CHAPTER 207 HOUSE CONCURRENT RESOLUTION No. 5029
      A Concurrent Resolution memorializing the Congress of the United States to assume
      its fair share of the costs of special education services by increasing funding to a level
      more nearly approaching the level authorized by the Individuals with Disabilities Edu-
      cation Act.

WHEREAS, In the span of a few years, 1971 through 1973, the Fed-
eral Courts made it clear that an appropriate education is a fundamental
right of children with disabilities that is secured by the due process and
equal protection clauses of the 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution;
and

WHEREAS, In 1975, Congress passed Public Law 94-142, the Edu-
cation for All Handicapped Children Act, known since 1990 as the Indi-
viduals with Disabilities Education Act or IDEA; and

WHEREAS, The IDEA requires that all children with disabilities re-
ceive a free, appropriate public education and provides a funding mech-
anism to assist states and local educational services agencies with the costs
of maintaining programs; and

WHEREAS, For several years, the costs of providing special education
services required under federal and state law have been escalating rapidly
and have been a major concern of policymakers who have reviewed the
matter studiously. To date, solutions have proven elusive; and

WHEREAS, All of the states have some mechanism in their school
finance laws that acknowledge the additional costs of providing special
education services for children with disabilities, estimated on average to
be about 2.3 times greater than for general education pupils; and

WHEREAS, The U.S. Supreme Court has opined that the IDEA is a
comprehensive scheme set up by Congress to aid the states in complying
with the constitutional obligation to provide public education for children
with disabilities; and

WHEREAS, The IDEA authorizes funding in accordance with a for-
mula, a key variable of which is the average per pupil expenditure for
general education pupils. The Act authorized Congress to appropriate a
sum equal to 5 percent of this average per pupil expenditure in 1977, 10
percent in 1978, 20 percent in 1979, and 40 percent by 1980. Though the
Act authorized funding according to this formula, appropriations have
never approached the authorization level and remains at 10 percent or
less today: Now, therefore,

Be it resolved by the House of Representatives of the State of Kansas,
the Senate concurring therein: That the Legislature, in recognition that
children with disabilities are endowed by the Constitution with the right
to be provided with a free and appropriate public education and that the
Congress of the United States has enacted the Individuals with Disabil-
ities Education Act in order to insure that right, hereby urges the Con-
gress to acknowledge the fact that special education services are extremely
costly and should be supported by a combination of local, state, and fed-
eral funds; and

Be it further resolved: That the Legislature hereby requests the Con-
gress to assume its fair share of the costs of special education services by
increasing funding to a level more nearly approaching the level authorized
by the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act; and

Be it further resolved: That the Secretary of State is hereby directed
to send enrolled copies of this resolution to the President and President
pro tempore of the Senate of the United States, to the Speaker of the
House of Representatives of the United States, and to each member of
the Kansas Congressional Delegation.

Adopted by the House March 4, 1998.

Adopted by the Senate March 12, 1998.

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