> BUSH'S EDUCATION PLAN LEAVES AMERICA'S STUDENTS WITH DISABILITIES BEHIND
>
> When Bush brags about his improvements in Texas education system he does
> not
> brag about students with disabilities.  Bush does call the Individuals
> with
> Disabilities Education Act an unfunded mandate.  America's 6 million
> students
> with disabilities are not an unfunded mandate. They have a federally
> protected equal right to high expectations in education.  The truth in
> Texas
> is disabled students are not being educated, nor tested.  The federal
> Office
> of Special Education Programs flunked Texas in nearly every area of
> special
> education and found Texas Education Agency (TEA) has a total lack of
> consequences for school districts not providing students with
> disabilities an
> education.


Bush is right in that IDEA is an unfunded federal mandate. In the  latest
issue of Time Magazine,facts were presented that the 45 years ago the
federal governmant funded public education 0%. Today the federal government
contributes all of 7% to public education. The federal government may
mandate but they don't fund the mandate by a very long shot. If you go to
the Office of Special Education Programs
(OSEP) site (http://www.ed.gov./offices/OSERS/OSEP/ you can check out the
state monitoring reports. Won't find any that passed with flying colors. The
best barely limped in. It is up to the school district weather the special
education population is tested. A vast majority ask to exclude the special
ed kids so the district scores are not "depressed". Texas is hardly alone in
this. Texas also carries a unique burden that only a few other states carry.
They must deal with the influx of illegal immegrants crossing the borders
and using state money for education,health services and welfare. I guess
what you need to decide on election day in the area of education is if you
want the federal government to throw money at the educational system or
whether you feel the money is there but the school districts aren't being
held to accountability. If you go with Gore and give extra money and don't
hold the schools accountable nothing will change. If you believe the state
is better bale to assess accountability and thus local control should be
given to the states than Bush would recieve your vote.  That's the way I
read the canidates.
Joanne