What is IDEA?
We've focused on BOE, funding, and general education topics. Now, we're moving on to a topic very near and dear to my heart - Special Education! We'll start off with IDEA, which is a federal policy that shapes much of what Special Education looks like today.
In 1975, Congress passed the law that became the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA). Before IDEA, many students with disabilities were turned away from public schools or placed in separate classrooms with very limited resources and without access to the same curriculum as their peers. IDEA guaranteed that, for the first time, students with disabilities were entitled to a free, appropriate public education, just like their peers.
Two of the most important protections under IDEA are 1) the right to a Free and Appropriate Public Education (FAPE) and 2) the right for students to be educated alongside their peers as much as possible (this is called "Least Restrictive Environment," or LRE). These are the foundation of how schools provide special education services today – they make sure that students get the supports they need without being unnecessarily separated.
Other IDEA protections include:
Zero reject: no child with a disability can be denied education
Services that start at birth and go through age 21
Access to specialized instruction and supports
A voice in decision for families
Schools receive money for special education from the federal government and the state, and programs are also supplemented with our local taxes.
IDEA also established Child Find (which says that schools must identify and evaluate students who may need support) and IEPs (individualized education programs). I’ll dig into those in upcoming posts!
