October 2010: COPAA Expresses Grave Concern Over S3895, the Keeping All Students Safe Act, because the bill permits restraint and locked seclusion as planned interventions in students’ education plans, including behavior plans and Individualized Education Programs (IEP). Despite many important provisions and minimum protection standards, allowing restraint and locked seclusion as planned interventions in S.3895 weakens protections under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) and legitimizes practices that the bill seeks to prevent.

October 2010: As part the Consortium for Citizens with Disabilities (CCD) Education Task Force, COPAA submits comments comments regarding the Alignment of ESEA-IDEA  to Alexa Posny, Assistant Secretary, Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services (OSERS), U.S. Department of Education.

September 2010: COPAA expresses support for Rosa’s Law. This important legislation removes variations of the term ‘mental retardation’ from all Federal laws and replaces it with variations of the term ‘intellectual disability.’ This change brings Federal law in line with current practice and eliminates a term, which over time has become demeaning to individuals with and without disabilities. Rosa’s Law was signed into law in October, 2010.

September 2010: COPAA members write issue brief regarding the importance of prohibiting the use of restraint and seclusion as planned interventions, written for the APRAIS Coalition.

August 2010:  COPAA joins other advocates in sending a letter to Department of Education Secretary Arne Duncan urging federal action to prevent and confront bullying, cyberbullying and harassment in our nation’s schools.

July 2010: As part of the Consortium for Citizens with Disabilities, as part of the celebration of the 20th Anniversary of the ADA, urges the Senate to quickly consider and ratify the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities upon submission by the Administration. 

May 2010: COPAA joins other advocates in sending a letter opposing H.R. 1255.  This legislation was introduced by Representative Barney Frank and would have a negative impact on the lives of individuals with developmental disabilities.  H.R. 1255 would impose limits on the ability of the Protection and Advocacy System to use class action lawsuits to effectuate systemic changes to help individuals with developmental disabilities protect their rights and to be free from abuse and neglect.

March 2010: As part of the Consortium for Citizens with Disabilities Education Task Force (CCD), COPAA urges Congress to protect students with disabilities in the reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA). Students with disabilities have benefited greatly from the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) because the law requires their academic achievement to be measured and reported. As a result, more students with disabilities have been afforded the opportunity to learn and master grade level academic content.

March 2010: As part the Consortium for Citizens with Disabilities (CCD) Education Task Force, COPAA urges Senate HELP Committee and Secretary Arne Duncan to reject proposed policy to use the Individualized Education Program (IEP) as the primary accountability tool under ESEA for students eligible for special education supports and services.  Secretary Duncan sent a response letter to CCD stating that the Department does not propose or support using the IEP for as a primary accountability tool for measuring whether schools, LEA’s or States are successfully educating students with disabilities.  

March 2010: COPAA applauds the House of Representatives for passing H.R. 4247, the Keeping All Students Safe in School Act. This bill would implement minimum standards to protect all schoolchildren from the dangers of restraint, seclusion, and aversives. H.R. 4247 passed by a vote of 262 to 153.

July 2009: COPAA thanks Congressman Chris Van Hollen and Congressman Pete Sessions for introducing the IDEA Fairness Restoration Act in 2007 and supports reintroduction of the legislation.  The legislation would allow prevailing parents to recover expert fees. Few parents can afford to pay for the technical and medical expert witnesses needed at a hearing.

June 2009: COPAA leads over 200 organizations in supporting the IDEA Fairness Restoration Act. COPAA also circulated a petition signed by over 2,100 parents, family members, friends, advocates, and attorneys for children of disabilities urging Congress to pass the Act. Many individuals left comments describing how the inability to recover expert witness fees has been particularly harmful.  CCD also submitted a letter in support.

May 2009: COPAA releases report asking Congress to stop the use of restraints, seclusion, and aversives upon children with disabilities in school. The report entitled, Unsafe In The Schoolhouse: Abuse Of Children With Disabilities, details over 150 incidents of the use of abusive interventions against children with disabilities in school. The report also includes suggested legislative remedies.

February 2009: COPAA urges Congress to pass the Stop Child Abuse in Residential Programs for Teens Act (H.R. 911) The bill  would prevent children placed in private and public residential programs from being subjected to abuse and neglect.

January 2009: COPAA thanks Senator Edward Kennedy and Congressman John Lewis for introducing the Civil Rights Act legislation in prior Congresses, and supports reintroduction of the legislation. The legislation would allow prevailing parents to recover expert fees and override Buckhannon, permitting recovery of attorneys’ fees when parents’ cases settle but caused the school district to change its conduct and provide relief. 

December 2008: COPAA met with the Presidential Transition Team to discuss the need for changes to the Department of Education’s policies in order to provide effective educations to children with disabilities; improve and protect due process and evaluation rights; and, strengthen parents’ rights and IDEA enforcement.   

