I
104TH CONGRESS
1ST SESSION
H. R. 1986
To reauthorize and improve the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
JUNE 30, 1995
Mr. KILDEE (for himself, Mr. CLAY, Mr. OWENS, Mr. MILLER of California,
Mr. SAWYER, Ms. WOOLSEY, Mr. WILLIAMS, and Mr. MARTINEZ) intro-
duced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Eco-
nomic and Educational Opportunities
A BILL
To reauthorize and improve the Individuals with Disabilities
Education Act.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
That this Act may be cited as the ‘‘Individuals with Dis-
abilities Education Act Amendments of 1995’’.
ORGANIZATION OF THE ACT
SEC. 2. This Act is organized into the following titles:
Title I—Amendments to part A of the IDEA.
Title II—Amendments to part B of the IDEA.
Title III—Discretionary programs.
Title IV—Amendments to part H of the IDEA.
cies in the State) shall comply with the provi-
sions of the IDEA relating to the contents of
IEPs as in effect before the enactment of this
Act.
(ii) Section 612(a)(16), relating to State
performance goals and indicators.
(iii) 
Sections 
615(b)(5). 
615(d), 
and
680(a)(8), relating to mediation.
(B) By July 1, 1998: section 614(d)(2)(C), re-
lating to the participation of regular education
teachers in IEP teams.
(b) TRANSITION.—Notwithstanding any other provi-
sion of law, the Secretary may use funds appropriated for
parts C through G of the IDEA beginning with fiscal year
1997 to make continuation awards for projects that were
initially funded under those parts as in effect prior to that
fiscal year.
TITLE I—AMENDMENTS TO PART A OF THE
IDEA
SHORT TITLE; STATEMENT OF FINDINGS AND PURPOSE
SEC. 101. Section 601 of the IDEA is amended to
read as follows:
‘‘SHORT TITLE; POLICY; FINDINGS; PURPOSES
‘‘SEC. 601. (a) SHORT TITLE.—This Act may be
cited as the ‘Individuals With Disabilities Education Act’.
‘‘(b) POLICY.—The Congress declares it to be the pol-
icy of the United States that all children with disabilities
should have the opportunity to—
‘‘(1) meet developmental goals and, to the max-
imum extent possible, those challenging standards
that have been established for all children; and
‘‘(2) be prepared to lead productive, independ-
ent, adult lives, to the maximum extent possible.
‘‘(c) FINDINGS.—The Congress finds as follows:
‘‘(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 enactment of Public Law 94–
142, the Education for All Handicapped Children
Act of 1975—
‘‘(A) the special educational needs of chil-
dren with disabilities were not being fully met;
‘‘(B) more than half of the children with
disabilities in the United States did not receive
appropriate educational services that would en-
able them to have full equality of opportunity;
‘‘(C) one million 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 them from having a success-
ful educational experience because their disabil-
ities 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 of Public Law 94–
142, this Act has been successful in ensuring chil-
dren with disabilities and their families access to a
free and appropriate education and in improving
educational results for children with disabilities.
‘‘(4) However, the implementation of this Act
has been impeded by low expectations, watered-down
curriculum, categorical approaches, and an insuffi-
cient focus on teaching and learning.
‘‘(5) Based on 20 years of research and experi-
ence, we have learned that the education of children
with disabilities can be made more effective by—
‘‘(A) having high expectations for children
with disabilities and ensuring their access to the
general curriculum to the maximum extent pos-
sible;
‘‘(B) aligning this Act with other local,
State, and Federal school improvement efforts,
including the Goals 2000: Educate America
Act, the Improving America’s Schools Act of
1994, and the School-to-Work Act of 1994, in
order to ensure that children with disabilities
benefit from those reforms and that special
education can become a service for children
rather than a place where they are sent;
‘‘(C) providing appropriate special edu-
cation and related services and aids and sup-
ports in the regular classroom, whenever appro-
priate;
‘‘(D) promoting noncategorical approaches
that focus on individual strengths and needs
rather than labels;
‘‘(E) ensuring that families have meaning-
ful opportunities to participate in the education
of their children at school and at home;
‘‘(F) supporting high-quality, intensive
professional development for all personnel who
work with children with disabilities in order to
ensure that they have the skills and knowledge
necessary to enable them to—
‘‘(i) meet developmental goals and, to
the maximum extent possible, those chal-
lenging standards that have been estab-
lished for all children; and
‘‘(ii) be prepared to lead productive,
independent, adult lives, to the maximum
extent possible;
‘‘(G) providing incentives for whole-school
approaches and early intervention to reduce the
need to label children as disabled in order to
address their learning needs; and
‘‘(H) focusing resources on teaching and
learning while reducing paperwork and require-
ments that do not assist in improving edu-
cational results.
