Celebrating the 35th Anniversary of IDEA

November 29, 2010 marks the thirty-fifth anniversary of the passage of the law now known as the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA).  The legislation provides America's 6.6 million children and youth with disabilities with the right to a free appropriate public education.

On November 29, 1975, President Gerald Ford signed into law the Education for All Handicapped Children Act (Public Law 94-142).  At the time, more than one million youth with disabilities had no access to the public school system.  The law, now known as IDEA, has been revised many times over the years.  The most recent amendments were passed by Congress in December 2004, with final regulations published in August 2006.

Read more about the 35th anniversary of IDEA at http://www2.ed.gov/about/offices/list/osers/idea35/index.html