Defending Your Rights

Disability Rights - Attorney General's Select Committe on Special Education

Approximately 287,500 students in Illinois receive special education services. The Attorney General Select Committee on Special Education addresses issues affecting students with disabilities. Members include people with disabilities, attorneys with expertise in special education law, special education directors and disability advocates. Some of the issues that have been addressed in recent years are briefly described below.

Due Process Hearings for Students with Disabilities.

(P.A. 89-652) The committee was instrumental in the drafting and passage of HB 2230 which substantially revised the system for conducting due process hearings in Illinois. Changes include the selection, training and assignment of hearing officers, one rather than a two level system of hearings, grounds for dismissing a hearing officer and a screening committee to monitor the system.

Monitoring Illinois' implementation of the amended and reauthorized federal Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA).

As a result of changes in the federal Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, the Illinois State Board of Education (ISBE) proposed a substantial revision of its special education regulations. The Attorney General's Special Education Committee reviewed the Illinois State Board of Education's proposed special education rules and submitted comments to the ISBE. The ISBE incorporated 83% of the committee's recommendations into the final rules.

Discipline of Students with Disabilities.

The committee reviewed the ISBE document Communication on Discipline of Children with Disabilities and recommended to the ISBE that numerous sections be revised.

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