‘‘(6) While States and local educational agen-
cies are responsible for providing an education for
all children with disabilities, it is in the national in-
terest that the Federal Government have a role in
assisting State and local efforts to educate children
with disabilities in order to improve results for those
children and to ensure equal protection of the law.
‘‘(d) PURPOSES.—The purposes of this Act are to—
‘‘(1) ensure that all children with disabilities
have available to them a free appropriate public edu-
cation that emphasizes special education and related
services designed to meet their unique needs and
prepare them for employment and independent liv-
ing;
‘‘(2) ensure that the rights of children with dis-
abilities and their parents are protected;
‘‘(3) assist States and localities to provide for
the education of all children with disabilities; and
‘‘(4) assess, and ensure the effectiveness of, ef-
forts to educate children with disabilities.’’.
DEFINITIONS
SEC. 102. Section 602 of the IDEA is amended—
(1) by striking out subsection (b);
(2) by striking out the subsection designation
‘‘(a)’’;
(3) by striking out ‘‘As used in this title’’ and
inserting in lieu thereof ‘‘Except as otherwise pro-
vided, the following terms have the following mean-
ings as used in this Act:’’;
(4) by amending paragraph (1) to read as fol-
lows:
‘‘(1) CHILD WITH A DISABILITY.—(A) The term
‘child with a disability’ means a child—
‘‘(i) who has a physical or mental impairment;
and
‘‘(ii) who, by reason of that impairment, needs
special education and related services.
‘‘(B) The term ‘physical or mental impairment’
means—
‘‘(i) mental retardation;
‘‘(ii) a hearing impairment, including deafness;
‘‘(iii) a speech or language impairment;
‘‘(iv) a visual impairment, including blindness;
‘‘(v) an emotional disturbance;
‘‘(vi) an orthopedic impairment;
‘‘(vii) autism;
‘‘(viii) traumatic brain injury;
‘‘(ix) other health impairments; or
‘‘(x) a specific learning disability, as defined in
paragraph (23).
‘‘(C) Nothing in this paragraph requires that children
be classified by their impairment provided that each child
with an impairment listed in subparagraph (B) who, by
reason of that impairment, needs special education and
related services, is regarded as a child with a disability
under subparagraph (A).
‘‘(D) At a State’s discretion, the term ‘child with a
disability’ also includes a child aged three, four, or five—
‘‘(i) who is experiencing a developmental delay,
as defined by the State and as measured by appro-
priate diagnostic instruments and procedures, in one
or more of the following areas:
‘‘(I) physical development;
‘‘(II) cognitive development;
‘‘(III) communication development;
‘‘(IV) social or emotional development; or
‘‘(V) adaptive development; and
‘‘(ii) who, by reason of that developmental
delay, needs special education and related services.’’;
(5) by amending paragraph (6) to read as fol-
lows:
‘‘(6) STATE.—The term ‘State’ means each of the 50
States, the District of Columbia, the Commonwealth of
Puerto Rico, and each of the outlying areas.’’;
(6) by amending paragraph (8) to read as fol-
lows:
‘‘(8) LOCAL
EDUCATIONAL
AGENCY.—The term
‘local educational agency’ means—
‘‘(A) a public board of education or other public
authority legally constituted within a State for either
administrative control or direction of, or to perform
a service function for, public elementary or second-
ary schools in a city, county, township, school dis-
trict, or other political subdivision of a State, or for
a combination of school districts or counties as are
recognized in a State as an administrative agency
for its public elementary or secondary schools;
‘‘(B) any other public institution or agency hav-
ing administrative control and direction of a public
elementary or secondary school; or
‘‘(C) an intermediate educational unit, as de-
fined in paragraph (13).’’;
(7) by amending paragraph (11) to read as fol-
lows:
‘‘(11) INSTITUTION OF HIGHER EDUCATION.—The
term ‘institution of higher education’—
‘‘(A) has the meaning given that term in sec-
tion 1201(a) of the Higher Education Act of 1965;
and
‘‘(B) also includes any community college re-
ceiving funding from the Secretary of the Interior
under the Tribally Controlled Community College
Assistance Act of 1978.’’;
(8) by striking out paragraph (13);
(9) in paragraph (15)—
(A) by designating the sentences therein as
subparagraphs (A), (B), and (C);
(B) in subparagraph (A) as so designated,
by striking out ‘‘The term ‘children with spe-
