There is a very important education bill that is up for a possible vote in the House and Senate Education Committees this week. Representative Rob Briley is the house sponsor and Senator Bill Ketron is the senate sponsor so they are working hard on our children’s behalf and need your voices to be heard.

House Bill 374 does several things:

    • It levels the playing field for parents in special education due process proceedings
    • It emphasizes the use of early conflict resolution through mediation to avoid litigation
    • It moves administrative law judges out of the Dept of Education so they will be more independent
    • It requires the Dept of Education to write an annual report in plain English, available to all, that explains how each local school district is implementing IDEA
    • It helps weed out and remove confirmed child abusers from working in schools


        It is CRITICAL that contacts happen in the next three days. Please let friends, family and colleagues know about this issue so their voice can be heard as well. After contacting your legislator please send a note to Joanne at jbregman@bellsouth.net to let her know how you helped. You can also contact Joanne if you would like more information about the legislation.

        Below is a simple note that constituents can customize and email or fax to the members of the subcommittee.

        Dear Representative _____________

        I am writing to ask you to support HB 374 – the special education due process and child abuse prevention bill. This bill provides much needed protection for students with disabilities, often the most vulnerable in our school systems, from confirmed child abusers. In addition, this bill would promote long-awaited and much needed reforms to due process proceedings in special education cases. These reforms grew out of recommendations that were made by the State Board of Education Due Process Task Force in 2002 and will ultimately save valuable education dollars.

        Very truly yours,

        Name, address, contact info