Copyright 2000 Phoenix Newspapers, Inc.
THE ARIZONA
REPUBLIC
January 24, 2000 Monday, Final Chaser
SECTION: FRONT; Pg. A4
LENGTH: 469 words
HEADLINE:
SPECIAL EDUCATION LAW NOT FOLLOWED, STUDY OF STATES SAYS
BYLINE: Associated Press
DATELINE: WASHINGTON
BODY:
Many children with disabilities are getting substandard schooling because
states are not complying with federal rules on special education, an independent
agency reports.
U.S. officials are not forcing compliance, and as a
result, parents often must sue to enforce the law, according to a review of more
than two decades of enforcement of the federal special education law. In too
many cases, children with disabilities are taught in separate classrooms and
schools are not following other regulations meant to protect these students from
discrimination, the National Council on Disability said in a report to be
released Tuesday. The Associated Press obtained an advance copy.
The
problems have persisted for years in many locations, said the council, which
makes recommendations to the president and Congress.
Officials at the
Department of Education, the federal agency responsible for overseeing
compliance with the 1975 Individuals with Disabilities Education
Act, said it has increased monitoring under the Clinton administration.
Nearly 6 million American children receive special education instruction
and services at a cost of almost $40 billion, about $5.7 billion of which is
federal money.
The special education law was meant to end discrimination
against children with disabilities. Many of these children had been excluded
from public schools, institutionalized or placed in programs that provided
little or no learning. The law was strengthened in 1997.
According to
compliance reports covering 1994 through 1998:
*36 states failed to
ensure that children with disabilities are not segregated from regular
classrooms.
*44 states failed to follow rules requiring schools to help
students find jobs or continue their education.
*45 states failed to
ensure that local school authorities adhered to non-discrimination laws.
The special education report is part of the council's multiyear study
for the president and Congress on the implementation and enforcement of the
Americans with Disabilities Act and other civil rights laws.
The report
said the most recent Department of Education monitoring surveys for 50 states
showed:
*Only Arkansas, Hawaii, Nevada and Oklahoma were ensuring that
local school authorities adhered to non-discrimination laws, compared with 45
who were not. No information for Mississippi was given in this category.
*Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, Colorado, Hawaii, Maine, Nebraska, Nevada,
New Hampshire, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Oregon, South Dakota and Vermont were
ensuring that disabled kids are not segregated from regular classrooms. The rest
of states were not.
*Georgia, Nebraska, North Dakota, Pennsylvania,
South Carolina and Wyoming were the only states following rules requiring
schools to help students find jobs or continue their educations.
LOAD-DATE: February 17, 2000