cific learning disabilities’ means those children
who have’’ and inserting in lieu thereof ‘‘The
term ‘specific learning disability’ means’’;
(C) in subparagraph (B), as designated by
subparagraph (A), by striking out ‘‘Such dis-
orders include’’ and inserting in lieu thereof
‘‘The term includes’’; and
(D) in subparagraph (C), as designated by
subparagraph (A) by striking out ‘‘Such term
does not include children who have learning
problems which are’’ and inserting in lieu there-
of ‘‘The term does not include a learning prob-
lem that is’’;
(10) in paragraph (16), by striking out ‘‘or
guardians’’;
(11) in paragraph (17), by inserting ‘‘orienta-
tion and mobility services,’’ after ‘‘rehabilitation
counseling,’’;
(12) in paragraph (18), by striking out ‘‘section
614(a)(5)’’ and inserting in lieu thereof ‘‘section
614(d)’’;
(13) by amending paragraph (20) to read as
follows:
‘‘(20) INDIVIDUALIZED EDUCATION PROGRAM.—The
term ‘individualized education program’ means a written
statement for each child with a disability that is developed,
reviewed, and revised in accordance with section 614(d)
and that includes—
‘‘(A) a statement of the child’s present levels of
educational performance, including—
‘‘(i) how the child’s impairment affects the
child’s participation and progress in the general
curriculum; or
‘‘(ii) for preschool children, as appropriate,
how the impairment affects the child’s access to
developmentally appropriate activities;
‘‘(B) a statement of measurable annual objec-
tives related to—
‘‘(i) meeting the child’s needs that result
from the child’s impairment, to enable the child
to participate in the general curriculum; and
‘‘(ii) meeting each of the child’s other edu-
cational needs, if any, that result from the
child’s impairment;
‘‘(C)(i) a statement of the special education and
related services and supplementary aids and services
to be provided to the child and any program modi-
fications necessary for the child to—
‘‘(I) attain the annual objectives; and
‘‘(II) participate in the general curriculum
and in extracurricular and other nonacademic
activities;
‘‘(ii) a justification of the extent, if any, to
which the child will not be educated with non-
disabled children; and
(iii) a justification of the extent, if any, to
which the child will not participate in extracurricular
and other nonacademic activities with nondisabled
children;
‘‘(D)(i) a statement of any modifications in the
administration of State or districtwide assessments
that are needed in order for the child to participate
in the assessment; and
‘‘(ii) if the IEP team established under section
614(d)(2) determines that the child will not partici-
pate in a particular State or districtwide assessment
(or part of such an assessment), a statement of—
‘‘(I) why that assessment is not appro-
priate for the child; and
‘‘(II) how the child will be assessed;
‘‘(E) the projected date for the beginning of the
services and modifications described in subparagraph
(C), and the anticipated frequency and duration of
those services and modifications;
‘‘(F) in order to ensure that each student com-
pletes secondary school prepared for employment or
postsecondary education and independent living, and
understands their rights under this Act on attaining
the age or majority (if the State provides for the
transfer of those rights from the parents)—
‘‘(i) beginning at age 14 (or younger, if de-
termined appropriate by the IEP team) and up-
dated annually, a plan for the student’s transi-
tion from secondary school that focuses on the
student’s courses of study (such as participa-
tion in advanced-placement courses or a voca-
tional education or school-to-work program) in-
cluding, when appropriate, a statement of the
interagency responsibilities or any needed link-
ages (or both) before the student leaves the
school setting;
‘‘(ii) beginning at age 16 (or younger, if
determined appropriate by the IEP team), a
statement of needed transition services; and
‘‘(iii) beginning at least one year before the
student reaches the age of majority under State
law, a statement about the rights under this
Act, if any, that will transfer to the student on
reaching the age of majority under section
615(j); and
‘‘(G) a statement of—
‘‘(i) how the child’s progress toward the
measurable annual objectives will be measured;
and
‘‘(ii) how the child’s parents will be regu-
larly informed (by such means as periodic re-
port cards), at least as often as parents are in-
formed of their nondisabled children’s progress,
of—
