The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act

List of United States Code Sections and Titles below

 20 U.S.C. § 1400 - Congressional Findings and Purpose

                    (a) and (b) omitted
                    (c) Findings
                    (d) Purposes

 20 U.S.C. § 1401 - Definitions

 20 U.S.C. § 1406 - Requirements for Prescribing Regulations

 20 U.S.C. § 1412 - State Eligibility (and Private Placements)

• •  (a) In General
                    Children placed by parents into private schools
                    State is responsible for General Supervision
                    Personnel Development and Standards
                    Statewide Assessments
                    State Advisory Panel
    (b) State Educational Agency as Provider of Free Appropriate Public Education or Direct Services

20 U.S.C. § 1414 - Evaluations, Eligibility, IEPs, & Placement

• • (a) Evaluations and Reevaluations
    (b) Evaluation Procedures
    • • Determination of Eligibility

    (c) Additional Requirements For Evaluation and Reevaluations
    (d) Individual Educational Programs - Definitions

    • • IEP Team - Definition
        Review and Revision of IEPs
        Regular Education Teacher

    (e) Construction
    (f) Educational Placements

20 U.S.C. § 1415 - Procedural Safeguards

• • (a) Establishment of Procedures
    (b) Types of Procedures
    (c) Content of Prior Written Notice
    (d) Procedural Safeguards Notice
    (e) Mediation
    (f) Impartial Due Process Hearing
    • • Seven Day Evidence Rule

    (g) Appeal
    (h) Safeguards
    (i) Administrative Procedures

    • • Attorneys Fees

    (j) Maintenance of Current Educational Placement
    (k) Placement in Alternative Educational Setting - Discipline

    • • Authority of School Personnel
        Authority of Hearing Officer
        Manifestation of Determination Review
        Guns and Drugs

    (l) Rule of Construction
    (m) Transfer of Parental Rights at Age of Majority

     

As a parent, educator, attorney or advocate, you may have read articles about IDEA-97, the new special education law. Articles about special education law usually include summaries of the statute and information about changes in the new law. You may have read interpretations of the new law that include the authors' opinions about the enormous positive or negative impact that one section or another will have on children or school districts. Depending on the writer's perspective, the new law may be a good law or a bad law. The new law may lead schools to the brink of financial disaster, cause all children with disabilities to be expelled from school, open the doors of educational opportunity for all disabled children, provide new rights, take away rights–on and on.

This article is different. Why? First, this article includes the actual text of the statute. As you read the statute, you will learn what the law really says. You need to remember that law is always evolving and changing. Different courts will interpret the statute–even the same words in the statute–differently. These different interpretations by different courts will eventually cause the body of law to grow from statutes and regulations to case law.

The law will be interpreted differently by attorneys, depending on their perspectives. I may interpret the law differently than will another attorney who also represents children with disabilities. My interpretation of a specific section may be substantially different from an interpretation offered by an attorney who represents school districts. Because law is always subject to different interpretations, people can be confused or misled if they rely on what other people write or say about the law. It is important for you to read the statute and regulations. As you read the statute and the regulations, you will develop your interpretation of the law and the impact it is likely to have.

You will be in a good position to predict the outcome in cases if you understand the history and competing interests that led to the development of a law. All law evolves and changes over time, regardless of the written statute and regulations. An interpretation that is accepted today may change completely tomorrow or next year because of a significant legal precedent or conflicting statute. This is the nature of law.

On November 19, 1975, Public Law 94-142 was enacted into law. The law was originally called The Education for All Handicapped Children Act of 1975. (The legislative history of the law is reported in the 1975 United States Code Congressional and Administrative News, beginning at page 1425.) The original legislation was introduced in May, 1972, after several:

• • . . . landmark court cases establishing in law the right to education for all handicapped children . . . In 1954, the Supreme Court of the United States (in Brown v. Board of Education) established the principle that all children be guaranteed equal educational opportunity. The Court stated "In these days, it is doubtful that any child may reasonably be expected to succeed in life if he is denied the opportunity of an education. Such an opportunity . . . is a right which must be made available to all on equal terms." (At 1430 in the legislative history.)

