A summary of selected legislation relating to the handicapped, 1974.

  • United States. Department of Health, Education, and Welfare.
Date:
1975
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: A summary of selected legislation relating to the handicapped, 1974. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    Aid to State Supported Schools. The principle of “off-the-top”’ funding for state agency programs under Title I is retained in the 1974 Amendments. In other words, as in the past, all state operated and supported programs for handicapped, migrant, neglected and delinquent children must be fully funded before Title I aid is distrib- uted to local school districts. In addition, a provision is added to the Act which permits a state agency, for purposes of determining its Title I, ESEA entitlements, to continue to count a handicapped child when responsibility for the child’s education is transferred from a state operated or supported facility to a local school district. However, the funds received must be forwarded to the local educational agency which is actually pro- viding services to the particular handicapped child. If, for example, responsibility for educating a group of institutional- ized children is transferred from a state run facility to the local school district, or if a group of Title I eligible children are transferred from a public institution to a community facility and are being educated in the local public schools, the state’s Title I entitlements will not be reduced as they have in the past. This amendment was added by the House, and later accepted by the Senate, in an effort to encourage deinstitutionalization and normalization of educational services for handicapped youngsters. In order to avoid cutbacks in aid to state operated and supported schools for handicapped children, which would have been mandated under the new Title I formula, P.L. 93-380 includes language which guarantees that no state agency will receive less in FY 1975 and sub- sequent fiscal years than it got in FY 1974. Without this provision Title I aid to the handicapped would have been reduced by $24 mil- lion in FY 1975. Education for All Plans. The legislation require the states to establish a goal of providing full educational opportunities for all handicapped children, and submit by August 21, 1974, a detailed plan and time- table for achieving this goal. In addition, the bill provides procedural safeguards for use in identifying, evaluating and placing handicapped children, mandates that such youngsters be integrated into regular classes whenever possible, and assures that testing and evaluation materials are selected and administered on a non-discriminatory basis. These latter provisions are based on floor amendments introduced by Senator Robert T. Stafford (R-Vt.). Deputy Commissioner of Education. P.L. 93-380 establishes the position of Deputy Commissioner of Education to head up the Bureau of Education for the Handicapped. The bill also assigned several additional “‘super grade” positions to the Bureau. Impact Aid. In computing the amount of federal impact aid a local school district is entitled to receive, a handicapped child will be