Building a Case for Federal Involvement

School Administrator, Sept, 1996 by Nick Penning

Soon Washington, D.C., will be empty of its high-minded legislators, and you'll be facing them in the supermarket, the church meeting hall, or at the Rotary, Lions, or Kiwanis.

Right now a fundamental battle exists over whether the federal government ought to be involved in local educational efforts. The federal government became involved with the inception of the Impact. Aid law in the 1950s. That relationship with local schools continued through the passage of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act in 1965 and the Education for All Handicapped Children Act (now IDEA) in the mid-'70s because state government had failed to act to protect the property-starved military districts, the poor, and the disabled.

Congress seems to finally understand the needs of Impact Aid districts, which they wanted to slice apart last year. Congress seems to believe the jury is still out on the effectiveness of Title I and special education. During the drafting of the House of Representatives version of the appropriations bill for education, the chairman of the subcommittee was quoted as saying, "You know, I don't think Title I works very well." His Democratic counterpart, who had offered the failed amendment to boost Title I by $1.2 billion, responded, "Yeah, I know."

Boy, did that conversation set off the alarm bells! Here's someone offering an amendment to improve funding for Title I, acknowledging that he doesn't think it works! And the moderate Republican chairman has been spouting such rhetoric ever since he took over the helm of this all-important funding panel.

Folks, we've got our work cut out for us. Any program that fails to grow over time is a program that is most certainly on the road to oblivion. Not now, not next year, but very slowly, the way the old Chapter 2 program achingly fell from $900 million to less than $300 million over the past 15 years. The increase provided for Title VI (formerly Chapter 2) may prove to be an aberration over time or it may indicate the wave of the GOP future: block grants with lots of flexibility. You certainly didn't see anyone falling on their sword for Title I.

Compiling Facts

So what do we do? You and your Title I director must compile test data on your students served by Title I--data that shows increased performance from one year to the next; data that compares the progress of your Title I students with non-Title I classmates. Congress can't argue with solid facts, and once they and we have those facts, it will be hard for them to trash our most important federal program.

Secondly, you're going to have to show your congressional representative how special education makes a difference in the lives of those you serve. Haul out the anecdotes detailing your successes about those disabled children who have been able to get jobs or care for themselves or communicate or live with others in your community. It's got to be something real to them, something that reflects progress for constituents back home. Invite them to school. Explain what's going on and how much progress students have made.

If you do it right, we can have an advocate forever, someone who will push for special education when others will not.

School has begun, and Congress is trying to wrap up its 104th meeting. While they're still in D.C., sign up for AASA's We Care Legislative Conference, which will feature James Corner and will give you some ammunition you'll need as you charge up to Capitol Hill. The members of this august body will be back home, as sure as bears run for honey, and you need to get on their schedule and take them aside to your Title land special education programs. Introduce them to living, breathing kids, who are excited about learning thanks to federal programs that will drift away if we aren't careful.

Explain what frozen funds mean to this classroom: the aide that won't be there, the teacher that may have to look elsewhere for work, the disadvantaged kids who will lose Title I services as a result.

Most politicians, of any stripe, are moved by what they see, especially when it involves children and their quest for learning. The election's only two months away. Get your appointments with your House member and your Senators now before they get too caught up in their opponents' charges to pay attention.

You can really make a difference and now is the time. Go get 'em.