Public Law 94-142

Public Law is the framework that exists between citizens of the state and their governing bodies and establishes rules and regulations that affect how citizens function in their everyday lives. Included in the public law are sub-divisions, such as, administrative law, criminal law and constitutional law, which establish and regulate the powers of the governing body.
Regardless of the type or degree of the child’s disability, Public Law 94-142 changed their lives, the lives of their families and the lives of their educators. Public Law 94-142 was the result of two cases, the Pennsylvania Association of Retarded Children (PARC) v. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania (343 Fed. Supp 279) and the Mills v. Board of Education of District of Columbia (348

Finally, the Mills decision established the Constitutional right to education of all children with disabilities.
As a result of congressional concern, Public Law 94-142 was created to encompass two groups of children. The statute supported millions of children with disabilities who had been excluded entirely from the educational system and children with disabilities who had limited access to their education or were denied a free appropriate public education (FAPE) (Duncan, 2010).
November 29, 1975, Congress passed the Education of All Handicapped Children Act (Public Law 94-142), to guarantee a free appropriate public education (FAPE) to each child with a disability. This law had a positive impact on millions of children with disabilities because it included efforts to, “(a) improve how children with disabilities were identified and educated, (b) evaluate the success of these efforts, (c) and provide due process protections for children and families”. In addition, the federal statute, Title 20 United States Code Section 1400 (20 USC 1400), mandated states to develop and implement polices to ensure FAPE to all children with disabilities; therefore, financial incentives were put into place to enable states compliance with the

Understanding the history of special education and its impact on individual lives provides educators and families with a positive perspective on student’s academic and social achievement.
Special education services were almost non-existent and with the passage of Public Law 94-142 everything changed. As the law continues to evolve, the rules and regulations become more prevalent. Handicapped and disabled students educational careers can now include reading, language arts, math, live skills training, vocational readiness, and various work training programs.
Society has significantly become more understanding and aware of people with disabilities since the establishment of Public Law 94-142. By incorporating parents, teachers, and health care professionals in the evaluation process, the child has a better chance of having their needs met with all the challenges they face in school and at