Hearing Offers Range of Views on IDEA Regulations

Newark, Del.

Parents of children with disabilities urged the federal Department of Education to preserve their rights, during the first public hearing held to gather comment on the recent reauthorization of the nation’s main special education law.

The department is drafting regulations for the revised Individuals with Disabilities in Education Act, signed by President Bush in December. The IDEA governs the education of more than 6.5 million children nationwide.

More than 40 speakers addressed a panel of three department officials here during the Jan. 28 hearing at the University of Delaware, the first of seven such sessions to be held around the...