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Empowering Families in Special Education Act
To amend the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act to require notification with respect to individualized education program teams, and for other purposes.
Summary
This bill amends the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act to require local educational agencies (schools) to notify parents prior to individualized education program (IEP) team meetings. The notification must inform parents that they may include other individuals with knowledge or special expertise regarding their child on the IEP team, including related services personnel such as specialists as appropriate. The notification must occur within a reasonable timeframe before the first IEP team meeting for the school year. The bill aims to ensure parents are aware of their right to include additional knowledgeable participants in discussions about their child's education plan. IEP teams develop education plans for students with disabilities, and the bill makes the process more transparent to parents.
AI-generated plain-language summary of the bill text — neutral, and may be imperfect. See the full text below for the exact wording.
Sponsor (1)
- Rep. Houchin, Erin [R-IN-9] (R-IN)
1 cosponsor
Money behind the sponsor
Top reported contributors to Erin Houchin’s campaign committee (2024 cycle) — who funds the bill’s sponsor, not a claim about this bill. Data from FEC.
- NULL $21,100
- KIESLER POLICE SUPPLY, INC. $13,700
- ELWOOD STAFFING $12,400
- ANDREESSEN HOROWITZ $12,399
- APOLLO $9,100
Organizations whose employees gave the most — itemized individual contributions grouped by the donor’s reported employer (FEC Schedule A). Full finance for Erin Houchin → · Outside spending →
Actions (2)
- Feb 25, 2025 Referred to the House Committee on Education and Workforce. · house
- Feb 25, 2025 Introduced in House
More bills on these subjects (8)
Other bills that carry the most legislative subjects in common with this one (topical discovery — distinct from the procedural related bills above).
Similar bills (6)
Bills with similar text or summary — includes reintroductions across Congresses. Ranked by semantic similarity of the bill text (computed locally); a neutral discovery aid, not a claim the bills are duplicates.
Text versions (1)
Bills are re-published as they move (Introduced → Reported → Engrossed → Enrolled …). Each stage below is a separate text; pick two to see what changed. Data from Congress.gov.
Full text
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
February 25, 2025
Mrs. Houchin (for herself and Mr. Gottheimer) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Education and Workforce
A BILL
To amend the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act to require notification with respect to individualized education program teams, and for other purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the “Empowering Families in Special Education Act”.
SEC. 2. NOTIFICATION REQUIREMENT FOR IEP TEAMS.
Section 614(d)(1)(B) of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (20 U.S.C. 1414(d)(1)(B)) is amended—
(1) in clause (iv), by redesignating subclauses (I) through
(III) as items (aa) through (cc), respectively (and by conforming the margins accordingly);
(2) by redesignating clauses (i) through (vii) as subclauses (I) through (VII), respectively (and by conforming the margins accordingly);
(3) in the matter preceding subclause (I), as so redesignated, by striking “The term” and inserting the following:
“(i) In general.—The term”; and
(4) by adding at the end the following:
“(ii) Notification required.—Within a reasonable timeframe prior to the first convening of the individualized education program team for a child with a disability for a school year, the local educational agency that serves such child shall notify the parent of such child that such parent may, under clause (i)(VI), include other individuals who have knowledge or special expertise regarding the child, including related services personnel as appropriate, as part of the individualized education program team.”. <all>
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