Special Educators Head to Capitol Hill With ‘Sense of Urgency’
July 11, 2017
By: Christina Samuels
Source: Education Week
Special educators are fanning out across Capitol Hill Tuesday, spreading a few targeted messages for Washington lawmakers: Congress should pass a budget that allocates more money to special education and gifted education, oppose efforts to divert public money to private school vouchers, and fight any bill that would cut Medicaid coverage for children’s health services.
So-called “Hill days” are a tradition for advocacy groups of all types. But members the Council of Exceptional Children and the Council of Administrators of Special Education, who have joined together this year for a “special education legislative summit,” report feeling particular pressure to get their points across.
“I am feeling a huge sense of urgency,” said Tara Rinehart, the director of special services for the Wayne Township in Indianapolis, a 16,200-student urban district…