Opinion ID: 480434
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: eahca

Text: 5 20 U.S.C. Sec. 1401 et seq. (EAHCA) is a comprehensive federal statutory scheme designed to guarantee a free appropriate public education to handicapped children. See 20 U.S.C. Sec. 1401, Declaration of Purpose, n. (c) (now codified at 20 U.S.C. Sec. 1400(c)). In this case the primary dispute regarding the EAHCA concerns the date the act went into effect. Plaintiff claims the act became effective in 1975; defendants contend it did not become effective until 1977. 6 The substantive provision of the EAHCA that requires public schools to provide a free appropriate education for handicapped children is found at 20 U.S.C. Sec. 1412(2)(B). Section 1412 reads, in pertinent part, as follows: 7 In order to qualify for assistance under this subchapter in any fiscal year, a State shall demonstrate to the Commissioner that the following conditions are met: 8 .... 9 (2) The State has developed a plan [that] ... shall set forth in detail the policies and procedures which the State will undertake or has undertaken in order to assure that-- 10 .... 11 (B) a free appropriate public education will be available for all handicapped children between the ages of three and eighteen within the State not later than September 1, 1978, and for all handicapped children between the ages of three and twenty-one within the State not later than September 1, 1980, except that, with respect to handicapped children aged three to five and aged eighteen to twenty-one, inclusive, the requirements of this clause shall not be applied in any State if the application of such requirements would be inconsistent with State law or practice, or the order of any court, respecting public education within such age groups in the State[.] 12 20 U.S.C. Sec. 1412 (emphasis added). This section amended the EAHCA in 1975. The Historical Note in the United States Code Annotated and Public Law 94-142 both state expressly that this section was to take effect on October 1, 1977. See 20 U.S.C.A. Sec. 1412 Historical Note, 1975 Amendment; Pub.L. No. 94-142, 1975 U.S.Code Cong. & Ad.News (89 Stat.) 796. The sections that were to become effective immediately in 1975, clauses (A), (C), (D), and (E) of section 1412 paragraph 2, related to preparation for the 1977 effective date. 2 Because we find that the requirement to have a free appropriate public education available did not become effective until 1977, defendants were not required to provide a free appropriate public education for any handicapped children before October 1, 1977. See Boxall v. Sequoia Union High School Dist., 464 F.Supp. 1104, 1112 (N.D.Cal.1979). 13 Dennis Gallagher was enrolled in the Oakland County Intermediate School District only through the academic year 1975-76. The EAHCA was not in effect until after he left the Oakland schools. He was enrolled in the Farmington School District only in the academic year 1976-77. The EAHCA became effective in October 1977, four months after Gallagher left Farmington. When he entered the Pontiac School District program in the fall of 1977, he was 23 years old. The EAHCA requires an appropriate public education only for handicapped children between the ages of 3 and 21. See 20 U.S.C. Sec. 1412(2)(B). Gallagher thus does not have a valid claim under the EAHCA, because the act did not require any of the defendants to provide an appropriate education to Gallagher at the time he was enrolled in their special education programs.