Congress Members Request GAO Analysis of School ADA Compliance, Protest Equity Delays

Last week, three U.S. Representatives from two states--  José E. Serrano, a Democrat form New York, Jerrold Nadler, also a Democrat from New York, and Bobby Scott, a Democrat from Virginia, sent a letter to the Government Accounting Office (GAO) urging the agency to launch a nation-wide anaysis of school compliance with the Americans with Disability Act. The congressmen are the Ranking Member of the House Commerce, Justice, Science (CJS) Appropriations Subcommittee, Ranking Member of the Judiciary Committee, and Ranking Member of the Education and the Workforce Committee, respectively.

The letter noted, "...localities continue to undermine the law by limiting the number of schools students with disabilities can physically access through negligence and lackluster enforcement of the ADA. That is why we write to request the Government Accountability Office to analyze and issue a report on ADA compliance in our nation’s schools.”

Full text of the GAO letter can be found here: https://democrats-edworkforce.house.gov/media/press-releases/congressman-serrano-leads-joint-effort-to-help-ensure-students-with-disabilities-can-access-public-education-

Mr. Scott along with Senator Patty Murray (D-WA) is also engaged in ongoing efforts to prevent delays and possible rollbacks of civil rights protections for students with disabilities under the Equity in the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) rule, which addresses disproportionate identification, placement, and disciplinary treatment of students of color in special education. Congressman Scott and Senator Murray are especially concerned since February, when the Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services announced plans to postpone the compliance date of the “Equity in IDEA” or “significant disproportionality” regulations for K-12 students until July 1, 2020, and for children ages three through five until July 1, 2022.

New Action on Seclusion and Restraint Abuses

PRESS RELEASE REPRINT FROM THE EDUCATION & LABOR COMMITTEE
Congressman George Miller, Chairman:

Secretary Duncan Takes Critical Step to Keep Schoolchildren Safe
Chairman Miller is developing legislation to address seclusion and restraint in nation’s schools

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Late last week, U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan sent a letter to state school chiefs asking them to formally submit their policies on seclusion and restraint in schools, as part of larger efforts to prevent abusive uses of these practices in the nation’s classrooms.

A recent Government Accountability Office [investigation], conducted at the request of U.S. Rep. George Miller (D-CA), the chairman of the House Education and Labor Committee, uncovered hundreds of allegations of abusive uses of seclusion and restraint practices on schoolchildren over the past two decades. In several of those cases, this abuse resulted in the death of a child.

“Secretary Duncan is committed to ensuring all children, in every single school in this country, is safe and protected,” said Miller, who is working to develop legislation that would address seclusion and restraint in U.S. schools. “We need to do everything we can to protect schoolchildren from abusive, torturous, and – in some cases – deadly uses of seclusion and restraint and to stop these horrific abuses from going unchecked."

Unlike in hospitals, other health care facilities and non-medical community-based facilities that receive federal funding, there are currently no federal laws that restrict the use of seclusion and restraint in public or private schools. State regulation and oversight varies greatly. Nineteen states have no laws governing the appropriate use of seclusion or restraint in schools.

GAO REPORT: http://edlabor.house.gov/newsroom/2009/05/gao-report-finds-hundreds-of-a.shtml

PRESS OFFICE CONTACT: 202-226-0853

RELATED:
http://edlabor.house.gov
http://www.twitter.com/edlabordems
http://www.facebook.com/EdLaborCommittee

GAO Finds Most Polling Places Inaccessible

From AAPD, WASHINGTON, DC - June 11, 2009 - The U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) released an interim report on voting accessibility Wednesday comparing last year's presidential election to the 2000 election and the good news, according to Dickson, is there has been progress. The bad news, he said, is we have a long way to go and for voters who use wheelchairs, the nation still gets a failing grade for polling place accessibility.

In the 2000 election, only 16 percent of polling places were accessible to wheelchair users, according to the GAO report. In 2008, 27 percent of polling places were accessible.

Numbers released by the U.S. Government Accountability Office this week show people with disabilities had fewer impediments at polling places during the 2008 presidential election, but not all people with disabilities are able to access polls and vote privately and independently. The GAO will release a more detailed final report on the Election Day polling place accessibility findings in September. To read the initial report in its entirety, visit http://www.gao.gov/products/GAO-09-685.