Public Law 94-142

Public Law 94-142 of 1975 - Individuals with Disabilities Act of 1997
According to LD Online (2015), Public Law 94-142, also known as Education for all Handicapped Children Act (EHA), was passed in 1975. Since then, the law has taken on many changes in order to improve its effectiveness, and is now known as the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act of 2004 (IDEA 04). The original Public Law 94-142 guaranteed a free and appropriate public education to each child with a disability from the age 3 to 21 (LD Online, 2015). It is required to make efforts towards improving how children with disabilities are identified and educated, as well as provide evaluations for the success of those efforts. Furthermore, the law provided due process protections

for children and families (LD Online, 2015).
Shortly after EHA was established, P.L. 98-524, also known as The Carl D. Perkins Vocational Education Act of 1984, authorized Federal funds to support vocational education programs (Statewide Parent Advocacy Network, 2000). Following P.L. 98-524, the 1986 Amendment (PL 99-457) of EHA mandated that states provide programs and services from birth (U.S. Department of Education, 2007). In 1990, PL 101-476 Amendments changed the name of the “Education for all Handicapped Children Act” to the “Individuals with Disabilities Education Act” (U.S. Department of Education, 2007). This Amendment authorized and expanded the discretionary programs, mandated transition services and assistive technology services to be included in a child's or youth's IEP, and added autism and traumatic brain injury to the list of categories of children and youth eligible for special education and related services (Statewide Parent Advocacy Network, 2000).
The IDEA Amendments of 1997 brought many changes to P.L. 94-142 of 1975.
In addition to the free and appropriate public education, the amendments specifically covered: participation of children with disabilities in State and district-wide assessment programs; the way evaluations are conducted; parent participation in eligibility and placement decisions; development and review of the IEP; transition planning; voluntary mediation; and discipline of children with disabilities (Statewide Parent Advocacy Network, 2000).
The most recent amendments to IDEA were made due to the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) in 2001, resulting in IDEA 04, in which we comply with today.
Understanding IDEA 04
The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act of 2004 (IDEA 04) is a law ensuring services to children with disabilities throughout the nation. IDEA 04 governs how states and public agencies provide early intervention, special education and related services to more than 6.5 million eligible infants, toddlers, children and youth with disabilities (U.S. Department of Education, 2010). IDEA 04 entails an abundance of information that is broken down into four subsections including: a) general provisions, b) children with disabilities, c) infants and toddlers with disabilities, and d) national activities to improve education of children with disabilities (U.S. Department of Education, 2010). In order to gain an understanding of IDEA 04, you will need to know it’s six key components.
IDEA 04: Six Key Components
The six major principles of IDEA 04 are as followed: Zero reject, nondiscriminatory identification and evaluation, free appropriate public education (FAPE), least restrictive environment (LRE), parent and student participation and shared decision making, and procedural safeguards. These six components of IDEA 04 have remained basically unchanged since P.L. 94-142 (EHA) of 1975 (Merrill, 2006).
Zero Reject
The principle of zero reject entities all students with disabilities to a public education regardless of the nature or severity of their disabilities. To accomplish zero reject, we have what is called a child find system; a set of procedures for alerting the public that services are available for students with disabilities and for distributing print and electronic materials, conducting screening, and completing other activities to ensure that students are identified (Friend, 2014).
Nondiscriminatory Identification and Evaluation
IDEA outlines the rights of students and their parents to ensure that any assessment completed as part of a special education decision-making process is unbiased (Friend, 2014). A student must be assessed in all areas related to the suspected disability. Furthermore, the test and evaluation materials must be presented in the child’s native language or mode of communication (Yell, 2006).
Free Appropriate Public Education (FAPE)
Children with disabilities are entitled to a free public education.

The parents and family members cannot be asked to pay for special education services. In fact, if it is necessary for a student to be educated outside the student’s own school district, the district usually bear the cost for that placement as well as the cost for transportation (Friend, 2014). According to (Huefner, 2008), the IEP requirements in IDEA 97 and 04 for assessing academic progress and reporting it to parents have clarified the expectations for FAPE. In other words, an “appropriate” education is determined on an individual basis, defined by the child’s

IEP.
Least Restrictive Environment (LRE)
The least restrictive environment will determine how and where the student will receive FAPE.

It is required that the student be placed in the setting most like that of typical peers in which they can succeed when provided with needed supports and services (Friend, 2014). In other words, children with disabilities are to be educated with children who are not disabled to the maximum extent appropriate. Removal may only occur when education in regular classes, with the use of supplementary aids and services, cannot be achieved satisfactorily (Yell, 2006).
Parent and Student Participation and Shared Decision Making
Parents have the right to be included in placement decisions, IEP developments, and evaluations. Schools should collaborate and communicate consistently with family members due to the fact they know their child better than anyone else and can be a powerful resource, as well as an advocate, for their development and education (American Foundation for the Blind, 2015). Furthermore, information regarding a student’s disability is highly confidential. IDEA clarifies that such information may be shared with only individuals who are working directly with the student (Friend, 2014).
Procedural

Safeguards
Procedural safeguards assure fairness. Parents of children with disabilities must be given prior notice at each step of the process. The notice must be written in a language understandable to the general public and provided in the native language of the parents. Written consent must be obtained from the parents before any action is taken to conduct any evaluation or place the student in special education (Statewide Parent Advocacy Network, 2000).
It is also stated under the procedural safeguards that students may not be excluded for disorderly conduct if their actions relate to their disability. If their actions are not related to their disability, they can be excluded from school as a nondisabled student (Beatty, 2013). Students with disabilities are not to be excluded from school any longer than ten days. A change of placement is required if the student must be excluded longer than ten days. Parents have the right to request a due-process hearing if they disagree with the placement change (Beatty, 2013).