Citizens for Responsible Education Reform

Individuals with Disabilities Education Act Amendments of 1997 (H.R. 5)

Special Education Appropriations, Title 1

Issue Description

The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) is America's core special education statute. The law helps assure that disabled children's constitutional right to participate in public education programs is not abridged. The law does so by providing grants to states to pay for special education services in exchange for states' agreement to provide due process protections to disabled students. Originally passed in 1975, the law had never been comprehensively amended prior to this year.

CRER Analysis and Position

Children who require Special Education should be able to receive adequate schooling; however, the enforcement of this bill should be watched carefully. This legislation could easily be abused in a manner much like the Americans with Disabilities Act. Some of the positive attributes of the IDEA Amendments of 1997 are:

consolidation of 18 discretionary programs into six;
reducing litigation through mediation and due process reform;
cutting costly referrals to special education by emphasizing basic
academic skills in the regular classroom; and
reducing the bureaucratic red tape required of local schools.

For additional information on this issue, visit:
U.S. Department of Education
House Committee on Education and the Workforce
The Scandal of Special-Ed: It Wastes Money and Hurts the Poor (story in The Washington Monthly)<

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Last updated by Citizens for Responsible Education Reform on 6/17/99

Citizens for Responsible Education Reform

Individuals with Disabilities Education Act Amendments of 1997 (H.R. 5)

Special Education Appropriations, Title 1

Issue Description

CRER Analysis and Position

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