On December 3, 2004, the President signed the “Individuals with Disabilities Education Improvement Act of 2004”, which reauthorized and modified the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) Amendments of 1997. On December 8, 2004, the law was codified as Public Law 108-446.
Enactment of the new law provides an opportunity to consider improvements in the regulations implementing the IDEA (including both formula and discretionary grant programs) that would strengthen the Federal effort to ensure every child with a disability has available a free appropriate public education that is of high quality and is designed to achieve the high standards reflected in the No Child Left Behind Act and regulations.
The U.S. Department of Education is currently soliciting comments and recommendations from the public prior to developing and publishing proposed regulations under 34 CFR parts 300 and 303 to implement IDEA 2004. Comments and recommendations may be submitted to the Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services, U.S. Department of Education, 400 Maryland Avenue, SW., Potomac Center Plaza, Room 5126, Washington, DC 20202-2641. The comment submission deadline is February 28, 2005.
The public may also comment in person at a public hearing to be held in Atlanta, GA on February 15, 2005. Exact information on this public hearing is included in the attachment.