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The article discusses the legacy of the U.S. law known as the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), originally known as the Education for All Handicapped Children Act in 1975. Topics include the lack of federal funding for IDEA special education provisions, a cultural change in the role of people with disabilities in the U.S., and the funding formula for allocation of federal funds to state special education funding.

The article looks at how the U.S. Supreme Court is to decide whether parents who are not lawyers will be allowed to represent their children in federal court in disputes with school districts over the child's educational placement. The article discusses the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act.

The article reports that the federal special education law, known today as the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, will be 30 years old this week. On December 2, 1975, the U.S. President Gerald R. Ford signed the Education for All Handicapped Children Act (EHA), known commonly then as Public Law 94-142. The driving force for the EHA in 1975 was the need to create access to educational opportunity for students with disabilities. In addition to educational services, schools routinely fund full-time nurses, daily one-to-one in-home therapies, hospital placements, residential schools, and other therapies, ranging from physical, speech, and music therapy to horseback riding.

The article reports on an educational law passed by Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger in California. According to the law, California students with disabilities who are scheduled to graduate in 2006 will not have to pass the state's high school exit test. Under the law, students with an individual education plan who have met all other state requirements for a diploma, and received remediation for the test if the help was available, will be able to graduate whether or not they've passed the exam. The law was seen as an opportunity for the state to improve instruction for those with disabilities.