SPECIAL EDucation LAW ENACTED

After three years of intense debate and compromise, the federal statute governing special education has been revised, enacted and, for the most part, will take effect next July.

Congress finished work on the revisions to the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) in late November, and President Bush signed the legislation, known as the Individuals with Disabilities Education Improvement Act, on December 3.

A piece of civil rights legislation, the IDEA guarantees students with disabilities a free appropriate public education in the least restrictive environment and authorizes appropriations of billions of dollars in funding to states and school districts to assist them in providing special education and related services.

The revisions of IDEA contained in the new law, Public Law 108-446, build on and more closely align IDEA with the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB). They also modify important requirements around individualized student planning, transition, litigation and due process protections, monitoring and enforcement, and federal funding.

In the area of transition, the new law contains the following provisions:

• IDEA has been amended to clarify that one of the primary purposes of the law is to ensure a free appropriate public education designed to meet each student’s unique needs and to “prepare them for further education, employment and independent living.”
• The revisions to IDEA eliminate the references to transition activities beginning at age 14; now, all transition requirements are to be followed not later than the first IEP to be in effect when the student turns 16 years old.
• The definition of “transition services” has been modified to emphasize that the services must be designed “within a results-oriented process” which is “focused on improving the academic and functional achievement” of the student. “Vocational education” has been added to the list of potential services and the student’s “strengths” are to be taken into account as well as his or her preferences and interests when considering the student’s transition needs.
• Schools are required to set clear and specific transition goals beyond secondary school. The student’s IEP is to include “appropriate measurable postsecondary goals based on age appropriate transition assessments” and describe the transition services, “including courses of study,” needed to reach his or her goals.
• Schools are required to provide graduating high school students with disabilities a summary of their accomplishments and transition needs as they leave school.

In the waning hours of the Congressional debate, however, one major transition-related provision was dropped from the bill that would have amended the Workforce Investment Act’s (WIA) Vocational Rehabilitation Act to authorize a detailed transition program for the vocational rehabilitation system. Elimination of this transition provision sets the stage for a dialogue about a more systemic approach to transition during the Congressional deliberations on the yet-to-be-completed reauthorization of the Workforce Investment Act.

Except for some provisions related to “highly qualified” teachers, the new law becomes effective on July 1, 2005 , and the U.S. Department of Education now begins the arduous process of developing implementing regulations.

You can read a more complete description of the major provisions of the new special education law here. For a copy of the statute itself, you can visit http://thomas.loc.gov/.

EEOC Youth Website Opens

Youth At Work, the United States Equal Employment Opportunity Commission's (EEOC) has created a website for youth in the workforce. The EEOC's goal is to eliminate illegal discrimination from the workplace for all workers.This website is designed to teach youth about their rights and responsibilities as an employee can be found at http://youth.eeoc.gov.

International Awards Program to Honor Achievements of Children With Disabilities

The Yes I Can! Foundation for Exceptional Children established the Yes I Can! International Awards Program in 1981 to honor the achievements of children and youth with disabilities; to overcome barriers caused by public misconceptions; to encourage children and youth with disabilities to seek their highest potential; and to increase public awareness of the abilities, aspirations, and personal qualities of people with disabilities.

Nominees must be between two and twenty-one years of age. Nomination forms and guidelines can be downloaded at the Foundation for Exceptional Children Web site. The deadline is December 20, 2004 . Details can be found at http://yesican.cec.sped.org/.

U.S. Labor Department Publishes Youth Employment Rules

The Labor Department published final regulations implementing changes to the employment of youth. The new rules expand protections for youth working in restaurant cooking, roofing, and driving, among other changes in the December 16 Federal Register.

The rules incorporate the provisions of two statutory amendments to the Fair Labor Standards Act dealing with driving and with the operation of compactors and balers by teenage employees. The first statutory change established criteria permitting 16 and 17-year-olds to load, but not operate or unload, certain waste-material baling and compacting equipment. The second statutory change delineated what on-the-job driving may be performed by qualified 17-year-olds.

Also included are youth employment provisions regarding what types of cooking 14- and 15-year olds are permitted to perform. The new rules now permit those minors to clean and maintain cooking devices in some situations.

The rules also expand the current prohibition against youth under age 18 working in roofing occupations to encompass all work on or about a roof, including work performed upon or in close proximity to a roof. Under the new provisions, youth may only perform such work if in an apprenticeship or student-learner program.

The complete text of the rule is now available in the Federal Register, online at www.gpoaccess.gov/fr/index.html and the department's website at www.dol.gov.