Special Education Law Blog

Time to Pay Attention to State Regulatory Implementation of IDEA 2004

Illinois has published its final regulations implementing IDEA 2004. The regulations are a mixed bag to say the least. Eliminating pages through cross referencing to the Federal regulations in the name of making regulations shorter but at the same time less understandable to the average lay person.  The most controversial aspect of the new regulations is that they remove clear restrictions on the size of caseloads that service providers can maintain. Many disability organizations have raised serious concerns (see related posting seeking public action.) The local news coverage discusses the potentially negative effect of these proposed regulations.

I have reviewed the websites for a number of Departments of Education and most states have not taken up the issue of new state regulations to implement IDEA 2004, with Texas  and Tennessee, being notable exceptions.

Virginia appears to be gearing up for promulgating new regulations under IDEA 2004.  Now is the time to advocate in Virginia and other states for a set of regulations that do not diminish, confuse, or dilute protections for special education students. New York has also proposed new state regulations--http://www.vesid.nysed.gov/specialed/idea/home.html.

Below is the a useful summary from my friend and fellow attorney Sandy Alperstein, volunteer Co-Webmaster of www.ourchildrenleftbehind.com, outlining the proposed changes to the Illinois regulations:

Action Needed on Illinois Regulations under IDEA 2004

My collegue Sandy Alperstein, volunteer Co-Webmaster of www.ourchildrenleftbehind.com, brought this alert to my attention that deserves due consideration and action. The following alert is courtesy of Bev Johns, parent advocate. Please share and take action if you agree with its contents.  By way of background, these proposals were adopted (over the objections of various teachers and parents groups) by the Illinois State Board of Education (ISBE) at their December meeting.  They are now being sent to JCAR (Joint Committee on Administrative Rules), which will either approve them or send them back to ISBE for changes (need a 3 out of 5 vote to send them back).  We are hoping to convince them to send these rules back for revision, which is the point of this action alert.  Thank you for your help!