View FileJanuary 14, 2004 to individual (personally identifiable information redacted) (MS Word)
January 14, 2004Your letter to Secretary Paige has been forwarded to me to respond.Thank you for your comments concerning captioning or video description activities of the Department of Education. As you may know, funds from an award made under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) may only be used for video description and captioning of educational, news, and informational television, videos, or materials.The 1997 Amendments to the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) specified that after September 30, 2001, only educational, informational, and news programming could be captioned with IDEA funds. Since the 1997 amendments did not define the terms education and informational, OSEP published a public request for comments. More than 3000 respondents from the deaf community responded, stating that all programming on TV was informational because it provided access to the popular culture. Since it was clear that Congress intended to limit what could be captioned or described with IDEA funds, these comments did not provide a basis for regulating further on the statutory terms.To help identify appropriate programming, OSEP asked five external experts to conduct independent reviews of all programming submitted for IDEA funding. These five individuals included individuals with disabilities, individuals with expertise in children's television, individuals conducting research in video description and in captioning, and individuals with expertise in literacy. We provided the experts with a list of television programming for grants that were subject to renewal (continuation awards) for activities to provide captioning or video description.The experts were given the following examples of educational, informational, and news programming to guide their decision-making:1) Children's programming which is likely to produce an educational benefit, including educational programs appropriate for use in a classroomThank you for your continued support of programs serving individuals with disabilities.Sincerely,/s/ Patricia J. Guard forStephanie Smith LeeDirectorOffice of Special Education Programs
