Washington, D.C. — U.S. Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings today announced the new regulations for Part B of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act. The final regulations further the president's goal that no child—including each and every one of America's many students with disabilities—is left behind. By aligning the regulations with the No Child Left Behind Act, there is a new focus on ensuring that students with disabilities are held to high expectations.

"Thirty years ago, America's students with disabilities were for the first time assured access to a free and appropriate public education thanks to a new law passed by Congress, now called IDEA," said Spellings. "Yet in those 30 years, too many students with disabilities have faced what President Bush calls 'the soft bigotry of low expectations." Students with disabilities can meet high standards, as long as we adults have high expectations and hold them to these standards. Thanks to the No Child Left Behind Act, we are holding ourselves accountable for making sure students receive the education they deserve. And with these final regulations for IDEA aligned with No Child Left Behind, we are ensuring that students with disabilities are challenged and prepared for successful lives."

The final regulations conclude a process that began in January 2005 with a series of public meetings to receive input on the development of these new rules. The Department held seven meetings around the country to invite comments on the proposed regulations, which were published as a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking on June 21, 2005. More than 5,500 students, parents, educators and stakeholders responded.

The Department has prepared a user-friendly package to help guide the public through these changes. In addition to the actual text of the regulations, the package includes an analysis of the public's comments, a summary of the major changes since publication of the proposed regulations, and several appendices, including an index and additional guidance for implementing the regulations.

Once the final regulations are published in the Federal Register, the Department will also publish and widely disseminate through its Web site a set of model forms for individualized education programs (IEPs), notices of procedural safeguards and prior written notices as required under IDEA.

"I am pleased that the final regulations were completed before the new school year begins." said Spellings. "This gives parents, teachers and administrators time to become familiar with the changes prior to the start of the instructional year."

To give the American people as much time as possible to review the regulations before they take effect, the Department will post an unofficial copy on its Web site at http://www.ed.gov/policy/speced/guid/idea/idea2004.html. The official copy of these regulations will be published in the Federal Register in about two weeks. The final regulations will become effective 60 days after publication in the Federal Register.

A fact sheet on the new regulations can be found at http://www.ed.gov/admins/lead/speced/ideafactsheet.html.

###

Top

Back to August 2006