The Legal Foundation For Special Education

• Litigation History• Section 504 of the Vocational Rehabilitation Act

of 1973• Court Rulings• Pl 94-142 The Education for all Handicapped

Children Act• Pl 99-457 The Education of the Handicapped Act• IDEA & Amendments of 1997• ADA

Litigation History

• Special education litigation began to appear in the 1960’s.

• By 1974, over 36 “right to education” lawsuits were filed in 25 states

Exclusion/School Attendance• 1893 - Watson v. City of Cambridge• 1919 Beattie v. State Board of Education• 1954 Brown v. Board of Education• 1972 Mills v. Board of Education• 1972 Pennsylvania Association for Retarded

Children (PARC) v. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania

• 1984 School Committee of Town of Burlington v. Massachusetts Department of Education

• 1988 Honig v. Doe

Rights/Services• 1967 Hobson v. Hanson

• 1969 Tinker v. Des Moines Independent

• 1977 Halderman v. Pennhurst

• 1979 Larry P. v. Riles

• 1980 PASE (Parents Action on Special Education v. Hannon

• 1984 Irving Independent School District v. Tatro

• 1991 Christi Greer v. Rome

Litigation Rights & Services

• Before 94-142– 1967 Hobson v.

Hanson

– 1969 Tinker v. Des Moines

– 1970 Diana v. BOE

• Post 94-142– 1979 Larry P. v. Riles

– 1980 PASE v. Hannon

– 1982 BOE v. Rowley

– 1984 Irving v. Tatro

Pl 94-142• Education for all Handicapped Children Act

(1975)

• Provided federal funding

• FAPE

• LRE

• Procedural safeguards

• Non-discriminatory evaluation

• IEP

Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) 1990

• Handicap changed to disability

• Person first language

• Added TBI & Autism categories

• Transition services

• Address assistive technology & services

IDEA ‘97 Amendments

• FAPE• Nondiscriminatory

Evaluation• IEP• LRE• Discipline• Related Services• Parents Rights

• Additions/Changes from IDEA 1990

• General ed. teacher added to IEP team

• Must address communication, VI requiring Braille

• Offer mediation• Discipline changes

LRE & Daniel R.R.• Programming issues• Modifications

available??• Modifications required • Modification=benefits• Negative impact for

students or others• General education

interaction

• Individual issues• Education benefits in

gen. ed. vs. spec. ed.• Nonacademic benefits• Cost of supplementary

aids to support in gen. ed.

Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) 1990

• Expanded 504 into private sector

• Public facilities must be accessible

• TDD services

• Criticized due to expansiveness

IEP Contents• Student’s present level of performance

• Annual goals and short term objectives

• Where? Who? Provides Services

• Starting date & duration of services

• Extent of participation in general education

• Explanation of time not in general ed.

• Evaluation plan for objectives

• Transition plan by age 14

Section 504

• Anti-discrimination statute

• Violations investigated by OCR

• Funding pulled for non-compliance

• Definition of impairment very global

• May qualify under Sec. 504 but not qualify for special education