available
8 for other education programs; and
9 WHEREAS, The 1999 decision of the Supreme Court of the
10 United States in the case of Cedar Rapids Community Sch.
11 Dist. v. Garret F. (143 L.Ed 2d 154) has had the effect of
12 creating an additional mandate for providing specialized
13 health care that will significantly increase the costs
14 associated with providing special education services; and
15 WHEREAS, Whether or not Illinois participates in the IDEA
16 grant program, the State has to meet the requirements of
17 Section 504 of the federal Rehabilitation Act of 1973 (29
18 U.S.C. Sec. 701) and its implementing regulations (34 C.F.R.
19 104), which prohibit recipients of federal financial
20 assistance, including educational institutions, from
21 discriminating on the basis of disability, yet no federal
22 funds are available under the Act for state grants; and
23 WHEREAS, Illinois is committed to providing a free and
24 appropriate public education to children and youth with
25 disabilities, in order to meet their unique needs; and
26 WHEREAS, The Illinois General Assembly is extremely
27 concerned that, since 1978, Congress has not provided states
28 with the full amount of financial assistance necessary to
29 achieve its goal of ensuring children and youth with
30 disabilities equal protection of the laws; therefore, be it
31 RESOLVED, BY THE SENATE OF THE NINETY-FIRST GENERAL
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1 ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, THE HOUSE OF
2 REPRESENTATIVES CONCURRING HEREIN, that we respectfully
3 memorialize the President and the Congress of the United
4 States to provide the full 40% federal share of funding for
5 special education programs so that Illinois and other states
6 participating in these critical programs will not be required
7 to take funding from other vital state and local programs in
8 order to fund this underfunded mandate; and be it further
9 RESOLVED, That suitable copies of this resolution be
10 delivered to the President and the Vice-President of the
11 United States, to the Majority Leader of the Senate of the
12 United States, to the Speaker of the House of Representatives
13 of the United States, to the Chair of the United States
14 Senate Budget Committee, to the Chair of the United States
15 House Budget Committee, to the United States Senate Committee
16 on Appropriations, to the United States House Committee on
17 Appropriations, to each member of the Illinois congressional
18 delegation, and to the United States Secretary of Education.