Archived: Statement by Judith E. Heumann, Assistant Secretary for Special Education and Rehabilitatiave Services, on the FY 1999 Budget Request for Rehabilitation Services and Disability Research, Before the House Subcommittee on Labor-HHS-ED Appropriations .

A r c h i v e d I n f o r m a t i o n

Speeches and Testimony

DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION
Statement by
Judith E. Heumann
Assistant Secretary
Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services
Before the House Appropriations Subcommittee
on Labor, Health & Human Services and Education
on the
Fiscal Year 1999 Budget Request
for Special Education and
Rehabilitation Services and Disability Research

March 31, 1998

Mr. Chairman and Members of the Committee:

Thank you for the opportunity to appear before you today to discuss the President's fiscal year 1999 budget request for the Special Education and Rehabilitation Services and Disability Research accounts, which are administered by the Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services (OSERS).

We believe this budget request represents a strong, continuing commitment on the part of this Administration to serve people with disabilities and their families. We have worked diligently with members of Congress to improve the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, and are currently working to reauthorize the Rehabilitation Act and improve upon the major accomplishments of that program. We also have opportunities to strengthen services for disabled individuals through reauthorization of the Education of the Deaf Act and the Technology-Related Assistance for Individuals with Disabilities Act. In all of this work, we have been guided by a bipartisan commitment to improving the lives of our Nation's disabled individuals and their families and we remain committed to continuing that collaborative effort.

SPECIAL EDUCATION

The President's 1999 budget proposal for Special Education will enable OSERS to effectively pursue the progressive goals and new directions set forth in the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act Amendments of 1997. The reauthorized IDEA emphasizes improving educational results for children with disabilities and focusing resources on teaching and learning. The IDEA amendments take a common-sense approach in the elimination of unnecessary administrative burdens and promote the development of an adequate number of highly trained special and regular education professionals to effectively meet the educational needs of children with disabilities. The $4.8 billion request for Special Education, an increase of $35 million over the fiscal year 1998 level, includes increases for Grants to States studies, Grants for Infants and Families, State Improvement, and Parent Information Centers.

Grants to States

We are requesting $3.8 billion for the Grants to States formula program to assist the States in covering the excess costs associated with providing special education and related services to children with disabilities. During the past two years, Congress has increased funding for the Grants to States program by almost $1.5 billion or 64 percent. These significant additional resources are available to States and school districts to carry out the important changes made by the 1997 IDEA amendments. The 1999 request would maintain the 1998 funding level for States, which represents a Federal contribution of about 9 percent of the excess costs of educating children with disabilities. The request also includes $9.7 million, an increase of $3 million over the 1998 level, for studies to carry out the National Assessment of the Act required by the IDEA amendments.

The Grants to States request is part of an overall strategy under which the President is proposing record levels of new investments in elementary and secondary education that will benefit all children, including children with disabilities. These proposals will reduce class size in the early grades, modernize thousands of schools, help children read well by the end of the third grade, strengthen reform efforts by high-poverty urban and rural school districts, provide after-school learning opportunities, and provide mentoring and other support services to prepare students for college. We believe that while these new initiatives are focused on all children, they will be particularly important in improving results for children with disabilities.

Preschool Grants

Our request for the Preschool Grants program is $374 million, the same level appropriated in 1998. The Preschool Grants program provides formula grants to States as an incentive to make a free appropriate public education available to all children with disabilities aged 3 through 5, and to provide a minimum level of funding to serve these children. Students served under the Preschool Grants program also are counted under the Grants to States program and benefit from the significant funding increases that program received in 1997 and 1998. All States currently are serving children with disabilities in this age group.

Grants for Infants and Families

The $370 million requested for the Grants for Infants and Families program would provide an increase of $20 million or 5.7 percent to assist States to expand the numbers of children served, improve the scope and quality of services, and meet the rising costs of administering their statewide systems of early-intervention services. This increase reflects a priority of the Administration to focus on early intervention, which can significantly improve the school readiness of young children with disabilities. The Grants for Infants and Families Program is the only Federal program focused on serving infants and toddlers with disabilities aged birth through 2. The increase will help States to implement family focused service systems, develop programs to address personnel shortages, provide critical services that otherwise would not be available, and respond to the IDEA's increased emphasis on providing services in natural environments and improving child find activities.

National Activities

The total request for National Activities is $291 million, $12 million more than the amount appropriated in 1998. These activities, which were funded for the first time last year, consolidated 14 separate programs into 6 programs providing a comprehensive and coordinated structure to support States in their systems change efforts and improve results for children with disabilities.

Within National Activities, we are requesting $45.2 million for State Improvement grants, $10 million over the 1998 level. By providing States with flexible resources, these grants will assist State educational agencies, in partnership with others, to reform and improve their systems for providing educational, early intervention, and transitional services to improve results for children with disabilities. This includes States' systems for professional development, technical assistance, and dissemination.

We also are requesting $20.5 million for the Parent Information Centers program, $2 million over the 1998 level. This program, which supports at least one Center in each State, helps ensure that parents, as the primary educators for their children, have the information they need to help their children with disabilities reach challenging goals.

Other National Activities would be funded at their 1998 levels. Research and Innovation would be supported at a level of $64.5 million to produce new knowledge, integrate research and practice, and improve the use of professional knowledge. For Technical Assistance and Dissemination, $44.6 million is requested to help move research knowledge into practice and assist States in systems change efforts. Included in this amount is $10 million for the second year of a 5-year effort to inform teachers, administrators, and parents on the implementation of the IDEA amendments of 1997. The Personnel Preparation request of $82.1 million would prepare personnel to serve children with high- and low-incidence disabilities, prepare leadership personnel, and support activities of national significance. For Technology and Media Services $34 million is requested to promote the development, demonstration, and use of technology to address the needs of children with disabilities, and to support media related activities such as captioning and video description for television and recording of textbooks for the blind.

