Susan Davis: “The language is simply designed to assure that when parents and teachers sit down at the table to craft an educational…”

“The language is simply designed to assure that when parents and teachers sit down at the table to craft an educational program appropriate for an individual child with a disability, everyone is on the same page about the goal. The 18 words added to the definition are taken directly from an existing Supreme Court decision, Rowley, which provided controlling language on this issue. However, since most of us do not spend our time reading Supreme Court opinions, this places the language into the definition within the law, where it will be easily found. They are words that all of us can understand. I want to share them with you. The phrase now reads that a 'free appropriate public education means special education and related services that' are: Free--provided at public expense, under public supervision and without charge; meet the standards of the State education agency; and include an appropriate preschool, elementary, or secondary school education in the State involved.”