Your Advocacy is Needed

[Guest guest]

I know that this is " off topic " as it pertains to DS/Autism, but this group

consists of such great advocates for our kids. The information below was

forwarded to my local DS support group by the ARC of Dallas, and is quite

disturbing - considering these are the words of the man who will be advising

President Bush on special education!

Please distribute this widely. The disability community

needs to be aware Chairperson's Branstad's attitude towards

special education.

The President needs to hear your concerns about this commission

and its leadership.

Write to:

President W. Bush

The White House

1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW

Washington, DC 20500

202-456-1414

Fax: 202-456-2461

E-mail: president@...

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Subject: Quote from Chair of President Bush's Commission on Special

Education

Gov. Branstad (former governor of Iowa) has been appointed to serve as

chair of the Administration's new special education commission.

Following is a quote from Gov Branstad (Iowa) from an interview

transcript. The entire transcript is available at:

http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/education/schools_1-16.html

GOV. TERRY BRANSTAD: In our state nearly 60 percent of the budget goes

for education. And what we find is people are willing to invest in

quality education, but they are also fiscally conservative. They want to

see results. They want to see achievement for the dollars that they put

in. I think that the federal government in its mandates in the area of

special ed has driven up costs needlessly. I think that needs to be

reviewed.

I want to see every child have an opportunity to learn. All special

ed children do have a right to an education, but to spend tens

oft thousands of dollars on kids that really are not going to be able to

support themselves or be able to really learn a great deal at the

expense of the general education of the rest of the students is not

fair.

And so that has to be addressed. A lot of people are afraid of it,

of being, you know, accused of being insensitive or whatever. I was

in Sioux City, Iowa, yesterday, and I heard from a Teacher of the Year,

Mounts, who had been Teacher of the Year, and the

superintendent there about how their school is being squeezed

because of the federal mandates in the area of special ed and

how there needs to be more flexibility and latitude given to