Expert Witness: ORGANIZATIONS
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1. ORGANIZATIONAL SIGN-ON: IDEA FAIRNESS RESTORATION ACT

 
Please complete the form below to sign your ORGANIZATION OR GROUP onto the letter in support of the IDEA Fairness Restoration Act, H.R. 2740. This bill will enable parents who prevail in IDEA due process and litigation to recover their expert witness fees, an expense few can afford.

Organizations do not have to be formal 501(c)(3) organizations to sign on. They can be informal groups, unincorporated organizations, parent support groups, associations, networks of advocates or attorneys, other related organizations, etc. But we ask that individual people, individual professionals, and for-profit entities or private businesses sign our petition instead, which you can find here:
individual-petition
Both the organizational sign-on and petition will be provided to Congress and will be posted together on the COPAA website. But we need to keep organizational sign-ons separate.


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TEXT OF LETTER

We, the undersigned organizations, strongly urge Congress to pass the IDEA Fairness Restoration Act, H.R. 2740. The bill will allow parents who prevail in hearings and litigation under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) to recoup their expert witness fees. In 2006, the Supreme Court held in Arlington Central School District v. Murphy that parents could not recover expert fees. H.R. 2740 will overturn that decision. It will restore Congress' original intent in enacting the Handicapped Children's Protection Act of 1986 to allow prevailing parents to recover expert witness fees along with attorneys' fees.

The IDEA Fairness Restoration Act will make a difference to the millions of parents of students with disabilities in America. Few parents can afford to pay the thousands of dollars needed to pay qualified medical, educational, and technical experts. Approximately 36% of children with disabilities live in families whose income falls below the poverty line; approximately 2/3 live in families earning less than $50,000 a year. While parents must hire expert witnesses to testify, school districts can use therapists, psychologists, and other expert witnesses on their payroll or hire witnesses at public expense. Congress should allow parents in IDEA cases to recover expert fees just as prevailing plaintiffs in ADA, Title VII, and other civil rights cases do.

Of course, parents proceed to litigation only as a last resort. In 2003, the GAO reported that there were only 5 hearings per 10,000 special education students. And only parents who prevail could recover fees; parents who do not prevail could not. It is important to pass H.R. 2740 to ensure that parents are not deprived of their right to due process for lack of resources. We strongly urge members of Congress to cosponsor the bill and to work to pass it.

Thank you very much for your support.

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1. Check YES to affirm that you wish to be signed on to this Expert Witness Fee letter.

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2. Name of Organization Signing On (please use full name, not just initials)

3. Are you signing for an Organization, Group or Individual?
The funny Codes below (Org#& and Ind#&) are internal codes to help us sort the computer printout.

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4. Organization Street Address or PO Box

5. Organization City or Town

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6. STATE (please use 2-letter abbreviation, e.g. CA, NY, WI).

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7. Organization Zip Code

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8. Name of Contact at Organization

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9. Email Address of Contact Person.

10. Please add any comments you wish.

For more information, or if you have questions, email protectidea@copaa.org

Thank you for signing onto the letter in support of H.R. 2740, the IDEA Fairness Restoration Act.
Bob Berlow and Jess Butler
Government Relations CoChairs
Council of Parent Attorneys and Advocates, Inc.
a national voice for special education rights and advocacy
www.copaa.org
email: protectidea@copaa.org
If you wish to get a copy of the bill, we will have it on the COPAA website shortly. In the meantime, go to www.congress.gov, and in the box that says Bill Summary and Status, type "IDEA Fairness Restoration". This will take you to the bill.