Individuals with Disabilities Education Act

After being enacted in 1975 as the Education for All Handicapped Children Act, the IDEA was reauthorized and revised in 1986, 1990, 1997, and 2004. Moreover, the IDEA is still sometimes referred to as P.L. (Public Law) 94–142, indicating that it was the 142nd piece of legislation introduced during the 94th Congress. The IDEA and its regulations require states, through local educational agencies or school boards, to identify, locate, evaluate, and serve all children with disabilities (34 C.F.R. § 300.125), including those in nonpublic schools, regardless of the severity of their needs. Insofar as the child-find provisions are included as a related service in the IDEA's regulations, many school systems screen preschool children to assist in the early identification of students with disabilities (34 C.F.R. § 451). Changes in the 2004 version of the IDEA now require not only that public school officials identify children who attend nonpublic schools in the districts where they attend classes rather than the districts within which they live, but also that child-find activities for these students in private schools be comparable to those used in public schools. At the same time, public school officials must record and report to state education agencies the number of children from private schools who are evaluated, determined to have disabilities, and served (§ 1412(a)(10)(A)(ii)).

In order to be covered by the IDEA, children must meet three requirements. First, students must be between the ages of 3 and 21 (20 U.S.C.A. § 1412(a)(A)). Second, students must have a specifically identified disability. Third, they must be in need of special education (20 U.S.C.A. § 1401(3)), meaning that the children must be in need of a free appropriate education (20 U.S.C.A. § 1401(8)) in the least restrictive environment that is directed by an individualized education program (IEP) (20 U.S.C.A. § 1401(3)). Related services covers developmental, supportive, or corrective services such as transportation, speech pathology, audiology, psychological services, physical therapy, occupational therapy, [Page 455]recreation (including therapeutic recreation), social work services, and counseling services (including rehabilitation counseling), among others. Moreover, as children near graduation or begin to age out of special education, school officials must develop individualized transition services plans to promote their movement to postschool activities (20 U.S.C.A. § 1414(d)(1)(A)(vii)(II); 20 U.S.C.A. § 1401(30)).

IEPs must describe students' current levels of educational performance, annual goals, and short-term objectives, the specific services that they will receive, the extent to which they can take part in general education, the date services are to begin and for how long they will be offered, and criteria to evaluate whether they are achieving their goals (20 U.S.C.A. § 1414(d)(1)(A)). IEPs must also discuss how students' disabilities affect their ability to be involved in and progress in inclusive settings and necessary modifications to allow them to take part in the general curriculum. In addition, IEPs must detail any related services that students need to benefit from their IEP (20 U.S.C.A. § 1401(3)(A)(ii)).

The IDEA includes extensive due process protections to protect the rights of qualified children (20 U.S.C.A. § 1415), particularly when dealing with disciplining students with disabilities and determining whether their misbehavior is a manifestation of their disability. Among other protections, parents have the right to take part in developing IEPs that direct the education of their children (20 U.S.C.A. §§ 1414(d)(1)(B)(i) and 1414(f)). In such a case, the Fourth Circuit ruled that parents in South Carolina who chose not to participate in its formulation could not render school officials liable for not having an IEP (MM ex rel. DM v. School Dist. of Greenville County, 2002) completed and signed, because their failure to do so was caused by the parents' lack of cooperation. Moreover, officials must provide parents with notice and obtain their consent prior to evaluating or placing children (20 U.S.C.A. § 1414(a)(1)(2), 20 U.S.C.A. § 1414(b)(3)). Once students are placed in special education, school officials must notify parents before trying to change their placements (20 U.S.C.A. § 1415(b)(3)(A)). IEPs must be reviewed at least annually (20 U.S.C.A. § 1414(d)(4)(A)), and children must be reevaluated completely at least every 3 years (20 U.S.C.A. § 1414(a)(2)(A)). However, a provision in the recently reauthorized IDEA allows up to 15 states to pilot comprehensive, multiyear IEPs that do not exceed 3 years and that are designed to coincide with natural transition points in a child's education (§ 1414(d)(5)(A)(i)). Another change with regard to IEPs permits minor changes to IEPs to be made by means of conference calls or letters (§ 1414(f)). The IDEA also includes provisions, supplemented by the Family Education Rights and Privacy Act (29 U.S.C.A. § 1232g) and its regulations (34 C.F.R. §§ 300.560–577), protecting the confidentiality of all information used in the evaluation, placement, and education of students (20 U.S.C.A. § 1417(c)).

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