‘‘(I) their child’s progress toward the
measurable annual objectives; and
‘‘(II) 
the 
extent 
to 
which 
that
progress is sufficient to enable the child to
achieve the objectives by the end of the
year.’’;
(14) in paragraph (21)—
(A) in subparagraph (A)—
(i) in clause (i), by striking out ‘‘this
part’’ and inserting in lieu thereof ‘‘part B
of this Act’’;
(ii) in clause (ii), by inserting ‘‘part A
of’’ after ‘‘under’’; and
(iii) in clause (iii), by striking out
‘‘title VII of the Elementary and Second-
ary Education Act of 1965’’ and inserting
in lieu thereof ‘‘part A of the Bilingual
Education Act’’; and
(B) in subparagraph (B), by striking out
‘‘such part, chapter, or title’’ and inserting in
lieu thereof ‘‘those parts’’;
(15) in paragraph (22), by striking out ‘‘section
7003(a)(2)’’ and inserting in lieu thereof ‘‘section
7501(11)’’;
(16) in paragraph (23), by inserting ‘‘described
in subparagraphs (A) and (B) of paragraph (14)’’
after ‘‘local educational agency’’;
(17) in paragraph (24)—
(A) by striking out subparagraph (A); and
(B) in subparagraph (B), by striking out
‘‘The terms ‘Indian’, ‘American Indian’, and
‘Indian American’ mean’’ and inserting in lieu
thereof ‘‘The term ‘Indian’ means’’;
(18) by striking out paragraph (27);
(19) by redesignating paragraphs (1), (5), (6),
(7), (8), (9), (10), (11), (12), (14), (15), (16), (17),
(18), (19), (20), (21), (22), (23), (24)(B), (24)(C),
(25), and (26) as paragraphs (3), (6), (24), (25),
(14), (5), (20), (12), (16), (21), (23), (22), (19),
(8), (26), (11), (7), (15), (13), (9), (10), (1), and
(2), respectively;
(20) by inserting the following paragraph head-
ings in paragraphs (1), (2), (4), (5), (6), (7), (8),
(9), (10), (13), (15), (16), (19), (20), (21), (22),
(23), (25), and (26), as redesignated by paragraph
(19): 
‘‘ASSISTIVE
TECHNOLOGY
DEVICE.’’,
‘‘ASSISTIVE TECHNOLOGY SERVICE.’’, ‘‘CONSTRUC-
TION.’’, ‘‘ELEMENTARY SCHOOL.’’, ‘‘EQUIPMENT.’’,
‘‘EXCESS COSTS.’’, ‘‘FREE APPROPRIATE PUBLIC
EDUCATION.’’, ‘‘INDIAN.’’, ‘‘INDIAN TRIBE.’’, ‘‘IN-
TERMEDIATE EDUCATIONAL UNIT.’’, ‘‘NATIVE LAN-
GUAGE.’’, ‘‘NONPROFIT.’’, ‘‘RELATED SERVICES.’’,
‘‘SECONDARY SCHOOL.’’, ‘‘SECRETARY.’’, ‘‘SPECIAL
EDUCATION.’’, ‘‘SPECIFIC LEARNING DISABILITY.’’,
‘‘STATE EDUCATIONAL AGENCY.’’, and ‘‘TRANSI-
TION SERVICES.’’, respectively; and
(21) by inserting paragraphs (17) and (18)
after paragraph (16), as redesignated by paragraph
(19), to read as follows:
‘‘(17) OUTLYING AREA.—The term ‘outlying area’
means the Virgin Islands, Guam, American Samoa, and
the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands.
‘‘(18) PARENT.—The term ‘parent’ includes a legal
guardian.’’.
OFFICE OF SPECIAL EDUCATION PROGRAMS
SEC. 103. Section 603 of the IDEA is amended by
adding at the end thereof a new subsection (c) to read
as follows:
‘‘(c) Notwithstanding section 1342 of title 31, United
States Code, the Secretary is authorized to accept vol-
untary and uncompensated services in furtherance of the
purposes of this Act.’’.
REQUIREMENTS FOR PRESCRIBING REGULATIONS
SEC. 104. Section 608(a) of the IDEA is amended
to read as follows:
‘‘(a) The Secretary shall provide a public-comment
period of at least 90 days on any regulation proposed
under part B of this Act on which an opportunity for pub-
lic comment is otherwise required by law.’’.
the performance of children with disabilities partici-
pating in programs carried out under this part.
‘‘(5) PUBLIC
INFORMATION.—The local edu-
cational agency makes available to parents of chil-
dren with disabilities and to the general public all
documents relating to its eligibility under this part.
‘‘(6) SUPPORTS
FOR
THE
TEACHER.—At the
start of each school year, and as often as appro-
priate, the local educational agency considers what
supports are needed for each teacher of children
with disabilities in order to help them implement
those children’s individualized education programs.
‘‘(b) SUBMISSION OF INFORMATION; PRIOR LEA AP-
PLICATIONS.—(1) Except as provided in paragraph (2),
a local educational agency that wishes to establish its eligi-
bility under this section shall submit to the State edu-
cational agency information demonstrating that it meets
the requirements of subsection (a).
‘‘(2) If a local educational agency or State agency has
on file with the State educational agency policies and pro-
cedures that meet any requirement of this section, includ-
ing any policies, procedures, or applications filed under
this part as in effect before enactment of the Individuals
with Disabilities Education Act Amendments of 1995, the