REHABILITATION SERVICES AND DISABILITY RESEARCH

The Rehabilitation Services and Disability Research account supports comprehensive and coordinated programs of vocational rehabilitation and independent living for individuals with disabilities through formula grants to States for vocational rehabilitation services, and a variety of research, demonstration, training, and service programs. The $2.6 billion request for this account, an increase of $54 million over the 1998 level, will enhance efforts to meet the Department's Strategic Plan Goal of ensuring access to postsecondary education and lifelong learning by assisting individuals with disabilities to acquire or strengthen their skills and improve their earning power.

The authorizations of appropriations for these programs (with the exception of the Assistive Technology program) expire September 30, 1998, and new legislation is pending. The distribution of resources presented in the President's FY 1999 budget is illustrative and subject to change pending the enactment of new authorizing legislation.

Vocational Rehabilitation State Grants

For the Vocational Rehabilitation State Grants program, the Administration requests a $57.5 million, or 2.6 percent, increase over the 1998 appropriation level. The request is $10.3 million more than necessary to satisfy the statutory requirement to increase funding by at least the percentage change in the Consumer Price Index for Urban Consumers. The $2.3 billion request would assist State agencies to reduce the high unemployment rate of people with disabilities. The requested amount includes $5.9 million to support the training of State agency personnel previously funded under the Training program. The reduced request for the Training program reflects this shift in funding. The Department supports amendments to Rehabilitation Act that would convert the discretionary in-service training grant program under Title III of the Act to a set-aside used solely for training State agency personnel consistent with the agency's plan for personnel development under Title I. The request also includes $17.3 million for grants to Indian tribes, an increase of $1.9 million over the 1998 level.

Under the VR program a wide range of services is provided each year to over 1 million individuals with disabilities. If, due to limited resources, services cannot be provided to all eligible individuals who apply to the VR program, States must give priority to applicants with the most significant disabilities. Each year, the VR program successfully rehabilitates over 200,000 individuals with disabilities, about 78 percent of whom have significant disabilities.

The economic benefits of this program can be demonstrated by the following fiscal year 1996 data on individuals who achieved an employment outcome: 87 percent of the individuals were employed in the competitive labor market or were self-employed; 86 percent of these individuals earned at or above the minimum wage; and 71 percent of these individuals reported that their own income was their primary source of support, as opposed to their family or public and private assistance and public entitlement programs.

Special Demonstration Programs

We are requesting $18.9 million under the Special Demonstration programs in fiscal year 1999, an increase of $3 million over the 1998 level to fund an initiative that begins this year under the Program Improvement authority. The reduced request for the Program Improvement activity reflects this shift in funding. Awards will be made for model systems-change projects that will identify and reduce systemic barriers to the employment of individuals with disabilities participating in public support programs. The model systems-change projects are part of a larger effort on the part of the Administration under a recently signed Executive Order that would promote a coordinated and aggressive national policy to reduce the unemployment rate of individuals with disabilities. The Senate bill to reauthorize the Act would replace the current Section 311 demonstration authority with an expanded special projects and demonstration authority that would allow for the support of such projects.

National Institute on Disability and Rehabilitation Research (NIDRR)

We are requesting $81 million for NIDRR, an increase of $4.2 million over the 1998 appropriation. The Institute brings a comprehensive view and intensity of focus to applied research that improves the lives of individuals with disabilities at work, in the family, and in the community. The 1999 budget request for NIDRR would provide approximately $64 million for continuation grants, including 44 research centers. Approximately $1 million would be used to increase funding to existing Rehabilitation Research and Training Centers. These funds will facilitate collaborative research activities, interdisciplinary and longitudinal studies, the transfer of technology into manufacture and distribution, and help us to conduct more responsive research on emerging issues and new technological developments based on NIDRR's long-range planning efforts. Another $13 million would be used to support new activities, including 7 new research centers and 30 new Field-Initiated Research projects.

Assistive Technology

NIDRR's Assistive Technology program helps States to improve the access of disabled individuals to assistive technology devices and services. Assistive technology has been identified by disability advocates, State VR directors and other key service providers as a fundamental determinant of successful employment outcomes. Our $30 million request will enable the Department to support Assistive Technology programs in 43 States and 4 outlying areas. Nine States received their last year of Assistive Technology program funding in 1998. The General Education Provisions Act extension for this program applies through September 30, 1999; however, new authorizing legislation will be proposed to extend the authority for the Assistive Technology program so that all States can receive ten years of funding.

Other Rehabilitation and Independent Living Service Programs

Increases are proposed for the Client Assistance and the Independent Living programs to meet rising costs associated with the provision of services to persons with disabilities or to expand services. An 8.3 percent increase is also requested for the Helen Keller National Center to meet increased costs and provide funding for construction projects. The Department proposes to fund the remaining programs in this account at the 1998 appropriation level, a level sufficient to support activities in these programs.

Mr. Chairman and members of the Committee, we believe that the President's 1999 budget request for the Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services is a positive step in forging strong bipartisan support for programs that create opportunities to enable individuals with disabilities to contribute to our society to the best of their abilities.

My colleagues and I will be happy to respond to questions.

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Last Updated -- March 30, 1998, (mjj)