Feeling politically active today? If your child has an IEP, or you know children who do, please consider calling or writing your congressperson today to ask them to support H.R. Bill 4188, the IDEA Fairness Restoration Act, a bipartisan bill sponsored by Representatives Chris Van Hollen and Pete Sessions. This bill would restore the ability for parents who prevail in a due process hearing to recover the cost of their expert witness fees.

In 2006, the Supreme Court took away this right through their decision in Arlington Central School District v. Murphy. Now parents of children with disabilities who go to due process are responsible for paying all expert witness fees themselves, regardless of whether they prevail in the case or not. This can amass to several thousands of dollars.

So, COPAA(the Council of Parent Attorneys and Advocates) is urging everyone to call or write Congress today: Monday, December 3, 2007.
And it’s very easy to do that. If you want to call, dial 202-224-3121 and ask for your Congressional Representative's Office. Then, ask for the education aide and tell them you would like them to support H.R. 4188, the IDEA Fairness Restoration Act. You should leave a voicemail message if they are out.

If you want to email, Send an email to your Representative by going to http://www.house.gov/writerep/and ask them to Support H.R. 4188, The IDEA Fairness Restoration Act. This form will go directly to your Representative's Office.

The folks at COPAA ask that you copy and paste the content of your letter to your Representative into an email and send it to protectidea@copaa.org so they will know the number of emails Congress received in support of this bill.

Below is my email from this morning:

"I'm writing you to ask you to support HR Bill 4188, the IDEA Fairness Restoration Act. This act will allow parents of a child with disabilities who prevail in a due process hearing to recover their expert witness testimony fees.

As the parent of a child with severe disabilities who went through a due process hearing in 2006 right here in your district, I know exactly the financial cost to the family. Our family has been financially devastated by our experience, taking away thousands of dollars that could be used for medical and therapeutic interventions (or education)for our daughter with disabilities, not to mention the loss of my income while I have needed to provide my daughter's education at home.

We were blessed that some of our doctors and therapists were supportive enough to testify pro bono or at a reduced rate. But this isn't always the case, and parents can not afford to pursue their child's right to a free appropriate public education when there is not an opportunity to recover these fees. Meanwhile, school districts experts are in-house professionals on their payroll, paid for by taxpayers, especially in wealthy school districts like ours.

Statistics show that 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. Pursuing their child's rights through due process is incredibly expensive and prohibitive for most families, especially when there is no chance to recover expert fees. Most parents either allow the sub-standard education to continue, make the decision to quit work and homeschool or move to another location in hopes of better educational services.

I believe that Congress' intent was to provide an opportunity for independent dispute resolution for children whose IDEA rights have been violated. Deciding to file a due process case is truly the last resort for parents who have tried numerous ways to negotiate with the school district to provide an appropriate education to their child. We did not enter into it lightly, but only when all other avenues were exhausted.

It is time for Congress to protect this process by restoring fairness to the children and families.

I thank you for your consideration and support of this important legislation."


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