| Federal Laws
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The origin of disability rights in the United States traces back to the "equal protection" clause of the 14th amendment to the United States Constitution. It was a long time though until Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, when Congress began to define and codify these rights into federal law. Section 504 specifically prohibits discrimination against individuals with handicaps by any government program or activity that receives Federal funds.
Two years later, the Education for All Handicapped Children Act of 1975 was enacted. It introduced two new acronyms to school transportation. FAPE or free appropriate public education requires a variety of special education and related services. Transportation to-and-from school was defined as one of the related services. LRE or least restrictive environment requires that students with disabilities be educated with their non-handicapped peers.
Listed here users will find a brief overview of the federal laws that have come to describe disability rights in the transportation environment. Hotlinks to pertinent regulations and other sources are provided. Look for the  symbol to find laws with specific application to pupil transportation.
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Fourteenth Amendment
to the United States Constitution
The Fourteenth Amendment
to the United States Constitution is the cornerstone of disability rights. It
declares that a state may not "deny to any person within its jurisdiction the
equal protection of the laws." This phrase has been interpreted to mean that children
with disabilities have equal protection of access to school bus transportation.
This constitutional right has been incorporated into the foundation of the Individuals
with Disabilities Education Act.
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The Head Start
Act Public Law 97-35 (42 USC 9801)
The
Head Start program was initiated as a Great Society program in 1965. Its objective
is to serve as a comprehensive child development program primarily for three-to-five
year-old low-income children and their families. It seeks to encourage the development
of special programs by which the residents of urban and rural low-income areas
may, through self-help and mobilization of the community at large, with appropriate
Federal assistance, improve the quality of their economic and social participation
in community life in such a way as to contribute to the elimination of poverty
and the establishment of permanent economic and social benefits. In recent years
Head Start was expanded to provide services to infants and toddlers and children
with disabilities. The Head Start program requires the participation of parents
in the administration of the program, of the children enrolled in the program.
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Rehabilitation
Act of 1973, Section 504 (Public Law 93-112)
This was the first federal law to codify the rights of
the disabled. It specifically prohibits discrimination against individuals with
handicaps by any government program or activity that receives Federal funds. The
key phrase in Section 504 declares, in part: "No otherwise qualified handicapped
individual in the United States shall, solely by reason of his (or her) handicap,
be excluded from the participation in, be denied the benefits of, or be subjected
to discrimination under any program or activity receiving Federal financial assistance".
For nearly three decades, Section 504 has been the basis for lawsuits and other
legal actions over disputes such as length of ride, reimbursing parents for transportation
costs, etc. The Office of Civil Rights (OCR) within the U.S. Dept. of Education
is responsible for enforcing Section 504.
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Education for All Handicapped Children Act of
1975 (Public Law 94-142)
This 1975 law introduced a new acronym about disability
rights to the American lexicon: FAPE. The acronym stands for "free appropriate
public education" and outlines a variety of special education and related services
that must be provided to all handicapped children. Specifically it includes special
education and related services. Transportation is one of the related services
the regulation defines. Moreover, the law proscribes three fundamental objectives:
1) It outlines procedures for the identification and evaluation of handicapped
children; 2) it requires that children with handicaps be educated with their non-handicapped
peers to the maximum extent possible in the Least Restrictive Environment, commonly
referred to as LRE; 3) it proscribes a series of procedural safeguards to ensure
that parents participate in the development of an individual education program
(IEP) for their child. The law, referred to as EHA, also provides federal funding
to help states bear the additional costs of educating handicapped children.
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Education
of the Handicapped Act Amendments of 1986
(Public Law 99-372, AKA The Handicapped Infants
and Toddlers Program)
This law amends the
Education for all Handicapped Children Act of 1975 by authorizing the awarding
of "reasonable attorneys' fees" to parents who prevail in due process hearings
and judicial proceedings. As a consequence of this law school districts often
require the Transportation and Special Education departments to work together
to avoid costly legal settlements over procedural matters.
| Handicapped
Infants and Toddlers Program (Public Law 99-457)
Part H of the EHA
was amended in 1986 to provide financial assistance for the creation and funding
of comprehensive, state-wide interagency service programs for early intervention
services for children with handicaps from birth through two years old. The law
requires that these services be outlined in an Individualized Family Service Plan.
Transportation is among the early intervention services recognized. As a result,
transporters were faced with a series of new issues such as supervision, the use
of school buses designed for older children, etc.
| Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 (Public Law 101-336)
The Americans with Disabilities Act gives civil rights
protections to individuals with disabilities similar to those provided to individuals
on the basis of race, color, sex, national origin, age, and religion. It guarantees
equal opportunity for individuals with disabilities in public accommodations,
employment, transportation, State and local government services, and telecommunications.
While the ADA exempts school buses from some of its requirements it does not exempt
access to transportation services for infants, toddlers and pre-school children.
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Individuals With Disabilities Education Act of
1990 (Public Law 101-476)
Part B of this law renamed the Education for All
Handicapped Children Act (EHA) as the Individuals with Disabilities Education
Act, and changed all previous references to "handicapped children" to "children
with disabilities." Moreover it added two new categories of disabilities, autism
and traumatic brain injury, and expanded the definition of the terms "assistive
technology device" and "assistive technology service."
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Individuals with Disabilities Education Act Amendments
of 1991 (Public Law 102-119)
These
amendments require participating states to coordinate the range of services and
funding they provide for early intervention services to infants and toddlers with
disabilities from birth through two years of age. These amendments also reauthorized
The Education of the Handicapped Act Amendments of 1986, and renamed them as the
Individuals with Disabilities Education Act Amendments of 1991.
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Individuals with Disabilities Education Act Amendments of 1997 (Public Law 105-17)
These 1997 amendments reauthorized P.L. 99-457, changing the name to Individuals with Disabilities Education Act of 1991. These amendments require states to coordinate service and funding sources to provide early intervention services to infants and toddlers from birth through age two. Early intervention transportation is defined in the regulations.
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Individuals
with Disabilities Education Act Amendments of 2004 (Public Law 108-446)
New language in IDEA designed to ensure that children with disabilities are taught by highly qualified teachers and receive research based instruction, including new requirements for personnel training, IEPs and scientifically-based instruction.
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Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA)
A
federal law that protects the privacy of student education records and applies to all schools that receive funds under an applicable program of the U.S. Department of Education. FERPA gives parents certain rights with respect to their children's education records.
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