Political Quotes

“Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of House Concurrent Resolution 329, which recognizes the 35th anniversary of the enactment of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, or IDEA. Thirty-five years ago, President Gerald Ford signed the Education for All Handicapped Children Act into law. This historic legislation, now known as the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, was a major milestone in the quest to end the chronic exclusion and miseducation of students with exceptional needs. More than any other law to date, this legislation helped open the door to fairness and access for millions of children with disabilities and paved the way to greater educational access. As recent as 40 years ago, most States excluded students with disabilities from public schools. All that began to change in 1971. In PARC v. Pennsylvania, a class-action lawsuit filed in my home State, the U.S. District Court ruled, for the first time, that the State had a legal duty to educate students with intellectual disabilities, and that the U.S. Constitution guarantees of equal protection and due process prevent schools from excluding disabled children solely on the basis of their disabilities.”