Underpinnings Various laws began to carve out space for a student's right to FAPE in the mid-to-late twentieth century. For example, the 1958 Captioned Films Act, Public Law 85-905, was intended, at least in part, to enrich the educational experience of the deaf, demonstrating recognition that their educational opportunities differed somewhat from their hearing peers. Further, the Training of Professional Personnel Act of 1959, Public Law 86-158, increased the types and amount of training individuals received in learning how to educate students deemed "
mentally retarded". In addition, the
Elementary and Secondary Education Act, Public Law 89–10, as originally enacted in 1965 and amended that same year via Public Law 89-313, gave states grant assistance for educating students with disabilities. the court decided that a state could not deny, delay, or end any intellectually disabled student's access to a public education. The decision was reached after the Pennsylvania Board of Education, thirteen school districts, and the state's secretaries of education and public welfare sued the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. a case decided the same year, a group of students labeled "
mentally retarded,
emotionally disturbed or
hyperactive" by
D.C. public schools filed a civil action suit against them after being denied admission without
due process under
Equal Protection Clause of the
Fourteenth Amendment. The court condemned the school's decision and declared that all children in D.C., regardless of any physical, mental, or emotional disabilities, are entitled to a free and appropriate public education.
Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 The
Rehabilitation Act of 1973 established non-discrimination requirements for federal agencies as well as state and local programs receiving federal assistance. The Act does not directly bar discrimination by individuals (as does the
Americans with Disabilities Act, infra) but focuses its efforts on discrimination by the state and local recipients of federal assistance.
Section 504 states that "[n]o otherwise qualified individual with a
disability in the United States . . . shall, solely by reason of her or his disability, be excluded from the participation in, be denied the benefits of, or be subjected to discrimination under any program or activity receiving Federal financial assistance or under any program or activity conducted by any Executive agency or by the
United States Postal Service." As a result, state public education programs became subject to federal non-discrimination requirements. However, Section 504 only requires that the school in question develop a "plan" (often called a "
504 Plan") for the child, unlike an
Individualized Education Program, or IEP, which tends to generate a more in-depth, actionable document. IEPs can include specialized instruction and related services, whereas 504 Plans offer accommodations and occasionally other beneficial services such as access to technology services and support for emotional and social challenges. also known as the
Education for All Handicapped Children Act, which outlined that public schools should provide all students with an education appropriate for their unique needs at public expense (i.e., FAPE). Public Law 94-142 also included that: • The rights of students and their parents are protected by the law, under the
Equal Protection Clause of the
Fourteenth Amendment. • Students are entitled to assessments to determine whether they have disabilities. The 1990 Amendment, Public Law 101–476, renamed the
Education for All Handicapped Children Act to the
Individuals with Disabilities Education Act. extended the LRE requirements to assure all students access to the general education curriculum and required that
assistive technology devices and services be considered (though not necessarily included) for every IEP. focused on providing transition services for individuals with disabilities moving on from their school. The amendments articulate that transition services should look into connecting the students to appropriate employment opportunities and/or community resources. In providing FAPE, Public Law 108-446 also clarified that states also need to set targets for their students to meet and failure to do so brings federal sanctions, such as loss of funds.
Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) Title II of the
Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) prohibits discrimination on the basis of disability by state and local governmental entities, including public school districts. Title III of the ADA also prohibits discrimination against students with disabilities in private schools that are considered public accommodations. While private schools are not required to provide FAPE to students with disabilities (as by definition a private school does not provide a public education), under the ADA they must take reasonable steps to ensure that students with disabilities have equal access to their private educational program. the Supreme Court ruled that a free and appropriate public education should provide access to
specialized instruction. The Court ruled, however, that the school was not obliged to provide an
interpreter for a
deaf student to meet the bar of FAPE. The Court held that the IDEA provides disabled students the right to more than just token progress from one year to the following year. The "merely more than
de minimis" standard was rejected. Officials offered their thoughts on how teachers, school officials, parents, and stakeholders must apply this verdict in actual scenarios. For example, according to the education department, IEPs must improve functional as well as educational performance and be reassessed if the child does not make progress in accordance with the yearly objectives or more often if the parents or school ask for a review. ==Implementation==