WHEREAS, The Congress of the United States enacted the Education for All Handicapped Children Act of 1975 (P.L. 94-142), now known as the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), to ensure that all children with disabilities in the United States have available to them a free and appropriate public education that emphasizes special education and related services designed to meet their unique needs, to assure that the rights of children with disabilities and their parents or guardians are protected, to assist states and localities to provide for the education of all children with disabilities, and to assess and assure the effectiveness of efforts to educate children with disabilities; and

WHEREAS, Since 1975, federal law has authorized appropriation levels for grants to states under the IDEA at 40 percent of the average per-pupil expenditure in public elementary and secondary schools in the United States; and

WHEREAS, Congress continued the 40-percent funding authority in Public Law 105-17, the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act Amendments of 1997; and

WHEREAS, Congress has never appropriated funds equivalent to the authorized level, has never exceeded the 15-percent level, and has usually only appropriated funding at about the 8-percent level; and

WHEREAS, The California Master Plan for Special Education was approved for statewide implementation in 1980 on the basis of the anticipated federal commitment to fund special education programs at the federally authorized level; and

WHEREAS, The Governor’s Budget for the 1999–2000 fiscal year proposes $2.2 billion in General Fund support for the state’s share of funding for special education programs; and

WHEREAS, The State of California anticipates receiving approximately $410,500,000 in federal special education funds under Part B of IDEA for the 1999–2000 school year, even though the federally authorized level of funding would provide over $1.8 billion annually to California; and

WHEREAS, Local educational agencies in California are required to pay for the underfunded federal mandates for special education programs, at a statewide total cost approaching $1 billion annually, from regular education program money, thereby reducing the funding that is available for other education programs; and

WHEREAS, The decision of the Supreme Court of the United States in the case of Cedar Rapids Community Sch. Dist. v. Garret F. ((1999) 143 L.Ed 2d 154), has had the effect of creating an additional mandate for providing specialized health care , and will significantly increase the costs associated with providing special education services; and

WHEREAS, Whether or not California participates in the IDEA grant program, the state has to meet the requirements of Section 504 of the federal Rehabilitation Act of 1973 (29 U.S.C. Sec. 701) and its implementing regulations (34 C.F.R. 104), which prohibit recipients of federal financial assistance, including educational institutions, from discriminating on the basis of disability, yet no federal funds are available under that act for state grants; and

WHEREAS, California is committed to providing a free and appropriate public education to children and youth with disabilities, in order to meet their unique needs; and

WHEREAS, The California Legislature is extremely concerned that, since 1978, Congress has not provided states with the full amount of financial assistance necessary to achieve its goal of ensuring children and youth with disabilities equal protection of the laws; now, therefore, be it