Opinion ID: 524050
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: the language of the act

Text: 16 A. The Plain Meaning of the Act Mandates a Public Education for All Handicapped Children 17 The Education for All Handicapped Children Act, [hereinafter the Act], 20 U.S.C. Secs. 1400 et seq., was enacted in 1975 to ensure that handicapped children receive an education which is appropriate to their unique needs. In assessing the plain meaning of the Act, we first look to its title: The Education for All Handicapped Children Act. (Emphasis added). The Congressional Findings section of the Act states that there were eight million handicapped children, that more than half of them did not receive appropriate educational services, and that one million were excluded entirely from the public school system. 20 U.S.C. Sec. 1400(b)(1), (3), and (4). Given these grim statistics, Congress concluded that State and local educational agencies have a responsibility to provide education for all handicapped children.... 20 U.S.C. Sec. 1400(b)(8) (emphasis added). In directly addressing the educability of handicapped children, Congress found that developments in the training of teachers and in diagnostic and instructional procedures and methods have advanced to the point that, given appropriate funding, State and local educational agencies can and will provide effective special education and related services to meet the needs of handicapped children. 20 U.S.C. Sec. 1400(b)(7) (emphasis added). The Act's stated purpose was to assure that all handicapped children have available to them ... a free appropriate public education which emphasizes special education and related services designed to meet their unique needs, ... [and] to assist states and localities to provide for the education of all handicapped children ... 20 U.S.C. Sec. 1400(c) (emphasis added). 18 The Act's mandatory provisions require that for a state to qualify for financial assistance, it must have in effect a policy that assures all handicapped children the right to a free appropriate education. 20 U.S.C. Sec. 1412(1) (emphasis added). The state must set forth in detail the policies and procedures which the State will undertake ... to assure that--there is established a goal of providing full educational opportunity to all handicapped children ..., [and that] a free appropriate public education will be available for all handicapped children between the ages of three and eighteen ... not later than September 1, 1978, and for all handicapped children between the ages of three and twenty-one ... not later than September 1, 1980.... 20 U.S.C. Sec. 1412(2)(A) and (B) (emphasis added). The state must also assure that all children residing in the State who are handicapped, regardless of the severity of their handicap, and who are in need of special education and related services are identified, located, and evaluated.... 20 U.S.C. Sec. 1412(2)(C) (emphasis added). See also 20 U.S.C. Sec. 1414(a)(1)(A). The Act further requires a state to: 19 establish[ ] priorities for providing a free appropriate public education to all handicapped children, ... first with respect to handicapped children who are not receiving an education, and second with respect to handicapped children, within each disability, with the most severe handicaps who are receiving an inadequate education.... 20 20 U.S.C. Sec. 1412(3) (emphasis added). See also 20 U.S.C. Sec. 1414(a)(1)(C). Thus, not only are severely handicapped children not excluded from the Act, but the most severely handicapped are actually given priority under the Act. 21 In addition, the duties of the Secretary are listed as including the evaluation of the effectiveness of State efforts to assure the free appropriate public education of all handicapped children and transmitting a report on the progress being made toward the provision of free appropriate public education to all handicapped children. 20 U.S.C. Sec. 1418(a) and (c) (emphasis added). In its discussion of reallocation of funds, the Act states that whenever a State educational agency determines that a local educational agency is adequately providing a free appropriate public education to all handicapped children ... [it] may reallocate funds.... 20 U.S.C. Sec. 1414(e) (emphasis added). 22 The language of the Act could not be more unequivocal. The statute is permeated with the words all handicapped children whenever it refers to the target population. It never speaks of any exceptions for severely handicapped children. Indeed, as indicated supra, the Act gives priority to the most severely handicapped. Nor is there any language whatsoever which requires as a prerequisite to being covered by the Act, that a handicapped child must demonstrate that he or she will benefit from the educational program. Rather, the Act speaks of the state's responsibility to design a special education and related services program that will meet the unique needs of all handicapped children. The language of the Act in its entirety makes clear that a zero-reject policy is at the core of the Act, and that no child, regardless of the severity of his or her handicap, is to ever again be subjected to the deplorable state of affairs which existed at the time of the Act's passage, in which millions of handicapped children received inadequate education or none at all. In summary, the Act mandates an appropriate public education for all handicapped children, regardless of the level of achievement that such children might attain. 23 B. Timothy W.: A Handicapped Child Entitled to An Appropriate Education 24 Given that the Act's language mandates that all handicapped children are entitled to a free appropriate education, we must next inquire if Timothy W. is a handicapped child, and if he is, what constitutes an appropriate education to meet his unique needs. 25 (1) handicapped children: 26 The implementing regulations define handicapped children as being mentally retarded, hard of hearing, deaf, speech impaired, visually handicapped, seriously emotionally disturbed, orthopedically impaired, other health impaired, deaf-blind, multi-handicapped, or as having specific learning disabilities, who because of those impairments need special education and related services. 