COPAA is active in advocating with Congress and other policy makers to protect the educational and civil rights of children with disabilities.  COPAA's efforts have included:

• August 2008: August 2008: COPAA issues statement regarding the need to protect the educational and civil rights of children with disabilities, including legislation to reverse Supreme Court decisions which have placed parents on an unleveled playing field; fund the IDEA; stop restraints and seclusion; and ensure that every child with a disability receives an appropriate education. More.

• August 2008: COPAA urged the Senate to pass the ADA Amendments Act of 2008, S. 3406. COPAA thanks Senator Kennedy, Enzi, Harkin, and Hatch for their leadership on this bill, which will protect the rights of children and adults with disabilities under the Americans with Disabilites Act and Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act. Read COPAA's letter here.

• July 2008:  ADA Amendments Act/504 On July 26, 2008, the ADA Amendments Act became law, reforming a decade of jurisprudence under the ADA and Section 504 that barred the door to eligibility for people with disabilities.  COPAA thanks the members of the House of Representatives and Senate. More

• July 2008:  Among other concerns, COPAA strongly urges the Department to withdraw the proposed regulation that would allow states to decide if non-attorneys can represent parents in due process hearings and stressed the importance of protecting the rights of parents and children when parents withdraw consent for special-education services. More

• June 2008: COPAA worked to help pass the ADA Amendments Act of 2008 (H.R. 3195). This bill will amend the ADA and Section 504 to better protect adults and children with disabilities from unlawful discrimination. The bill will correct a series of Supreme Court decisions that narrowed eligibility under ADA, contrary to Congress’ intent. Read COPAA’s letter to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and to House Education & Labor Chair George Miller

• June 2008: COPAA urges Congress to pass the Stop Child Abuse in Residential Programs for Teens Act of 2008 (H.R. 6358). The final bill passed by the House of Representatives will prevent children placed in private and public residential programs from being subjected to abuse and neglect. Read COPAA’s letter in support

• June 2008: COPAA comments on proposed Developmental Disabilities Administration Regulations that could unfairly impede the ability of Protection & Advocacy (P&A) Systems to educate policymakers and file class actions. America’s P&As play a crucial role in protecting the rights of millions of adults and children with developmental disabilities. More

• May 2008: COPAA comments on proposed FERPA regulations, including proposals that may permit school employees who authored IEP documents to obtain copies of those documents for other use and other proposals that may limit parents' rights More

• February 2008: COPAA and over 100 organizations nationwide ask Congressional Representatives to cosponsor the IDEA Fairness Restoration Act.  More

• March 2008: COPAA supports Senator Bernard Sanders’ bill to increase IDEA funding by $10 billion and help ensure that IDEA’s promise is realized.  More

• February 2008: COPAA supports Civil Rights Act of 2008 introduced by Senator Kennedy and Congressman Lewis, which would allow prevailing parents to recover expert fees and override Buckhannon, permitting recovery of attorneys’ fees when parents’ cases settle but caused the school district to change its conduct and provide relief.  More

• 2007-08: COPAA continues efforts to override Supreme Court’s decision in Arlington Central School District v. Murphy, and enable prevailing parents to recover expert witness fees, and in Schaffer v. Weast, and place the burden of proof on school districts, so that parents and school districts can face a level playing field.  Read COPAA’s brochure urging Congress to allow parents to recover expert fees. More Materials about Murphy and expert witnesses also available in Spanish. More  Lea aqui en Espanol: Murphy y los derechos de los padres para recuperar el costo de los expertos

• Dec. 2007: COPAA supports introduction of the IDEA Fairness Restoration Act, which would restore to parents the right to recoup expert witness fees when they prevail in a hearing because the school district violated the IDEA.  The bill restores Congress' original intent in 1986.  Few parents can afford the thousands of dollars needed to hire expert witnesses  More

• Sept. 2007: COPAA commends the House Education and Labor Committee draft bill for several provisions that advance the education of children with disabilities. COPAA also asks the Committee to eliminate the proposed NCLB provision that would allow up to 40 percent of students with disabilities to be assessed against modified or alternative achievement standards.  More

• Sept. 2007:  Comments to Department of Education, advocating for increased collection of data from states in light of growing concerns about IDEA 2004 and concerns about the disproportionate discipline of minority children. More

• June 2007:  Comments to Department of Education on proposed regulations under Part C of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act.  More

• June 2007:  Letter to Congress urging it to repeal caps on attorneys' fees in the District of Columbia and responding to several myths about attorneys' fees.  More

• May 2007:  Guidance for advocating about proposed State regulations implementing IDEA 2004.  More

• May 2007:  COPAA has given an award for Distinguished Public Service to Senator Edward M. Kennedy, for his decades of advocacy to protect the rights of children with disabilities, and ensure that they receive an appropriate education. More

• Burden of Proof letters to States:  COPAA's letters to State legislators and Governors, arguing that fairness and equity require placing the burden of proof on school districts:  New York, District of Columbia, Hawaii, Virginia, and Alaska.   COPAA has also issued a statement urging repeal of the Schaffer v. Weast decision on burden of proof. 

