ABSTRACT
In the 1960s Congress again passed major education legislation providing aid for improving schools serving low-income and minority-group children and, similarly, expanding programmes of assistance for youth wishing to attend colleges and universities. Federal aid to education was seen as part of a civil rights movement to overcome the effects of discrimination and poverty. Under the Constitution of the United States of America, education is one of the areas of governing left as a responsibility of local communities and states, not the national government. The federal law that formally established the public policy of the USA in relation to education of children with disabilities followed in 1975. School districts and states are expected to offer a range of educational opportunities to children with disabilities. Public Law 94–142 had a historic importance in the United States beyond its impact on children with disabilities and the schools which serve them.