34 C.F.R. Sec. 300.5. See also 20 U.S.C. Sec. 1401(1). Mentally retarded is described as significantly subaverage general intellectual functioning existing concurrently with deficits in adaptive behavior and manifested during the developmental period, which adversely affects a child's educational performance. 34 C.F.R. Sec. 300.5(b)(4). 3 Multi-handicapped is defined as concomitant impairments (such as mentally retarded--blind, mentally retarded--orthopedically impaired, etc.), the combination of which causes such severe educational problems that they cannot be accommodated in special education programs solely for one of the impairments. 34 C.F.R. Sec. 300.5(b)(5). Orthopedically impaired means a severe orthopedic impairment which adversely affects a child's educational performance and includes impairments caused by congenital anomaly, ... disease, ... [and] from other causes (e.g. cerebral palsy, ... ). 34 C.F.R. Sec. 300.5(b)(6). Specific learning disability includes such conditions as perceptual handicaps, brain injury, minimal brain disfunction. 34 C.F.R. Sec. 300.5(b)(9). 27 There is no question that Timothy W. fits within the Act's definition of a handicapped child: he is multiply handicapped and profoundly mentally retarded. He has been described as suffering from severe spasticity, cerebral palsy, brain damage, joint contractures, cortical blindness, is not ambulatory, and is quadriplegic. 28 (2) appropriate public education: 29 The Act and the implementing regulations define a free appropriate public education to mean special education and related services which are provided at public expense ... [and] are provided in conformity with an individualized education program. 34 C.F.R. Sec. 300.4; 20 U.S.C. Sec. 1401(a)(18). 30 (a) Special education  means specially designed instruction, at no cost to the parent, to meet the unique needs of a handicapped child, including classroom instruction, instruction in physical education, home instruction, and instruction in hospitals and institutions. 34 C.F.R. Sec. 300.14(a)(1); 20 U.S.C. Sec. 1401(a)(16) (emphasis added). It is of significance that the Act explicitly provides for education of children who are so severely handicapped as to require hospitalization or institutionalization. Timothy W.'s handicaps do not require such extreme measures, as he can be educated at home. The Act goes on to define physical education as the development of: physical and motor fitness; fundamental motor skills and patterns ... [and] includes special physical education, adapted physical education, movement education, and motor development. 34 C.F.R. Sec. 300.14(b)(2). Thus, the Act's concept of special education is broad, encompassing not only traditional cognitive skills, but basic functional skills as well. 31 (b) Related services  means transportation and such developmental, corrective, and other supportive services as are required to assist a handicapped child to benefit from special education, and includes speech pathology and audiology, psychological services, physical and occupational therapy, recreation.... 34 C.F.R. Sec. 300.13(a); 20 U.S.C. Sec. 1401(a)(17). Physical therapy means services provided by a qualified physical therapist. 34 C.F.R. Sec. 300.13(7). Occupational therapy includes improving, developing or restoring functions impaired or lost through illness, injury, or deprivation; improving ability to perform tasks for independent functioning.... 34 C.F.R. Sec. 300.13(5). Furthermore, the comment to these implementing regulations notes that the list of related services is not exhaustive and may include other developmental, corrective, or supportive services ... if they are required to assist a handicapped child to benefit from special education. 32 (c) An individualized education program  is a written plan developed by the local educational agency in conjunction with the parents and teacher, which provides specially designed instruction to meet the unique needs of the handicapped child. 20 U.S.C. Sec. 1401(a)(19). Such a program is to be periodically reviewed, and if appropriate, revised. 20 U.S.C. Sec. 1412(4) and 1414(a)(5). 33 The record shows that Timothy W. is a severely handicapped and profoundly retarded child in need of special education and related services. Much of the expert testimony was to the effect that he is aware of his surrounding environment, makes or attempts to make purposeful movements, responds to tactile stimulation, responds to his mother's voice and touch, recognizes familiar voices, responds to noises, and parts his lips when spoon fed. The record contains testimony that Timothy W.'s needs include sensory stimulation, physical therapy, improved head control, socialization, consistency in responding to sound sources, and partial participation in eating. The educational consultants who drafted Timothy's individualized education program recommended that Timothy's special education program should include goals and objectives in the areas of motor control, communication, socialization, daily living skills, and recreation. The special education and related services that have been recommended to meet Timothy W.'s needs fit well within the statutory and regulatory definitions of the Act. 34 We conclude that the Act's language dictates the holding that Timothy W. is a handicapped child who is in need of special education and related services because of his handicaps. He must, therefore, according to the Act, be provided with such an educational program. There is nothing in the Act's language which even remotely supports the district court's conclusion that under [the Act], an initial determination as to a child's ability to benefit from special education, must be made in order for a handicapped child to qualify for education under the Act. The language of the Act is directly to the contrary: a school district has a duty to provide an educational program for every handicapped child in the district, regardless of the severity of the handicap.