Alert! Call to Action on IDEA Fairness Restoration Act on May 6

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Alert! Call to Action on IDEA Fairness Act

Tuesday, May 6

Alert! Call To Action on IDEA Fairness Act (H.R. 4188)

Tuesday May 6

Your Game Plan l Why IDEA Fairness Act Matters l Phone Tips l Learn More

Kids rely on their parents, family members, friends, child advocates, to

speak on their behalf.

In this Alert, we asking you to step up to the plate on Tuesday, May 6 by

calling your Congressional Representatives (202-224-3121) and asking that

they co-sponsor H.R. 4188, the IDEA Fairness Restoration Act (H.R. 4188).

The IDEA Fairness Restoration Act allows parents who prevail in due process

or litigation under IDEA to be reimbursed for their expert witness fees - an

expense few parents can afford. This bipartisan bill will help to level the

playing field for parents of children with disabilities.

Please forward this Alert to friends, family members, and co-workers.

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Call-in Day: Tuesday, May 6, 2008

Our goal is to organize and unite parents, child advocates, friends, and

family members in every state and territory and have them send a clear,

strong message to Members of Congress on Tuesday, May 6.

Mom and dad: Make separate calls. Ask your child's grandparents, aunts,

uncles, and cousins to call too.

Groups: Do you belong to a parent group? Church group? Community service

group? Ask the members of your group to call your Representative on Tuesday,

May 6.

Co-workers: Yes. Ask your co-workers to call your Representative on Tuesday,

May 6. Make it easy for them - give them your Representative's phone

numbers.

Wouldn't it be great if we act together as a group with a common interest?

Wouldn't it be great if the phones in Congress rang off the wall on Tuesday,

May 6?

Wouldn't it be great if Congressional staffers tell their bosses, " We are

getting so many calls from parents and advocates asking us to co-sponsor the

IDEA Fairness Restoration Act - we need to pay attention! " With your help,

we can make this happen!

Be a hero - speak up for the kids. After you call, you'll feel like you're

12 feet tall!

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Your Game Plan: Call or Meet with Your Representative's Office

1. Find Your Representative. Go to http://www.house.gov and put your zip

code into the box in the upper left corner. You can also use

http://www.congress.org to find this information.

2. Meet. The most powerful way to communicate is face-to face. If you can,

schedule an appointment with a staff member for your Representative in their

local district office this week so you can explain in person why he/she

should cosponsor H.R. 4188.

3. Call. Every parent and child advocate who reads this Alert needs to call

their Representative on Tuesday, May 6 and ask the Representative to

co-sponsor H.R. 4188. This will only take a few minutes of your time. By

working together, we will will have a tremendous impact.

Call the main switchboard at 202-224-3121 and ask for your Representative's

Office. Tell the staffer who answers the phone that you are a constituent

and your role (i.e., a parent, a child advocate, a grandparent, a family

friend). Ask your Representative to co-sponsor H.R. 4188, the IDEA Fairness

Restoration Act.

Your message is simple:

" Please cosponsor H.R. 4188, the IDEA Fairness Restoration Act. Parents

need your help to afford expert witnesses when they have to go to due

process. Please provide parents and kids with a fair, balanced playing

field. "

Ask your friends, family members, neighbors, and co-workers to contact their

Representatives on Tuesday, May 6 with a similar message:

" Please co-sponsor H.R. 4188, the IDEA Fairness Restoration Act. It is

expensive for parents of children with disabilities to pay for medical and

technical experts to support their child's case. Most parents cannot afford

this expense on their own. "

Tip: Ask for the Education Aide. If this person is not available, give your

message to the person who answers the phone. if you get a voicemail, leave a

message explaining who you are and that you want your Representative to

co-sponsor the IDEA Fairness Restoration Act - H.R. 4188. Call back again

later. More Phone tips

If you can't make a long-distance call, go to your Representative's web site

at http://www.house.gov. to look up your Representative and get their local

phone number. You can also find their local phone numbers at

http://www.congress.org

Please call on May 6. Do not send an email. We need Congress to hear our

voices. When many people call, Congress listens.

3. If you called earlier, call again. Your Representative needs to hear

from all constituents. Repeating your message is fine. If you called your

Representative a few weeks ago, please call again on May 6. If you cannot

call on May 6, call within a day or two.

For more information about this Alert, please contact Berlow or

of COPAA at protectidea@...

