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Skriven 2004-12-03 23:35:24 av Whitehouse Press (1:3634/12.0)
Ärende: Press Release (0412036) for Fri, 2004 Dec 3
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President's Remarks at the Signing of H.R. 1350
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For Immediate Release
Office of the Press Secretary
December 3, 2004

President's Remarks at the Signing of H.R. 1350

President's Remarks
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INDIVIDUALS WITH DISABILITIES EDUCATION IMPROVEMENT ACT OF 2004

Room 350

Dwight D. Eisenhower Executive Office Building

10:20 A.M. EST

THE PRESIDENT: Thanks for coming. Good morning. I'm proud to be standing up
here with friends from both sides of the political aisle who worked
together to re-authorize the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act.
It's a really good piece of legislation. It took a lot of hard work, and it
shows what is possible in our nation's capital.

I want to thank Mike Castle for being the sponsor of the bill. I appreciate
your hard work, Mike. I also appreciate being here with Senator Ted
Kennedy, who has been a long-time advocate for the IDEA legislation. I
appreciate you bringing your sister. Welcome. (Applause.) I want to thank
Senator Mike Enzi from Wyoming and Senator Pat Roberts from Kansas, Senator
Sessions from Alabama, Senator Lamar Alexander from Tennessee, and
Congressman Ric Keller for being here, as well. Thanks for your good work
and your stalwart support.

I appreciate Gene Hickok. Dr. Hickok here is the deputy secretary of the
U.S. Department of Education. I want to thank Doug Hunt, who is the
commissioner of the Ohio Rehabilitation Services Commission, for agreeing
to serve on the President's Commission on Excellence in Special Education.
I want to thank you for your work on that, Dr. Hunt. I appreciate Kyle
Stevenson being up here today. Kyle, thank you for coming. I first got to
meet Kyle at the -- (laughter) -- White House tee ball game. He's a pretty
good player. Thanks for coming. Stephanie, I appreciate you being here.
It's good to see you again. I want to thank Isabelle June Baily for being
here. Isabelle June, thank you for being here. We're so proud you're here.
Thank you for joining us. (Laughter and applause.) She's up here with her
mom, Carolyn, and her dad and two brothers, Alex and Ben, are with us
today, as well. Thank you all for coming.

America's schools educate over 6 million children with disabilities. In the
past, those students were too often just shuffled through the system with
little expectation that they could make significant progress or succeed
like their fellow classmates. Children with disabilities deserve high
hopes, high expectations, and extra help.

In the bill I sign today, we're raising expectations for the students.
We're giving schools and parents the tools they need to meet them. We're
applying the reforms of the No Child Left Behind Act to the Individuals
with Disabilities Education Improvement Act so schools are accountable for
teaching every single child. All our students deserve excellent teachers.
So this law ensures that students with disabilities will have special
education teachers with the skills and training to teach special education
and their subject area.

Some students with disabilities will need intensive, individualized help.
So this law, for the first time, will support tutoring programs to help
children in schools that need improvement. When schools are so busy trying
to deal with unnecessary and costly lawsuits, they have less time to spend
with students. So we're creating opportunities for parents and teachers to
resolve problems early. We're making the system less litigious, so it can
focus on the children and their parents.

The people who care most about the students are of course the teachers, and
especially the parents, who know their needs and know their names. So we're
giving more flexibility and control over the students' education to parents
and teachers and principals. We'll make sure that parents and schools can
change a student's educational program to better meet their needs, without
having to attend unnecessary meetings or complete unnecessary paperwork. We
trust the local folks to meet high standards for all our kids, and this
bill gives them the freedom and flexibility to meet our goals.

All students in America can learn. That's what all of us up here believe.
All of us understand we have an obligation to make sure no child is left
behind in America. So I'm honored to sign the Individuals With Disabilities
Education Improvement Act of 2004, and once again thank the members for
being here. (Applause.)

(The bill is signed.) (Applause.)

END 10:24 A.M. EST
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