Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA)

The federal law that supports special education and related service programming for children and youth with disabilities is called the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA). In 1975, the Education for All Handicapped Children Act (Public Law 94-142) was enacted to establish grants to states for the education of children with disabilities. This law has been amended several times and is now referred to as IDEA.

The major purpose of IDEA is to ensure that all eligible school-age children and youth with disabilities have available to them a “free appropriate public education” that emphasizes special education and related services designed to meet their unique needs and prepare them for employment and independent living. Furthermore, the law seeks to ensure that the rights of children and youth with disabilities, as well as the rights of their parents, are protected, and to assess and ensure the effectiveness of efforts to educate children with disabilities.

The Education for All Handicapped Children Act, which is now known as the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), was first enacted in 1975. This landmark legislation was needed to ensure that students with disabilities receive free, appropriate public education and the related services and support they need to achieve. IDEA was created to help states and school districts meet their legal obligations to educate children with disabilities, and to pay part of the extra expense of doing so.

IDEA has several parts: Part B provides grants to states for services to preschool and school-age children. Part C funds early intervention services for infants, toddlers, and their families. Part D supports research and professional development programs.

Approximately 6 million children currently receive special education services. When a child is identified as eligible for special education services, an individualized education program (IEP) is developed by a team that includes the child’s parent(s), teachers, and other school staff. The IEP outlines the specific services and supports the child needs, within the least restrictive environment (LRE). While the law has been reauthorized and improved over the years, the IEP and LRE provisions have been protected as basic rights of children with disabilities. Parent involvement is a fundamental principle of IDEA. Parents must be fully informed of their children’s rights, and may participate in all decisions affecting their children. IDEA also outlines due process provisions, which allow parents to challenge school district decisions.

The latest version of IDEA (P.L. 108-446), which reauthorizes IDEA through 2011, includes several provisions (strongly advocated by National PTA) that will improve the quality of special education. For example, the law retains continued services for students moved to alternate placements, attorney fee reimbursements for parents who prevail in litigation, and the requirement that schools determine whether disciplinable behavior is a manifestation of the student’s disability.

Below is a preliminary analysis of some of the most important provisions of the IDEA reauthorization.

Discipline

The IDEA reauthorization retains the requirement that before disciplining a special education student, a school must consider whether the student’s misbehavior was caused by his or her disability. However, a student may be removed from his or her regular classroom while that determination is pending. Under the reauthorization, parents must show that the disability caused the disruptive behavior; otherwise, the school may administer the standard discipline for the misbehavior. Previously, schools had the burden of proof and had to prove that the misbehavior was unrelated to the student’s disability to be able to discipline the student. The law also gives educators more discretion in disciplinary decisions; educators are no longer required to consider unique circumstances when contemplating a change in placement, but may do so on a “case by case basis.” As before, the reauthorization requires that students with disabilities continue to be provided education services when suspended or expelled for more than 10 days.

Individualized Education Program (IEP)

The new legislation modifies a number of IEP provisions to allow modifications to an existing IEP to be developed in writing instead of through a formal IEP meeting, and to allow a member of the IEP team to be excused from attending all or part of an IEP meeting with the written consent of the parent and the local education agency. An IEP no longer must include benchmarks and short-term objectives, except if the IEP is for a student who takes alternate assessments. An IEP is required to include a description of annual goals, how goals will be measured, and when and how periodic progress reports will be provided to parents. The reauthorization also includes a pilot program that allows up to 15 states to develop comprehensive multi-year IEPs (not to exceed 3 years) with parental consent. National PTA supported efforts to simplify and clarify the IEP process as long as it did not weaken important safeguards.

Teacher Quality

National PTA supported a provision ensuring that special educators are fully licensed in special education and competent in the subjects they teach. National PTA recognizes the multiple settings in which special educators deliver services, the diverse roles within which special educators function, and the variety of the individuals for whom they work. Under the new IDEA law, as under the No Child Left Behind Act, all special education teachers must hold a certificate in special education or pass a state special education licensing exam and hold a state license. New flexibility is provided for special education teachers to demonstrate that they are highly qualified if they are new to the profession, teach multiple subjects, or teach students working under alternate achievement standards.

Legal Process and Attorney Fees

Under the new law, parents are required to pursue mediation or attend other meetings to give school officials a last chance to resolve disputes before the courts may intervene. Complaints are required to be clear and specific, and filed within two years of the date of the alleged violation. Parents and school districts are permitted to collect the cost of attorney’s fees if they are the prevailing party. National PTA helped prevent a stipulation that would have allowed governors to set a cap on the attorney’s fees reimbursed. While the law now allows school districts to recover legal costs from attorneys for frivolous claims, it does not allow recovery of costs from parents—another National PTA victory.

Funding

National PTA is disappointed that the new law does not make funding for IDEA mandatory. The federal government currently pays less than half of what the original law authorized. The reauthorization lays out a plan for the federal government to fully fund IDEA within six years, but the actual amount must be appropriated each year during the annual budget process, so there is no guarantee that this plan will be carried out.

National PTA believes that every child must be provided with a well-rounded, high-quality education, which will ensure that all children have the opportunity to reach their full potential and become productive members of society. To develop a stronger and more accountable system of education, schools must place priority on student performance and achievement. Schools must focus on what children know and are able to do, and must be held accountable for ensuring that all children succeed. Challenging and precise standards that objectively measure achievement in academic areas must be developed to enable students to achieve at the highest levels possible.

A meaningful parent involvement policy ensures that parents play an active role in working with school districts to develop policies and materials, and are partners with schools in developing the instructional programs and/or other related services for their children. National PTA believes that procedural safeguards in IDEA must be maintained to ensure that parents are fully informed of their children’s rights and of their parental responsibilities in relation to their children’s education.

Talking Points

• Congress should fulfill its obligation to pay 40 percent of the costs associated with complying with IDEA, per the commitment Congress made in 1975 when the law was originally enacted.
• An increased federal investment in IDEA is prudent to ensure that states and schools can raise academic achievement and meet the new testing and accountability requirements enacted in the No Child Left Behind Act.
• Better collaboration between parents, teachers, school staff, and school administrators is needed to continue reforming and improving systems that provide education, early intervention, and transition services for children with disabilities.
• Parent involvement must always be a fundamental principle of IDEA.