Congress described the high social and economic costs that society pays for failing to provide disabled children with an appropriate education:

• • Yet, the most recent statistics provided by the Bureau of Education for the Handicapped estimated that of the more than 8 million children . . . with handicapping conditions requiring special education and related services, only 3.9 million such children are receiving an appropriate education. 1.75 million handicapped children are receiving no educational services at all, and 2.5 million handicapped children are receiving an inappropriate education. (At 1432)

    The long-range implications of these statistics are that public agencies and taxpayers will spend billions of dollars over the lifetimes of these individuals to maintain such persons as dependents and in a minimally acceptable lifestyle. With proper education services, many would be able to become productive citizens, contributing to society instead of being forced to remain burdens. Others, through such services, would increase their independence, thus reducing their dependence on society. (At 1433)

    There is no pride in being forced to receive economic assistance. Not only does this have negative effects upon the handicapped person, but it has far-reaching effects for such person’s family. (At 1433)

    Providing educational services will ensure against persons needlessly being forced into institutional settings. One need only look at public residential institutions to find thousands of persons whose families are no longer able to care for them and who themselves have received no educational services. Billions of dollars are expended each year to maintain persons in these subhuman conditions . . . (At 1433)

    Parents of handicapped children all too frequently are not able to advocate the rights of their children because they have been erroneously led to believe that their children will not be able to lead meaningful lives . . . It should not . . . be necessary for parents throughout the country to continue utilizing the courts to assure themselves a remedy . . . (At 1433)

Since 1975, the statute has been amended and renamed several times. On June 4, 1997 the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act was amended again. The newly amended statute is referred to as "IDEA 97." You will find the new statute in the United States Code (U.S.C.) at Volume 20, beginning at Section 1401. Section 601 of the 1997 Amendments is the same as 20 U.S.C. Section 1401, Section 602 of the Act which is the same as Section 1402 of the United States Code. This article is based on the United States Code, although you will see references to various Sections within the Act.

On October 22, 1997 the U. S. Department of Education issued the proposed regulations. Public comment was received. The Regulations are being formulated by the U. S. Department of Education and should be published in late Spring, 1998. The Regulations will be published in Volume 34 of the Code of Federal Regulations, (C.F.R.) beginning at Section 300. The Regulations about Individualized Education Programs (IEPs) will become effective on July 1, 1998. When the final regulations are released, you should to pay close attention to Appendix C of the Regulations. Appendix C will include the regulations about IEPs. An Appendix to a Regulation has the same force of law as a Regulation.

The statute is statutory law. Regulations are regulatory law. Judicial decisions are case law. Regulations have the same effect as the U. S. Code. States will have to revise their statutes and regulations to be consistent with Federal law. State laws may not diminish or reduce the rights of special education children. State laws may provide children with more rights and protections. When a state law conflicts with federal law, federal law is supreme, pursuant to the Supremacy Clause of the U. S. Constitution.

• • PWDW NOTE: Portions of the United States Code are reproduced on separate webpages on our website. I recommend that you print each page and use a yellow highlighter to follow the law.  As you read the text of each statute, you will find explanations and emphases. I omitted some portions of the text. You will see that the text I omitted is designated by * * * . Portions were omitted because they related to issues that did not directly affect children's rights. The full text is available at the U. S. Department of Education's website. Other portions of the text are highlighted by me with bold face type to focus your attention onto specific words and phrases. Sometimes, the outcome of litigation turns on the interpretation or location of a single word in a statute–or the location of a semicolon. At various points, I offer my commentary about the law. You will see that my comments are indented and begin with the phrase (PWDW Note: . . . )
     

  (PWDW NOTE: Links will be added here and at the top table of contents to allow you to move into specific sections)