Cash clash defines special ed debate

WASHINGTON (AP) -- House Democrats and Republicans on Wednesday clashed over cash for special education, signaling a tough fight ahead when Congress rewrites the law serving children with disabilities.

GOP leaders hope to rally bipartisan support for the law's reauthorization, as happened with the 2001 overhaul of general education. Although many proposed changes to the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act draw consensus, the first legislative review of the House bill only underscored disagreements over money.

Republicans rejected a Democratic attempt to make Congress guarantee it would contribute 40 percent of the money needed to educate special-needs children within six years. Congress set that goal when it passed the law in 1975, but the federal contribution stands at 18 percent.

That means states and school districts must come up with the difference, which amounts to billions of dollars that could be spent on teachers salaries, equipment or other expenses.

"This is the granddaddy of federal unfunded mandates," said Rep. Ed Case, D-Hawaii, a member of the House Education and the Workforce Subcommittee on Education Reform.

Republicans offer to raise the contribution to 40 percent within seven years at the discretion of Congress. But they say mandating yearly increases would reduce oversight of special education, hurt lawmakers' ability to handle crises and kill the bill's chances.

Federal spending on special education, which stood between $1 billion and $2 billion throughout the 1980s and early 1990s, has increased to $8.9 billion in recent years.

GOP committee members also rejected a Democratic move to guarantee more money for the general education law, which requires states to improve test scores and teacher quality. Democrats contend President Bush and Republican leaders have already backed off their financial backing of the law, just as leaders began to do with special education years ago.

Rep. Mike Castle, the Republican subcommittee chairman from Delaware, disagreed. "It's not an unfunded mandate," Castle said. "One might argue that it's an underfunded law, and that argument can go on forever."

Members of both parties agree on the bill's key points, including early intervention for children needing help and better identification of which students have disabilities. The subcommittee unanimously passed the final bill, which heads to the full committee.

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