Inclusive Quality Education
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Rights to Inclusive Quality Education

TASH values and supports diversity and recognizes both the legal right to and the reciprocal benefits of inclusive education. Students with disabilities are entitled under the Fourteenth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, federal civil rights law, including Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, and the Americans with Disabilities Act, their respective state constitutions, and state law, to be free from discrimination and to be provided equal educational opportunity to learn what all other students are expected to learn.

Indeed, the IDEA, Section 504, and the ADA all require, as they have from their inception, that students with disabilities must be educated in regular education settings to the maximum extent appropriate in light of their needs, and prohibit their exclusion unless education there cannot be achieved satisfactorily even with appropriate supplementary aids and services. Courts have recognized the rights of students with disabilities to be educated in the regular education classroom with their peers without disabilities under these laws. A school district proposing to remove a child from the regular education classroom has the burden of proving that such removal - whether partial or total - is necessary because education cannot be reasonably accomplished with the use of supplementary aids and services and/or modifications to the regular education curriculum.

Specific information on the Rights to Inclusive Education can be found on the Kids Together website. This site is staffed entirely by parent volunteers, and includes information on the moral, civil, parental and legal right to inclusive education. Specific citations and links are included on IDEA, ADA, 504, Civil Rights Act, Brown vs. Brown, Constitution, federal court cases, and much more.

IDEA (Individuals with Disabilities Education Act)

The Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services US Department of Education

No Child Left Behind: Reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (January 8, 2002) On January 8, 2002, President Bush signed into law the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001. The Act redefines the federal role in K-12 education and is designed to help close the achievement gap between disadvantaged and minority students and their peers. It is based on four basic principles: stronger accountability for results, increased flexibility and local control, expanded options for parents, and an emphasis on teaching methods that have been proven to work.

Executive Order on Excellence in Special Education President's Commission on Excellence in Special Education. Commission Members and Bios (October 3, 2001)

From the October 2001 TASH Connections: "Fully Funding" The IDEA? How About Fully Complying With the IDEA" Reed Martin weighs in on "full funding." For 26 years we have heard arguments about "fully funding" the IDEA. What does that mean? And where do the arguments come from?