1Memorializing the President and the Congress of the United
2States to fully fund all special education mandates imposed
3by Federal laws or regulations upon State, county, municipal
4or local providers of educational services to students in
5this Commonwealth.

6WHEREAS, Section 14 of Article III of the Constitution of
7Pennsylvania requires the General Assembly to provide for the
8maintenance and support of a thorough and efficient system of
9public education in this Commonwealth; and

10WHEREAS, The right to an education is not among the rights
11explicitly or implicitly guaranteed by the Constitution of the
12United States; and

13WHEREAS, Federal laws, beginning with a March 2, 1867,
14appropriation to create a Department of Education, began a
15pattern of imposing educational terms and conditions upon the
16public school systems of the individual states; and

17WHEREAS, In 1965, the passage of the Elementary and Secondary
18Education Act was considered to be landmark legislation; and

1WHEREAS, The Elementary and Secondary Education Act remains
2the nucleus of Federal kindergarten through 12th grade education
3policy; and

4WHEREAS, The 1975 passage of the Education for All
5Handicapped Children Act, revised and renamed the Individuals
6with Disabilities Education Act in 1990 and further revised and
7reauthorized by the Individuals with Disabilities Education
8Improvement Act of 2004, required the states to provide free
9public education to all disabled students and specified the
10evaluations that must be performed and the services that must be
11provided; and

12WHEREAS, Special education enrollment and aggregate costs for
13children with disabilities have increased markedly since 1990
14and there have not been proportionate increases in Federal
15special educational appropriations; and

16WHEREAS, The disabilities of children enrolled with special
17education needs include autism, deaf-blindness, deafness,
18emotional disturbance, hearing impairment, intellectual
19disability, multiple disabilities, orthopedic impairment, other
20health impairment, specific learning disability, speech or
21language impairment, traumatic brain injury and visual
22impairment, including blindness; and

23WHEREAS, Special education-mandated spending by local school
24districts is consuming a larger percentage of increased
25educational costs; and

26WHEREAS, Pennsylvania's school system is comprised of 500
27school districts; and

28WHEREAS, The school districts in this Commonwealth educate
291,677,515 students and have an average expenditure per student
30of $12,299; and

1WHEREAS, The Federal revenue contribution per student is
2$1,052; and

3WHEREAS, Pennsylvania educates approximately 219,377 children
4with disabilities and 57,605 of these children have been found
5to be severely disabled; and

6WHEREAS, The cost to educate a child with a disability is
7approximately $16,407, 40% higher than for a non-disabled child;
8and

9WHEREAS, Appropriations under the Individuals with
10Disabilities Education Improvement Act would require a 130%
11increase before the mandates of the act are fully funded; and

12WHEREAS, State and local budgets have been forced to absorb
13the unfunded costs of this mandate; therefore be it

14RESOLVED, That the Senate memorialize the President and the
15Congress of the United States to fully fund all special
16education mandates imposed by Federal laws or regulations upon
17State, county, municipal or local providers of educational
18services to students in this Commonwealth; and be it further

19RESOLVED, That copies of this resolution be transmitted to
20the President of the United States, the presiding officers of
21each house of Congress and each member of Congress from
22Pennsylvania.