The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) is the nation’s special education law. First enacted three decades ago, IDEA provides billions of dollars in federal funding to assist states and local communities in providing educational opportunities for approximately six million students with varying degrees of disability who participate in special education.

In exchange for federal funding, IDEA requires states to provide a free appropriate public education (FAPE) in the least restrictive environment (LRE). The statute also contains detailed due process provisions to ensure the provision of FAPE. Originally enacted in 1975, the Act responded to increased awareness of the need to educate children with disabilities and to judicial decisions requiring states to provide an education for children with disabilities if they provide an education for children without disabilities. 

For more information on IDEA, go to the Committee on Education and the Workforce Home Page at edworkforce.house.gov .

- Definition taken from the Committee on Education and the Workforce web site

Click on the links below, which have been provided by NYSUT, to answer some of your questions pertaining to special education issues.

Academic Intervention Services and Students with Disabilities (November 2001)

Alternative Assessment for Students with Severe Disabilities (March 2006)

Allowable Testing Accommodations on the Grades 3-8 Assessments (March 2006)

Consultant Teacher Services (February 2005)

Copies of IEPs to Teachers and Other School Professionals (June 2003)

Discipline Procedures for Students with Disabilities

Educating Students with Disabilities in the Least Restrictive Environment

General Education Teacher and the Committee on Special Education (April 1999)

The Individuals with Disabilities Education Improvement Act of 2004 (April 2005)

NYSESLAT 2005 - Determining a Limited-English-Proficient Student's Level of English Proficiency

NYSESLAT 2005 - Frequently Asked Questions

55-64 Passing Score and the Safety Net for Students with Disabilities (March 2006)

Special Education Class Size Limits in Middle and Secondary Schools (November 2005)

Special Education Variances (November 2005)

Supreme Court Rules that Parents Have Burden of Proof in Challenging their Child's IEP (January 2006)

Supreme Court Rules on Nursing Services Under the IDEA (May 1999)

Test Access and Accommodations for Students with Disabilities; Tools to Guide Decision-Making (August 2004)