Despite education laws that had been in place nationwide since 1918, many children with disabilities were regularly excluded from public schools due to the inability of public facilities and personnel to meet the unique needs of disabled children. Their options to obtain a public education were severely limited: remain at home or be institutionalized. Even children with mild or moderate disabilities who eventually did enroll in public school were likely to drop out long before graduating from high school*. The Civil Rights Movement and the 1954 Brown v. Board of Education decision which extended equal protection under the law to minorities, also paved the way for a growing population of children with disabilities. Parents, who had begun forming advocacy groups as early as 1933, became the prime supporters in the struggle to provide educational opportunities for their disabled children.

The South Carolina State Legislature in 1977 passed the Education Finance Act, which reformed and strengthened state financial aid for public schools.

The act recognizes local financial ability, requiring every district to pay its “fair share” for education. The law ensures every child in every public school an educational opportunity that at least meets state standards. It further provides that all children of kindergarten age have the opportunity for pre-school education. All handicapped children and gifted and talented students must also be provided special educational programs to serve their needs.

Special Education Law

1. In 1967 Congress added Title VI to the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965, creating a Bureau of Education for the Handicapped (now called OSEP) and created and funded what is now called the Comprehensive System of Personnel Development, by which school districts can acquire and disseminate promising educational practices to teach students with disabilities.

2. The Education for the Handicapped Act (EHA) (P.L. 94-142)-The Education for all Handicapped Children Acts is more commonly known as the EHA: A. Guaranteed a Free and Appropriate Public Education for all children with disabilities, ages 5-21. B. Provides, at no cost to the parents, Special Education and related services to meet students’ individual educational needs. C. Provides that an Individualized Education Program (IEP) is developed for each child eligible for special education and related services. D. Provides that all children, to the maximum extent possible, youth with disabilities will be educated in the least restrictive environment (LRE). E. Guaranteed parents have the right to participate in every decision related to the identification, evaluation, and placement of their child. Parents must give consent for any initial evaluation, assessment, placement decision, and have rights to appeal.

3. EHA Amendments-1986 Amendments (P.L. 99-457) Preschool and Infant/Toddler Programs: A. Extended legislation to include children ages birth to 5. B. To extend the guarantee to a Free and Appropriate Public Education (FAPE) to children with disabilities, ages 3-5. C. To establish Early Intervention Programs (EIP) for infants and toddlers with disabilities, ages birth to 2. D. To develop an Individualized Family Service Plan (IFSP) for each family with an infant/toddler with disabilities.

4. 1990 Amendments (P.L. 101-476): A. Renamed the EHA as the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA). The amendment also replaced the phrase “handicapped child” with “child with a disability.” B. Provided Transition Services for students before age 16. C. Extended eligibility to children with autism and traumatic brain injury. D. Defined Assistive Technology Devices and Services for children with disabilities for inclusion in the IEP. E. Extended the Least Restrictive Environment (LRE) to require the child, to the maximum extent appropriate, be educated with children without disabilities — in the same class they would have except for the disability.

5. 1997 Amendments (P.L. 105-17): A. Extended LRE as an assurance that all students would have “access to the general curriculum.” B. Assistive Technology Devices and Services on the IEP’s of all students were extended to the extent that use of school-purchased AT in a child’s home or other settings is required if the child needs access to those devices to receive FAPE. C. To include orientation and mobility services to the list of related services for children who are blind or have visual impairments, as well as for other children who may also need instruction in traveling around their school, or to and from school.

6. 2001, Public Law print of PL 107-110, the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act of 2001: A. Comprehensive legislation designed to address the full continuum of educational services. View NCLB here: http://www.ed.gov/policy/elsec/leg/esea02/107-110.pdf.

7. 2004-H.R.1350, Individuals with Disabilities Education Improvement Act of 2004 (IDEA 2004). View IDEA here: http://frwebgate.access.gpo.gov/cgi-bin/getdoc.cgi?dbname=108_cong_bills&docid=f:h1350enr.txt.pdf.

South Carolina Data

1. This statewide data summary contains information from state operated programs and Headstart programs. The data table reflects information collected from the 85 school districts for the years 2002 through 2004 for all disability models provided by the public school districts and programs in South Carolina. Appendix A illustrates the comparison of all categories of the same years as well as the total for years 2002 through 2004. Overall disability totals have increased each year for time frames reported. It is unclear from the data reported by the SDE why the significant increase was shown from 2002 to 2003 in the preschool child with disabilities. The 2002 data indicated 2,256 individuals with a preschool disability were found, while in 2003 that same group was reported to have swelled to 11, 818.