SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Individuals with Dis-
abilities Education Act Amendments of 1997’’.
TITLE I—AMENDMENTS TO THE
INDIVIDUALS WITH DISABIL-
ITIES EDUCATION ACT
SEC. 101. AMENDMENTS TO THE INDIVIDUALS WITH DIS-
ABILITIES EDUCATION ACT.
Parts A through D of the Individuals with Disabil-
ities Education Act (20 U.S.C. 1400 et seq.) are amended
to read as follows:
‘‘PART A—GENERAL PROVISIONS
‘‘SEC. 601. SHORT TITLE; TABLE OF CONTENTS; FINDINGS;
PURPOSES.
‘‘(a) SHORT TITLE.—This Act may be cited as the
‘Individuals with Disabilities Education Act’.
‘‘(b) TABLE OF CONTENTS.—The table of contents
for this Act is as follows:
‘‘PART A—GENERAL PROVISIONS
‘‘Sec. 601. Short title; table of contents; findings; purposes.
‘‘Sec. 602. Definitions.
‘‘Sec. 603. Office of Special Education Programs.
‘‘Sec. 604. Abrogation of State sovereign immunity.
‘‘Sec. 605. Acquisition of equipment; construction or alteration of facilities.
‘‘Sec. 606. Employment of individuals with disabilities.
‘‘Sec. 607. Requirements for prescribing regulations.
‘‘PART B—ASSISTANCE FOR EDUCATION OF ALL CHILDREN WITH
DISABILITIES
‘‘Sec. 611. Authorization; allotment; use of funds; authorization of appropria-
tions.
‘‘Sec. 612. State eligibility.
‘‘Sec. 613. Local educational agency eligibility.
‘‘Sec. 614. Evaluations, eligibility determinations, individualized education pro-
grams, and educational placements.
‘‘Sec. 615. Procedural safeguards.
‘‘Sec. 616. Withholding and judicial review.
‘‘Sec. 617. Administration.
‘‘Sec. 618. Program information.
‘‘Sec. 619. Preschool grants.
‘‘PART C—INFANTS AND TODDLERS WITH DISABILITIES
‘‘Sec. 631. Findings and policy.
‘‘Sec. 632. Definitions.
‘‘Sec. 633. General authority.
‘‘Sec. 634. Eligibility.
‘‘Sec. 635. Requirements for statewide system.
‘‘Sec. 636. Individualized family service plan.
‘‘Sec. 637. State application and assurances.
‘‘Sec. 638. Uses of funds.
‘‘Sec. 639. Procedural safeguards.
‘‘Sec. 640. Payor of last resort.
‘‘Sec. 641. State Interagency Coordinating Council.
‘‘Sec. 642. Federal administration.
‘‘Sec. 643. Allocation of funds.
‘‘Sec. 644. Federal Interagency Coordinating Council.
‘‘Sec. 645. Authorization of appropriations.
‘‘PART D—NATIONAL ACTIVITIES TO IMPROVE EDUCATION OF CHILDREN
WITH DISABILITIES
‘‘SUBPART 1—STATE PROGRAM IMPROVEMENT GRANTS FOR CHILDREN WITH
DISABILITIES
‘‘Sec. 651. Findings and purpose.
‘‘Sec. 652. Eligibility and collaborative process.
‘‘Sec. 653. Applications.
‘‘Sec. 654. Use of funds.
‘‘Sec. 655. Minimum State grant amounts.
‘‘Sec. 656. Authorization of appropriations.
‘‘SUBPART 2—COORDINATED RESEARCH, PERSONNEL PREPARATION,
TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE, SUPPORT, AND DISSEMINATION OF INFORMATION
‘‘Sec. 661. Administrative provisions.
‘‘CHAPTER 1—IMPROVING EARLY INTERVENTION, EDUCATIONAL, AND TRANSI-
TIONAL
SERVICES
AND
RESULTS
FOR
CHILDREN
WITH
DISABILITIES
THROUGH COORDINATED RESEARCH AND PERSONNEL PREPARATION
‘‘Sec. 671. Findings and purpose.
‘‘Sec. 672. Research and innovation to improve services and results for children
with disabilities.
