Law Education Information

Many of us, who went to school not that long ago, remember that being a special needs student meant riding to school in a separate bus and attending one class with other children of varying disabilities. These classes resembled more of a day care than school, and even the most advanced students had little hope of receiving a high school diploma, let alone attend college. Since that time, the term disability, and special needs student, has expanded to encompass much more than a person with an IQ below a certain arbitrary standard. What I have attempted to do in my first article is to give a little history of the evolution of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act.

In 1954 the United States Supreme Court decided Brown v. Board of Education, 347 U.S. 483 (1954) which found that segregated schools were a violation of equal protection rights. It would be another twenty years before this concept was applied to children with handicaps, especially learning disabilities, trying to receive an education. In fact, shortly after Brown was decided the Illinois Supreme Court found that compulsory education did not apply to mentally impaired students, and as late as 1969, it was a crime to try to enroll a handicapped child in a public school if that child had ever been excluded.

Due to court challenges in Pennsylvania and the District of Columbia in the early 1970’s things started to change. In 1975 Congress enacted the Education for All Handicapped Children Act of 1975. This was the first law that mandated that all handicapped students had a right to an education. Not only did it mandate that all handicapped students had a right to an education, it also mandated that local educational agencies could be held accountable for not doing so. Shortly thereafter, the term handicapped was replaced with “child with a disability”. Although revised in 1990 as the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), the most comprehensive changes came in 1997. This law required schools to identify children with disabilities to make sure that all children have available a “free appropriate public education and related services designed to meet their unique needs and prepare them for employment and independent living” 20 U.S.C. § 1401 (d). Unfortunately, the most recent changes in 2004 made the law slightly more difficult to receive the benefits they deserve, which, depending upon the next administration and the make up of Congress may or may not be a trend that will be followed in the future.

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If you work for an educational establishment then you’re bound to need an education law solicitor at some point. Here’s why.

1. Schools, colleges and universities need to be just as accountable as other organisations, and private companies, so you’ll want to make sure that everything is managed properly and complies with all relevant laws.

2. Healthy and safety is perhaps more important in an educational environment than in other workplaces, due to the ages of the pupils and students. You’ll need to make sure that your working practices, and out of school activities meet the necessary legislations and law, so that you minimise the risk of accidents and incidents to staff and students in and out of the classroom.

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If you are a parent and intend on putting your children into college, you owe it to yourself to protect your child from the ravages of student loan debt and prepare them with effective strategies to help them avoid it. Although student loans can be a useful and sometimes necessary tool, there are altogether too many instances of students graduating with student loan debt who are forced to take on jobs outside of their field just to be able to make payments on the loans. One can also see from the daily news that a large percentage of students with loans also end up in default, ruining their credit in the process.

There are three (3) things that parents should impart into their child as early as possible, starting as early as the middle school years.

1. Place a high value in obtaining scholarships – scholarships and grants are free money, even if you saved money to spend on a college education, scholarships allow you the greatest freedom. Take the time to learn proven strategies that can assist you in maximizing on these opportunities.

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