Contact your US House member today and ask them to cosponsor H.R. 2740, the IDEA Fairness Restoration Act

Your help is needed to restore fairness to the IDEA! PLEASE contact your US House member today and ask them to cosponsor H.R. 2740, the IDEA Fairness and Restoration Act.

This bill was introduced in the last legislative session and now is being reintroduced. Ask friends, colleagues, clients, and family members to call too. It will only take a few minutes. If you can't make the call today, please call as soon as possible afterwards.

Dial 202-224-3121 (TTY 202-225-1904). This is Congress' main switchboard. Ask for your Representative's office. When you are connected, ask for the Aide who handles education or disability. If you get voicemail, please leave a message. Tell them you are a constituent and would like the Congressperson to co-sponsor H.R. 2740, the IDEA Fairness Restoration Act. You can find out who your Representative is by going to http://capwiz.com/ndss/dbq/officials/?command=local.

Background:
In the pursuit of a free and appropriate public education for their children with disabilities, parents and caregivers may have issues with their local school that are difficult to resolve. Sometimes, the courts become involved in settling these very difficult cases. But, this can come at great expense to parents and caregivers. When the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) was amended in 1986, it authorized a judge to award parents or caregivers attorney's fees if the court found that a child was denied an appropriate education by the public school. The Conference Report accompanying that law states that, in those cases judges could award expert witness fees and reasonable costs of tests or evaluations necessary for preparation of a parent's case.

Unfortunately, in 2006 the US Supreme Court decided that the expert witness fees were not specifically called out in the statute and therefore parents were not entitled to reimbursement of these fees even when they prevailed in court. Legislation has been introduced in the US House of Representatives to restore the IDEA to the intent of congress when they amended the IDEA.
If you have questions, please contact Ricki Sabia at rsabia@ndss.org or Susan Goodman at Susan@ndsccenter.org

On behalf of the Down Syndrome Indiana, the DSI Governmental Affairs Committee and families everywhere, I would like to thank you for your participation!