• December 2006:  Letter to New York Board of Regents arguing against regulations that would permit aversives to be used against children with disabilities.

• March 2006:  COPAA comments to Department of Education about proposed regulations regarding the paperwork reduction and multi-year IEP pilots in up to 30 states. The pilots have the potential to affect the rights and educations of millions of children. 

• March 2006:  COPAA Amicus Curiae Brief in Supreme Court asking the Court to affirm the Second Circuit's ruling that parents can recover their expert witness costs when they prevail in IDEA cases.  Without the ability to recover their expert witness fees, few parents could afford to exercise their constitutional and IDEA rights to challenge denial of FAPE to their children by school districts. 

• 2006 Hearing Statistics.  COPAA has summarized the due process hearing statistics. Parents turn to hearings only as a last resort. The number of hearings is low. More

• September 2005:  COPAA's extensive comments regarding the Department of Education's proposed regulations implementing IDEA 2004.  More

• November 2004:  COPAA letter to Congress explaining how IDEA 2004 attorneys' fees provisions could chill parents from enforcing their rights under the law.  COPAA also urged Congress to protect the disciplinary rights of children with disabilities and allow more equitable application of the statute of limitations protection for ongoing violations of IDEA.  More

•  May 2003:  Position paper explaining that House revision of IDEA will only result in inadequate educations for children with disabilities, while decreasing parent participation and the trust between parents and school district.  More

• March 2003:  COPAA's in-depth statement about proposed IDEA amendments which would cause children to receive weaker educations and impede the ability of parents to be equal co-collaborators on their children's IEP teams.  More

COPAA is also a member of the Consortium of Citizens with Disabilities (CCD) and collaborates with other organizations in the consortium to protect students' rights and ensure equality of opportunity.  For more information about CCD’s Education efforts, see http://www.c-c-d.org/task_forces/education/tf-education.htm

Effective citizen involvement is the key to protecting the rights of children with disabilities.  Parents, attorneys, advocates, and others can write or call Congress to advocate for appropriate educations for students with disabilities.  The main telephone number to reach your Senators and Representatives is 202-224-3121

• House of Representatives:   You can write to your Congressional Representative here This link goes directly to the official contact forms used by Congress.  You can look up your Representative's telephone number and other contact information here Find your zip+4 code to locate your representative here

• Senate:  Each state has two Senators.  You can contact your Senators

• COPAA's extensive webpage containing IDEA 2004 information and resources.  These include the statute, complete legislative history, regulations, regulation commentary, line-by-line comparison of IDEA 2004 and IDEA '97, and other materials.  More

• Materials about State regulations and requirements, including due process hearing tiers, evaluation timelines, and links to State Departments of Education, State special education regulations, and State due process hearing decisions.  More

• COPAA's complementary efforts in filing amicus curiae briefs in the U.S. Supreme Court, Courts of Appeal, and State Supreme Courts.  More

COPAA also writes about issues in the news affecting children with disabilities.  Our efforts include editorial pieces, news articles, letters to the editor, and other commentary.

• COPAA response to D.C. Examiner series about special education litigation.  The letter, published on October 2, 2007, explains that D.C. Public Schools has no valid defense in 70 percent of cases but still proceeds to litigation and that much litigation results from efforts to obtain evaluations and appropriate services, and compel the school system to comply with hearing officer orders and settlement agreements.  More

• COPAA June 2007 letter to Wall Street Journal about appropriate behavioral interventions and inclusion of children with disabilities. More

• COPAA Response to April 9, 2007 Forbes Article, "A Costly Education," explaining IDEA enforcement scheme is dependent on parents as private attorneys general to enforce it, and the need to keep the playing field level.  More

• COPAA Response to March 21, 2007 New York Times article," Fighting Over When Public Should Pay Private Tuition for Disabled," explaining that the article presents one-sided view of the Tom F. case, and perpetuates a myth about the use of public school education funds to pay for expensive private schools for students with disabilities.  More