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Why the IDEA Fairness Restoration Act (H.R. 4188) is Important to Parents

The IDEA Fairness Restoration Act will override the Supreme Court's decision

in Arlington Central School District v. (2006) and allow parents who

prevail to be reimbursed for their expert witness fees. H.R. 4188 will help

to level the playing field. H.R. 4188 is essential to protect the rights of

7 million children with disabilities and their parents.

Here are a few reasons why the IDEA Fairness Restoration Act is so

important:

.. When prevailing parents cannot recover expert costs, the playing field is

neither level nor fair, and children are denied a free appropriate public

education and other fundamental IDEA rights.

.. Hiring qualified medical and technical expert witnesses can cost many

thousands of dollars. Few parents can afford this high cost, putting due

process out of reach for most parents, who struggle to afford what their

children with disabilities need.

.. School districts use tax dollars to employ and pay for psychologists and

other paid experts at IEP meetings and hearings. Parents have fewer

resources and yet must bear a greater financial burden. Approximately 36% of

children with disabilities live in families earning less than $25,000 a

year; over 2/3 earn less than $50,000 a year.

.. Congress intended for parents to recover their expert witness fees in the

Handicapped Children's Protection Act of 1986. H.R. 4188 will restore

Congress' original intent.

.. If parents cannot afford due process, the IEP process becomes even more

one-sided and unfair. School personnel control the IEP process and usually

outnumber parents. The right to due process helps ensure that school

districts provide free appropriate public educations to children with

disabilities.

.. Most parents turn to due process and litigation as a last resort. In 2003,

the GAO reported that there were 5 due process hearings per 10,000 special

education students. When parents are forced to request due process, they

need expert witnesses to prevail.

Why the IDEA Fairness Restoration Act Matters

A Pennsylvania public interest organization represented the mother of 8th

grade student with dyslexia and written expression disorders. The child had

struggled to read and write all his life. The school district failed to

provide a scientifically-based reading program so the child was failing.

His single mother was forced to request a due process hearing to implement

the recommendations of an independent evaluator and obtain appropriate

special education services for her child. This parent had to borrow $1,400

to pay the independent evaluator to testify. She also had to pay for the

expert's time while being cross-examined by the school district for two

days. She won her due process case.

Because this case was decided before the Supreme Court's decision in ,

the mother was able to recover her expert fees. But - if she had requested a

due process hearing after , she would not be allowed to recover her

expert witness fees. Without an expert, it would have been difficult to

pursue the case if at all. The IDEA Fairness Restoration Act will ensure

that parents can recover their expert witness fees.

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Phone Tips

Before you call your Representative's office on Tuesday, May 6, jot down the

key points you want to make. Tell the person you speak with that you are a

constituent and a parent and/or advocate, family member, friend. You are

requesting that your Representative cosponsor H.R. 4188, the IDEA Fairness

Restoration Act.

Personal stories are important. If you can, explain how your child, or a

child for whom you advocate, could be helped by the IDEA Fairness

Restoration Act. Explain to your member of Congress how hard it is for

parents of children with disabilities to afford expert fees, in addition to

the expense of raising a child with a disability. Explain that the due

process system helps to ensure that parents are equal partners at the IEP

table.

Won't it be great when the phones in Congress ring off the wall on Tuesday,

May 6?

Won't it be great when Congressional staffers tell their bosses, " We are

getting so many calls from parents and advocates asking us to cosponsor the

IDEA Fairness Restoration Act - we need to pay attention to them! "

When we take this step, and call our RepresentativeS, we can make the IDEA

Fairness Restoration Act a reality!

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Learn More About the IDEA Fairness Restoration Act

The IDEA Fairness Restoration Act is supported by slaw and over 100

disability organizations. Read the letters they sent to Congress on COPAA's

web page (http://www.copaa.org/news/organizations.html).

To learn more about the IDEA Fairness Restoration Act, visit the IDEA

Fairness page at http://www.copaa.org/news/ask_congress.html on the website

of the Council of Parent Attorneys & Advocates, Inc. (COPAA).

Download a brochure with more information and examples from

http://www.copaa.org/pdf/Brochure.pdf

Information about the IDEA Fairness Restoration Act in Spanish is here:

(http://www.copaa.org/pdf/MSSpanish.pdf)

Read the full text of the IDEA Fairness Restoration Act, H.R. 4188. html l

pdf l word

Read Congressman Van Hollen's statement in introducing the IDEA

Fairness Restoration Act (http://www.copaa.org/news/VHRemarks.html)

For more information about this Alert, please contact Berlow or

of COPAA at protectidea@...