Thursday, April 13, 2017

A Look at H.R. 610



In 1965 President Lyndon Johnson signed into law the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA). Part of that legislation provided for services for children with special needs and spelling out nutrition requirements for lunches for low- income students.  On January 23,2017 three members of the US House of Representatives introduced the “Choices in Education Act,” known as H.R.610. One of the primary tenants of this legislation is to repeal ESEA. In reviewing the bill, it has been n0ted that it does not address The Individuals with Disabilities Act (IDEA), which pertains to students with special needs.
The proposed bill also contains provisions for a voucher system that apparently does not address the issues of students with disabilities. It behooves members of the education community to keep an eye on this legislation as it makes its way through congress. For those of you who wish to take an activist approach, the three sponsors of the bill are Congressman Steven King (R- Iowa) 202-225,4426, Congressman Andy Harris (R- Maryland), 202-225-5311 and Congressman Trent Franks (R- Arizona), 202-225-4576.


c. 2017 J. Margolis

No comments:

Post a Comment