The bill is back!

It’s been a while since we had news to report about special education reforms in the PA General Assembly. Well, now we have some really good news.
And we all need to get busy!
The major reform legislation helping students with disabilities that we all worked so hard on last year is being re-introduced in the PA Senate and House.

In 2010, House Bill 704 was passed by the House with bi-partisan support and came close to getting a vote in the Senate. We just ran out of time.

The bill fixes the distribution and accountability of state funding for special education, aimed at improving opportunities to learn for children with disabilities.

The same bill will now be re-introduced in both the Senate and the House, in the same form as it passed the House in 2010. Click here for a detailed summary.

Senator Patrick Browne (R-Allentown) and Representative Bernie O’Neill (R-Bucks County) have issued memos asking their colleagues to cosponsor the legislation.
Senator Dinniman (D-West Chester) and Representative Sturla (D-Lancaster) are also taking the lead.
Click to read the memo from Browne (May 4) and from O’Neill (May 11; will be posted ASAP).

PLEASE SPREAD THE WORD AND CALL YOUR OWN SENATOR AND REPRESENTATIVE.
Ask them to cosponsor the special education bill from Senator Browne and Representative O’Neill.
Your senator and representative should call the offices for Browne and O’Neill and tell them to add their names as a cosponsor to the bill.
The special education bill does not have a number yet, so we want senators and representatives to sign on as “original co-sponsors”.

Action is needed this week and next week. Don’t delay. Talking points are enclosed below.

You can find the Harrisburg phone number for your senator and representative here.
Call their Harrisburg offices in the Capitol. And then call them back in a day or two to confirm that they signed on as a cosponsor.

Thank you for your help.

TALKING POINTS
Call the Harrisburg office of your own state senator and representative.

· “Please call Senator Pat Browne or Representative Bernie O’Neill to add your name as a cosponsor for a new special education reform bill that will soon be introduced.”

· “Senator Browne and Representative O’Neill both issued cosponsor memos in the last few days. The bill does not yet have a number.”

· “I am asking you to support reform of the state funding and accountability system for special education.”

· “This legislation was approved 173-25 by the full House of Representatives in 2010, and is now being re-introduced. The bill does not call for any new funding in 2011-12.”

· “The current funding system is broken, is unfair, and does not provide enough resources for special education in the right places. It sets the number of students eligible for state funding for special education at 16% regardless of whether the school district has fewer or more students receiving special education. It also does not focus the funding on strategies that have a track record for improving student performance.”

· “The school districts you represent need support for special education, and must be held accountable for results.”

· “I have personal experience with how this broken system hurts children with disabilities and all students.” (Describe your experience.)

· “Thank you for supporting this important issue and signing on as an original cosponsor by calling the office of Senator Pat Browne or Representative Bernie O’Neill.”

· “I will call back in a day or two to follow up.”