Ask Congress to Support the IDEA Fairness Restoration Act, H.R. 4188!

Help Parents Recover Expert Witness Fees and Level the Playing Field!

Please call your congressman on Tuesday, May 6th and ask them to co-sponsor the IDEA Fairness Restoration Act, H.R. 4188.

This bill will allow parents who prevail in due process or litigation under IDEA recover their expert witness fees. Few parents can afford the thousands of dollars needed to pay for expert testimony that is often necessary to prevail in IDEA cases. But school districts can use tax dollars to employ and pay for psychologists and other paid experts. Parents have fewer resources and yet must bear a greater financial burden. H.R. 4188 is necessary to restore Congress' original intent and allow parents to recover their expert witness fees. Introduced by Congressman Chris Van Hollen (Maryland) and Pete Sessions (Texas), it will help level the playing field for the parents of millions of children with disabilities.

Over 100 disability organizations, including the Consortium of Citizens with Disabilities, Arc, Easter Seals, the Council of Parent Attorneys & Advocates, Inc., National Disability Rights Network, National Down Syndrome Society, National Down Syndrome Congress, Learning Disabilities Association, National Center for Learning Disabilities, CHADD, Our Children Left Behind, and others support H.R. 4188. But we need your help to get it passed. Call Congress on Tuesday, May 6, 2008. Ask them to Cosponsor H.R. 4188. It will only take 2-3 minutes.

If you do not know who your Congressional Representative is, go to http://www.house.gov and put your zip code into the box in the upper left corner. You can also use http://www.congress.org to look up Representatives and phone numbers.

Congress needs to hear our voices and hear from as many parents and child advocates as possible! It helps if you ask for the Education Aide, but you can also talk to the person who answers the phone. You can leave a voicemail message. Tell them you are a constituent and would like the Congressperson to co-sponsor H.R. 4188, the IDEA Fairness Restoration Act.

Want more detailed information?
Download COPAA's complete brochure on the IDEA Fairness Restoration Act and enabling parents to recover expert fees at: http://www.copaa.org/pdf/MurphyBrochure.pdf

There is also a Spanish language version, http://www.copaa.org/pdf/MSSpanish.pdf(Lea aqui en Espanol: Murphy y los derechos de los padres para recuperar el costo de los expertos: http://www.copaa.org/pdf/MSSpanish.pdf )

You can read H.R. 4188 here: http://www.copaa.org/news/IRFAct.html

You can read letters from over 100 disability organizations supporting H.R. 4188 at: http://www.copaa.org/news/organizations.html