HF 456

1st Engrossment - 82nd Legislature (2001 - 2002) Posted on 12/15/2009 12:00am

  1.1                             A resolution
  1.2             memorializing Congress to authorize and appropriate 
  1.3             funding for 40 percent of the cost of special 
  1.4             education. 
  1.5      
  1.6      WHEREAS, over 25 years ago, the federal government required 
  1.7   states to provide children with disabilities an appropriate 
  1.8   education, and for 25 years, the government has failed to meet 
  1.9   its promise to pay 40 percent of the cost; and 
  1.10     WHEREAS, since 1997 the yearly average of federal funding 
  1.11  has been about 13 percent; and 
  1.12     WHEREAS, on May 3, 2000, the United States House of 
  1.13  Representatives overwhelmingly approved the Individuals with 
  1.14  Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) Full Funding Act (H.R. 4055) 
  1.15  by a 421 to 3 vote; and 
  1.16     WHEREAS, the bill increased funding in $2 billion 
  1.17  increments for the next ten years until the federal government 
  1.18  fulfills its original obligation; and 
  1.19     WHEREAS, in September 2000, a Senate committee passed S. 
  1.20  2341, its version of the IDEA Full Funding Act of 2000; and 
  1.21     WHEREAS, the legislation that survived the final days of 
  1.22  the session increases the federal percentage of funding only 
  1.23  slightly; and 
  1.24     WHEREAS, appropriate special education services are being 
  1.25  provided to all eligible children in the state of Minnesota; and 
  2.1      WHEREAS, Minnesota must provide substantial state funding 
  2.2   to fill the gaps left by Congress's unfunded promise; and 
  2.3      WHEREAS, the recent increases in federal funds for schools, 
  2.4   including the increases in special education funding, have come 
  2.5   with substantial mandates and limitations on the use of funds; 
  2.6   and 
  2.7      WHEREAS, during his campaign, President Bush went on record 
  2.8   as supporting increased special education funding with the goal 
  2.9   of meeting the federal obligation as mandated under IDEA; NOW, 
  2.10  THEREFORE, 
  2.11     BE IT RESOLVED by the Legislature of the State of Minnesota 
  2.12  that it memorializes Congress to pass legislation speeding up 
  2.13  the timetable for full funding, and authorizing and 
  2.14  appropriating the funds necessary to make good on its past 
  2.15  promise to fund 40 percent of the cost of average per pupil 
  2.16  expenditures. 
  2.17     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the legislature urges Congress 
  2.18  and the executive branch to end the federal policy that requires 
  2.19  states to use additional federal funds only to increase spending 
  2.20  and not to replace state funds already being spent.  The cost of 
  2.21  special education now forces states to subsidize special 
  2.22  education with state and local general education funds, and the 
  2.23  "supplement-not-supplant" policy requires that they continue 
  2.24  this subsidy, even if federal funding for special education is 
  2.25  increased.  The federal requirement that federal funds be used 
  2.26  only to supplement other funds obligates states and local school 
  2.27  districts to continue to use state and local general education 
  2.28  funds for the 40 percent of costs appropriately covered by 
  2.29  federal funds. 
  2.30     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Secretary of State of the 
  2.31  State of Minnesota is directed to prepare copies of this 
  2.32  memorial and transmit them to those standing committees of the 
  2.33  United States Senate and the United States House of 
  2.34  Representatives with jurisdiction over education, and to 
  2.35  Minnesota's Senators and Representatives in Congress.