A r c h i v e d  I n f o r m a t i o n

Speeches and Testimony

DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION

Statement by
Judith E. Heumann
Assistant Secretary
Special Education and Rehabilitative Services
Before the House Appropriations Subcommittee
on Labor, Health & Human Services and Education
on the
Fiscal Year 1999 Budget Request
for Special Institutions for Persons with Disabilities

March 26, 1998

Mr. Chairman and Members of the Committee:

It is my pleasure to appear before you on behalf of the Special Institutions for Persons with Disabilities, which include the American Printing House for the Blind (APH), the National Technical Institute for the Deaf (NTID), and Gallaudet University. These Institutions provide specialized programs and services to students with disabilities. The Department helps ensure that each Institution provides services and programs in compliance with the requirements of its respective authorizing legislation and that these activities meet the needs of the students for whom they are intended.

I am pleased to present the Department's testimony on behalf of the President's fiscal year 1999 budget for these three Institutions. I would like to take a few minutes to summarize the budget request and to comment on several key issues. Then representatives of each of the Institutions will provide specific testimony in support of the budget request for their respective programs.

Budget Request

The total budget request for the Special Institutions is $136.5 million. This includes a request of $8.256 million for the American Printing House for the Blind; $44.791 million for the National Technical Institute for the Deaf; and $83.480 million for Gallaudet University. The Department is pleased to be able to provide support for these important programs, and for the children and adults with disabilities who will benefit from their services.

Operations and Initiatives

The Department's request of $8.256 million for the American Printing House for the Blind is an increase of $70,000 above the fiscal year 1998 appropriation level. The 1998 appropriation included $424,000 in non-recurring costs for initiatives that were completed in 1998. In 1999, these funds will be reallocated to provide increased funding for educational materials and for an initiative to create an electronic file repository for publishers' files. The requested increase of $70,000 in new money is for a project to develop guidelines for computer-administered testing of visually impaired students.

Our request of $44.791 million for the National Technical Institute for the Deaf is an increase of $650,000 more than the fiscal year 1998 appropriation. The increase would provide funding for detailed architectural, engineering, interior design, and construction plans associated with a planned renovation of the NTID dormitories. The fiscal year 1998 appropriation included $800,000 in one-time funding designated for the Ethernet project to install high-speed computer lines in NTID's academic facilities, and an undesignated increase of $300,000, which NTID used to support maintenance costs associated with managing the Ethernet system. This funding is retained in the FY 1999 request, which will give the Institute flexibility to direct these funds toward other priorities.

For Gallaudet University, our requested level of $83.480 million represents a $2.48 million increase over the fiscal year 1998 appropriation level. The 1998 appropriation included $1.818 million toward an initiative to conduct a campus-wide upgrade of the University's electronic mail and management information systems. The 1999 request includes $2.480 million to complete the system-upgrade initiative and retains the $1.818 million provided for this purpose in fiscal year 1998. These funds would be reallocated to other priorities in 1999. This request provides funding for University level programs, the Model Secondary School for the Deaf (MSSD), and the Kendall Demonstration Elementary School (KDES).

Endowment Funds

The Department has not included a separate request for the endowment grant programs for either the National Technical Institute for the Deaf or for Gallaudet University. Instead, our request would provide Gallaudet and NTID the flexibility to use current-year program funds for their respective endowment grant programs. This provides each Institution with the discretion to determine whether and how much of the appropriation to use for matching purposes. The Department believes these funds help promote the financial independence of these Institutions and provide a permanent and increasing source of funds for special projects.

Major Activities

The Department has been working with all three of the Special Institutions to develop performance plans that meet the requirements of the Government Performance and Results Act of 1993 (GPRA). The draft plans are based on the strategic planning documents developed by each of the three Institutions and include strategic objectives and performance indicators that can be used to help measure the effectiveness of their respective programs. We are pleased with the collaborative process we established with each of the Institutions, and believe that the final plans will help provide concrete, measurable data on the progress of each Institution in meeting the mandates of their respective authorizing legislation.

The Education of the Deaf Act (EDA) expired at the end of fiscal year 1997. However, the General Education Provisions Act (GEPA) provides for a one-year extension of the existing authority. The Department, Gallaudet University, and the National Technical Institute for the Deaf have been working to assist the authorizing committees to develop legislation to reauthorize these important programs. We anticipate that this legislation will be enacted prior to the expiration of the GEPA extension.

In another area, as we have reported in the past, the Department and Gallaudet University have worked closely to ensure effective implementation of the requirements of the EDA and the incorporated provisions of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) as they relate to students who have been placed in Gallaudet's elementary and secondary education programs by their parents. During this past year, staff have been working with the schools' managers by providing a number of technical assistance sessions in order to apprise them of their responsibilities under the new provisions of the IDEA.

In fiscal year 1999, the Department plans to continue to work closely with all three Special Institutions for Persons with Disabilities to ensure that Federal funds are being used efficiently and effectively to expand educational opportunities for individuals who are deaf or hard of hearing and individuals who are blind.

My colleagues and I will be happy to respond to any questions you may have.

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Last Updated -- March, 25 1998, (mjj)