‘‘Sec. 673. Personnel preparation to improve services and results for children
with disabilities.
‘‘Sec. 674. Studies and evaluations.
‘‘CHAPTER 2—IMPROVING EARLY INTERVENTION, EDUCATIONAL, AND TRANSI-
TIONAL
SERVICES
AND
RESULTS
FOR
CHILDREN
WITH
DISABILITIES
THROUGH COORDINATED TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE, SUPPORT, AND DISSEMI-
NATION OF INFORMATION
‘‘Sec. 681. Findings and purposes.
‘‘Sec. 682. Parent training and information centers.
‘‘Sec. 683. Community parent resource centers.
‘‘Sec. 684. Technical assistance for parent training and information centers.
‘‘Sec. 685. Coordinated technical assistance and dissemination.
‘‘Sec. 686. Authorization of appropriations.
‘‘Sec. 687. Technology development, demonstration, and utilization, and media
services.
‘‘(c) FINDINGS.—The Congress finds the following:
‘‘(1) Disability is a natural part of the human
experience and in no way diminishes the right of in-
dividuals to participate in or contribute to society.
Improving educational results for children with dis-
abilities is an essential element of our national policy
of ensuring equality of opportunity, full participa-
tion, independent living, and economic self-suffi-
ciency for individuals with disabilities.
‘‘(2) Before the date of the enactment of the
Education for All Handicapped Children Act of
1975 (Public Law 94–142)—
‘‘(A) the special educational needs of chil-
dren with disabilities were not being fully met;
‘‘(B) more than one-half of the children
with disabilities in the United States did not re-
ceive appropriate educational services that
would enable such children to have full equality
of opportunity;
‘‘(C) 1,000,000 of the children with dis-
abilities in the United States were excluded en-
tirely from the public school system and did not
go through the educational process with their
peers;
‘‘(D) there were many children with dis-
abilities throughout the United States partici-
pating in regular school programs whose dis-
abilities prevented such children from having a
successful educational experience because their
disabilities were undetected; and
‘‘(E) because of the lack of adequate serv-
ices within the public school system, families
were often forced to find services outside the
public school system, often at great distance
from their residence and at their own expense.
‘‘(3) Since the enactment and implementation
of the Education for All Handicapped Children Act
of 1975, this Act has been successful in ensuring
children with disabilities and the families of such
children access to a free appropriate public edu-
cation and in improving educational results for chil-
dren with disabilities.
‘‘(4) However, the implementation of this Act
has been impeded by low expectations, and an insuf-
ficient focus on applying replicable research on prov-
en methods of teaching and learning for children
with disabilities.
‘‘(5) Over 20 years of research and experience
has demonstrated that the education of children with
disabilities can be made more effective by—
‘‘(A) having high expectations for such
children and ensuring their access in the gen-
eral curriculum to the maximum extent pos-
sible;
‘‘(B) strengthening the role of parents and
ensuring that families of such children have
meaningful opportunities to participate in the
education of their children at school and at
home;
‘‘(C) coordinating this Act with other local,
educational service agency, State, and Federal
school improvement efforts in order to ensure
that such children benefit from such efforts and
that special education can become a service for
such children rather than a place where they
are sent;
‘‘(D) providing appropriate special edu-
cation and related services and aids and sup-
ports in the regular classroom to such children,
whenever appropriate;
‘‘(E) supporting high-quality, intensive
professional development for all personnel who
work with such children in order to ensure that
they have the skills and knowledge necessary to
enable them—
‘‘(i) to meet developmental goals and,
to the maximum extent possible, those
challenging expectations that have been es-
tablished for all children; and
‘‘(ii) to be prepared to lead produc-
tive, independent, adult lives, to the maxi-
mum extent possible;
‘‘(F) providing incentives for whole-school
approaches and pre-referral intervention to re-
duce the need to label children as disabled in
order to address their learning needs; and
‘‘(G) focusing resources on teaching and
learning while reducing paperwork and require-
ments that do not assist in improving edu-
cational results.
‘‘(6) While States, local educational agencies,
and educational service agencies are responsible for
providing an education for all children with disabil-