On Friday, November 19, the House passed the conference report to the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (H.R. 1350/H. Rpt. 108-779) by a vote of 397-3, and the Senate cleared the measure by voice vote later that evening. The President is expected to sign the bill into law.

The IDEA conference report includes the following provisions.

• Monitoring and Enforcement. Aligns IDEA monitoring with the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB). Does not include the Senate monitoring and enforcement provisions. Authorizes the U.S. Secretary of Education to take several actions to help any state that does not meet its state-defined targets, including providing technical assistance.
• Highly Qualified Teachers. Allows states to create a pathway to demonstrate subject matter competency for multi-subject teachers. Clarifies highly qualified requirements for special education teachers.
• Risk Pools. Retains state authority to create risk pools. However, incentives would be provided to those states that would like to create risk pools voluntarily. Paperwork. Authorizes a 15-state paperwork demonstration project.
• Maintenance of Effort. Provides expanded flexibility for local education agencies and states to retain a larger percentage of the federal investment in special education.
• Protection and Advocacy Centers. Does not inoculate states from being sued with services provided through the state-funded protection and advocacy centers. However, provides new opportunities, such as resolution and mediation sessions.
• Referral for Children Under 3. Allows states to retain their own systems for screenings and referrals to the statewide system.
• Funding. Establishes a glide path to reach full funding of the federal share of IDEA by 2011.
• State Activities and Administration. Adjusts caps on state activities and administrative set asides with annual adjustment for inflation.