• Due Process Rights of Parents of Children with Disabilities
• The Need to Override Supreme Court Decisions Adversely Impacting Children with Disabilities (Murphy, Schaffer, and Buckhannon);
• The Right of Children with Disabilities to Educations that Provide Meaningful Educational Benefit;
• Parent’s Rights to Evaluations and Independent Education Evaluations (IEE);
• The Need for Parents to be Equal Members of the IEP Team;
• The Right to Observe in the Classroom;
• Stayput in Transition from Part C to Part B; and,
• Preventing Abuse through Preventing Abuse through Reducing the Use of Restraint, Seclusion, and Aversives.

August 2008: COPAA issues statement regarding the need to protect the educational and civil rights of children with disabilities, including legislation to reverse Supreme Court decisions which have placed parents on an unleveled playing field; fund the IDEA; stop restraints and seclusion; and ensure that every child with a disability receives an appropriate education.

August 2008: COPAA urged the Senate to pass the ADA Amendments Act of 2008, S. 3406. COPAA thanks Senator Kennedy, Enzi, Harkin, and Hatch  for their leadership on this bill, which will protect the rights of children and adults with disabilities under the Americans with Disabilities Act and Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act.

July 2008: On July 26, 2008, the ADA Amendments Act became law, reforming a decade of jurisprudence under the ADA and Section 504 that barred the door to eligibility for people with disabilities. COPAA thanks the members of the House of Representatives and Senate.

July 2008: Among other concerns, COPAA strongly urges the Department to withdraw the proposed regulation that would allow states to decide if non-attorneys can represent parents in due process hearings and stressed the importance of protecting the rights of parents and children when parents withdraw consent for special-education services.

June 2008: COPAA worked to help pass the ADA Amendments Act of 2008 (H.R. 3195). This bill will amend the ADA and Section 504 to better protect adults and children with disabilities from unlawful discrimination. The bill will correct a series of Supreme Court decisions that narrowed eligibility under ADA, contrary to Congress’ intent. Read COPAA’s letter to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and to House Education & Labor Chair George Miller.

June 2008: COPAA comments on proposed Developmental Disabilities Administration Regulations that could unfairly impede the ability of Protection & Advocacy (P&A) Systems to educate policymakers and file class actions. America’s P&As play a crucial role in protecting the rights of millions of adults and children with developmental disabilities.

May 2008: COPAA comments on proposed FERPA regulations, including proposals that may permit school employees who authored IEP documents to obtain copies of those documents for other use and other proposals that may limit parents’ rights.

February 2008: COPAA and over 100 organizations nationwide ask Congressional Representatives to cosponsor the IDEA Fairness Restoration Act.

March 2008: COPAA supports Senator Bernard Sanders’ bill to increase IDEA funding by $10 billion and help ensure that IDEA’s promise is realized.

2007-08: COPAA continues efforts to override Supreme Court’s decision in Arlington Central School District v. Murphy, and enable prevailing parents to recover expert witness fees, and in Schaffer v. Weast, and place the burden of proof on school districts, so that parents and school districts can face a level playing field. Read COPAA’s brochure urging Congress to allow parents to recover expert fees. Lea aqui en Espanol: Murphy y los derechos de los padres para recuperar el costo de los expertos.

December 2007: COPAA supports introduction of the IDEA Fairness Restoration Act, which would restore to parents the right to recoup expert witness fees when they prevail in a hearing because the school district violated the IDEA. The bill restores Congress’ original intent in 1986. Few parents can afford the thousands of dollars needed to hire expert witnesses.

September 2007: COPAA commends the House Education and Labor Committee draft bill for several provisions that advance the education of children with disabilities. COPAA also asks the Committee to eliminate the proposed NCLB provision that would allow up to 40 percent of students with disabilities to be assessed against modified or alternative achievement standards.

September 2007: Comments to Department of Education, advocating for increased collection of data from states in light of growing concerns about IDEA 2004 and concerns about the disproportionate discipline of minority children.

June 2007: Comments to Department of Education on proposed regulations under Part C of the Individuals with Disabilities Education ActJune 2007: Letter to Congress urging it to repeal caps on attorneys’ fees in the District of Columbia and responding to several myths about attorneys’ fees.

May 2007: Guidance for advocating about proposed State regulations implementing IDEA 2004.

May 2007: COPAA gives award for Distinguished Public Service to Senator Edward M. Kennedy, for his decades of advocacy to protect the rights of children with disabilities, and ensure that they receive an appropriate education.

2006-07: Burden of Proof letters to States: COPAA’s letters to State legislators and Governors, arguing that fairness and equity require placing the burden of proof on school districts: New York, District of Columbia, Hawaii, Virginia, and Alaska. COPAA also issued a statement urging repeal of the Schaffer v. Weast decision on burden of proof.

March 2006: COPAA comments to Department of Education about proposed regulations regarding the paperwork reduction and multi-year IEP pilots in up to 30 states. The pilots have the potential to affect the rights and educations of millions of children.

March 2006: COPAA Amicus Curiae Brief in Supreme Court asking the Court to affirm the Second Circuit’s ruling that parents can recover their expert witness costs when they prevail in IDEA cases. Without the ability to recover their expert witness fees, few parents could afford to exercise their constitutional and IDEA rights to challenge denial of FAPE to their children by school districts.