Legal Requirements for the IFSP

Brown v. the Board of Education was a federal case that decided education was a basic right subject to equal protection under the fourteenth admenment of the U.S. Constitution. Linda Brown was a Topeka, Kansas eight year old black child who had to walk one mile through a railroad switchyard to get to her black elementary school while a white elementary school was just a few blocks away. Segregation based on race was the norm in the early 1950's inclusing the Topeka school system and under the separate but equal doctrine, this was acceptable and legal. Although schools were supposed to be equal, most black schools were substandard to white schools.

The Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) was passed providing funds to states for services to children with disabilities. This funding was specifically targeted to children in state institutions.

Through special funding (Title 1), resources were allocated to meet the needs of educationally deprived children, expecially through compensatory programs for the poor. The ESEA was the most significant piece of educational legislation since 1870. President Lyndon B. Johnson argued that the school bill "will offer new hope to tens of thoesands of youngsters who need attention before they ever enroll in the first grade." The legislation was the beginning of Head Start, a preschool program for disadvantage children.

The elementary and Secondary Education Act proved to be a catalyst for future educational legislation, including the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act and No Child Left Behind.

Congress amended the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 to establish a grant program "for the purpose of assisting the States in the initiation, expansion, and improvement of programs and projects... for the education of handicapped children." Pub. L. 89-750, § 161, 80 Stat. 1204.

Section 504 was passed, becoming a basic civil rights provision which prohibits discrimination against America's citizens with disabilities.

School districts are required to insure that all school age children with verified disabilities, have available to them a free appropriate public education which includes special education and related services to meet their unique needs.

Emergency Assistance Department of Social Services provides assistance to needy families with minor children who are threatened with a crisis and other resources are not available.

Department of Public Institutions are established to administer six mental retardation regions which provide community-based services.

Genetic Counseling, administered through the Department of Health, provides for clinics to be held in sites throughout the state for high risk populations.

Nebraska passes Early Childhood Special Education; schools are to serve children from the date of diagnosis. Nebraska became a birth mandate state for early intervention services through passage of Legislative Bill (LB) 889 in 1978, requiring that special education services be provided by local school districts to children birth to age five.

Congress passed Public Law 99-457, which extended the provision of FAPE to all children ages 3-5. (Section 619, Part B). In Section 619, Part H, a new program is created for infants, toddlers, and their families, which requires the development of an individualized family service plan (IFSP) for each child/family served.

Medicaid coverage for pregnant women and children through the Nebraska Department of Social Services

Americans with Disabilities Act was passed.The ADA is civil rights legislation designed to protect people with mental or physical disabilities from discrimination based upon disability. Signed into law on July 26 1990, the Americans with Disabilities Act is a wide-ranging legislation intended to make American Society more accessible to people with disabilities.

Supreme Court Zebley decision which instructs the Social Security Administration to use different child related criteria for child disability determination.

P.L. 101-508 focuses on the need for child care throughout the country. It emphasizes the need and encourages the inclusion of children with "special needs" in those child care programs, which are developed by the states as a result of the funds provided to each state that submits a comprehensive plan for child care.

The Act assured free and appropriate services to families who have children with disabilities under the age of three.

Supreme Court construed Title II of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) to require states to place qualified individuals with mental disabilities in community settings, rather than in institutions, whenever treatment professionals determine that such placement is appropriate, the affected persons do not oppose such placement, and the state can reasonable accommodate the placement, taking into account the resources available to the state and the needs of others with disabilities. The Department of Justice regulations implementing Title II of the ADA require public entities to administer their services, programs, and activities in the most integrated setting appropriate to the needs of qualified individuals with disabilities.

This decision effects not only all persons in institutions and segregated settings, but also people with disabilities who are at risk of institutionalization, including people with disabilities on waiting lists to receive community based services and supports.

Both houses of Congress passed legislation to reauthorize IDEA. It is now known as the Individuals with Disabilities Education Improvement Act of 2004, Public Law 108-446. The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) is the main federal program authorizing state and local aid for special education and related services for children with disabilities. On December 3, 2004, President Bush signed the Individuals with disabilities Education Improvement Act (P.L. 108-446), a major reauthorization and revision of IDEA. The new law preserves the basic structure and civil rights guarantees of IDEA but also makes significant changes in the law. Details the changes made by P.L. 108-446, which include the following:

• An extensive definition of "highly qualified" special education teachers andrequirement that all special education teachers be highly qualified;
• Provisions aimed at reducing paperwork and other non-educational activities (for example, a paperwork reduction pilot program);
• Extensive provisions aimed at ensuring special education and related services for children with disabilities who are homeless or otherwise members of highly mobile populations;
• Increased funds and increased requirements for statewide activities;
• Authorization for states to use IDEA funds to establish and maintain "risk pools" to aid local educational agencies (LEAs) that provide high-cost IDEA services;
• Modifications to requirements for parents who unilaterally place their children with disabilities in private schools to help ensure equal treatment and participation for such children;
• Revised state performance goals and requirements for children's participation in state and local assessments to align these requirements with those in the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 (ESEA);
• Authority for LEAs that qualify to off-set some expenditures for special education with annual increases in their federal IDEA grant;
• Authority for LEAs to use some of their local IDEA grant for "early intervening services" aimed at reducing or eliminating the future need for special education for children with educational needs who do not currently qualify for IDEA;
• Significant changes to procedural safeguards, including:
  • The addition of a resolution session prior to a due process hearing to encourage the parties to resolve their dispute;
  • Revised test regarding the manifestation determination;
  • Addition of a new category - where a child has inflicted serious bodily injury on another person - to the school's ability to place a child with a disability in an interim alternative educational setting;
• Major changes in compliance monitoring to focus on student performance, not compliance with procedures;
• Authority to extend Part C services for infant and toddler services beyond the age of 2.