Unanswered Questions on Educating Handicapped Children in Local Public Schools

In passing the Education for All Handicapped Children Act of 1975, Congress set a goal that, by September 1, 1978, all of the Nation's handicapped children age 3 to 18 would have available a free appropriate public education which met their needs. This goal probably will not be achieved until at least the mid-1980's. A GAO review in 10 States disclosed major problems that need to be addressed.

A large difference between the 1974 estimate by the Department of Education of the number of handicapped children needing services and the number of children being counted and served by States has created controversy. Nearly one-third of the children counted as handicapped under the program were classified as speech impaired and were receiving only speech therapy. The law is unclear on whether children receiving only speech therapy or related services should be counted as handicapped for Federal funding proposes. Neither the Department's eligibility criteria for coverage of speech therapy nor the guidance for applying the criteria have been defined. The law requires an individualized education program for each handicapped child. Of the programs GAO reviewed, 84 percent lacked required information, lacked evidence of planning meeting participation, or were late in preparation. Individualized programs did not disclose needed services if they were not available. The most commonly cited reasons for the expected delay in providing education for the handicapped was a shortage of funds. Additional problems impeding the Act's implementation included: (1) insufficient staff at the State level; (2) delays by the Department in issuing regulations, providing guidance and instructions, and approving State plans; and (3) a lack of comprehensive Federal evaluations of the State's compliance.

Recommendations

Our recommendations from this work are listed below with a Contact for more information. Status will change from "In process" to "Open," "Closed - implemented," or "Closed - not implemented" based on our follow up work.

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