Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, 20 U.S.C. 794, a broad based anti-discrimination statute, reaches beyond the education of children with disabilities. The statute provides that no otherwise qualified individual with a disability shall solely due to his or her disability be excluded from, be denied the benefits of, or be subjected to discrimination by programs or activities receiving federal financial assistance. Disability is defined more broadly under Section 504 than under the IDEA.
Under Section 504, school districts must provide a free and appropriate public education for students enrolled in their district. An appropriate education is an education and related aids and services designed to meet the individual educational needs of a child with a disability as adequately as the needs of non-disabled children are met. Services provided under Section 504 are provided in a Section 504 Plan. A Section 504 Plan is a plan written by a district that describes how a student's disability will be accommodated. For example, it may include special seating in class, more time to move between classes, or un-timed tests. It does not contain all of the same information that is generally required in special education IEP.
Additional Section 504 requirements include:
An evaluation of the child before an initial placement and when any major change in placement occurs. Reevaluations are also required.
Districts are not required to pay for a parent's independent evaluation under Section 504.
When making placement decisions, the decision must be made by a group of persons who know the child, and the child should be placed in a regular education environment unless the child's needs cannot be satisfactorily met in regular education even with other aids and services.
The statute requires that children with disabilities be provided an opportunity to benefit from district programs (academic, non-academic, extra-curricular) in the same way as other children.
Districts are required to have rules about looking at records, giving notice, and how to dispute district decisions.
As noted above, Section 504 special education protections are different in some respects than special education protections under the IDEA and Massachusetts law. Although all of these statutes include a free and appropriate education, Section 504 does not allow for the following important provisions: independent evaluations and placement pending appeal (stay put) of a decision with which a parent disagrees. Other special education procedural protections are also not part of Section 504. Section 504 is, however, broader in terms of eligibility for services because it does not rely on disability categories for determining eligibility. Also note that Section 504 can apply to eligible parents of children so that, for example, a district may be required to offer reasonable accommodations for parent communication and conferences.
Dan Ahearn is an educator and attorney. He works
in the education field at the Landmark School, which specializes in teaching
students with language based learning disabilities, where he directs the
Landmark Outreach Program. He also practices disability, special education,
education, and children's law. He has been practicing in these areas for
over 15 years. He currently teaches a Children's Law course at Suffolk
University Law School; teaches legal research and writing in the First
Year Writing Program at the Boston University School of Law; and counsels
law students in the Harvard Law School's Office of Public Interest Advising.
He was the past Director of the Massachusetts Bureau of Special Education
Appeals and served as a Senior Attorney at the Disability Law Center in
Boston. He is on the Board of Directors of the Learning Disabilities Network
and is a Fellow of the Massachusetts Bar Foundation.
