In the 2016-2017 school year (SY), 6.8 million children ages 3 through 21 received special education and related services under Part B of the IDEA. In SY2016-2017, approximately 13.4% of all public school students ages 3 through 21 received services under the IDEA. Since 1975, IDEA has been the subject of numerous reauthorizations to extend services and rights to children with disabilities. The most recent reauthorization was P.L. 108-446 in 2004. Funding for Part B, Assistance for Education of all Children with Disabilities, is permanently authorized. Funding for Part C, Infants and Toddlers with Disabilities, and Part D, National Activities, was authorized through FY2011. Funding for the programs continues to be provided through annual appropriations acts. Children with Disabilities

To be covered under IDEA, a child with a disability must meet two criteria. First, the child must be in one of several categories of disabilities, and second, the child must require special education and related services as a result of the disability in order to benefit from public education. The Individualized Education Program (IEP)

FAPE is implemented through the IEP, which is the program plan that lays out how the LEA will provide special education and related services to each child with a disability. The IEP is developed by an IEP team composed of school personnel and parents. Content of IEP49

Specifically, IDEA requires that the IEP include the following:
the child's present levels of academic achievement and functional performance; measurable annual goals, including academic and functional goals, designed to meet the child's needs that result from the child's disability to enable the child to be involved in and make progress in the general education curriculum; and meet each of the child's other educational needs that result from the child's disability; how the child's progress toward meeting the above annual goals will be measured and when periodic reports on the progress the child is making toward meeting the annual goals will be provided; the special education and related services and supplementary aids and services, based on peer-reviewed research to the extent practicable, to be provided to the child, or on behalf of the child, and the program modifications or supports for school personnel that will be provided for the child to advance appropriately toward attaining the annual goals; be involved in and make progress in the general education curriculum and participate in extracurricular and other nonacademic activities; and be educated and participate with other children with disabilities and nondisabled children; the extent, if any, to which the child will not participate with nondisabled children in the regular class; any individual appropriate accommodations that are necessary to measure the academic achievement and functional performance of the child on state and district-wide assessments; if the IEP team determines that the child will take an alternate assessment on a particular state or district-wide assessment of student achievement, the IEP should detail why the child cannot participate in the regular assessment and why the particular alternate assessment selected is appropriate for the child; the projected date for the beginning of the assessments and their frequency, location, and duration. The Educational Environment

IDEA requires that children with disabilities be educated in the least restrictive environment possible. In other words, to the maximum extent that is appropriate they are to be educated with children who are not disabled. The various types of procedures include parental rights to 
inspect and review educational records; participate in meetings related to the identification, evaluation, and educational placement of their child; obtain an independent educational evaluation at public expense if the parent disagrees with an evaluation obtained by the LEA; receive prior written notice in the native language of the parents when an LEA proposes to initiate or change, or refuses to initiate or change, the identification, evaluation, or educational placement of the child or the provision of FAPE to the child; receive a procedural safeguards notice, which is a comprehensive written explanation of IDEA's legal rights and protections for children with disabilities and their parents; resolve disputes through a mediation process; present and resolve complaints through the due process complaint procedures, which include a right to file suit in federal district court; and present and resolve complaints through state complaint procedures. The remainder of the funds are allocated by a formula to the 50 states, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico. State and LEA Expenditure Requirements

IDEA state and LEA expenditure requirements are aimed at increasing overall educational spending, rather than substituting federal funds for education spending at the state and local levels. Part B—Assistance for Education of All Children with Disabilities
Part B provides federal funding for the education of children with disabilities and requires, as a condition for the receipt of such funds, the provision of a free appropriate public education (FAPE) to children with disabilities between the ages of 3 and 21.
The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) is a statute that authorizes grant programs that support special education services. Under the IDEA, a series of conditions are attached to the receipt of grant funds. These conditions aim to provide certain educational and procedural guarantees for students with disabilities and their families.
The grant programs authorized under the IDEA provide federal funding for special education and early intervention services for children with disabilities (birth to 21 years old) and require, as a condition for the receipt of such funds, the provision of a free appropriate public education (FAPE) (i.e., specially designed instruction provided at no cost to parents that meets the needs of a child with a disability) and an accessible early intervention system (a statewide system to provide and coordinate early intervention services for infants and toddlers with disabilities and their families). The IDEA also outlines and requires the use of procedural safeguards pertaining to the identification, evaluation, and placement of students in special education services that are intended to protect the rights of parents and children with disabilities. These procedures include parental rights to resolve disputes through a mediation process, and present and resolve complaints through a due process complaint procedure and through state complaint procedures.
In the 2016-2017 school year, 6.8 million children ages 3 through 21, approximately 13% of all public school students, received educational services under Part B of the IDEA. To be covered under IDEA, a child with a disability must meet the categorical definition of disability in the act, and the child must require special education and related services as a result of the disability in order to benefit from public education. Once a child meets IDEA's eligibility criteria, FAPE is implemented through the Individualized Education Program (IEP), which is the plan for providing special education and related services by the local educational agency (LEA). The IEP is developed by an IEP team composed of school personnel and the child's parents or guardian. IDEA requires that children with disabilities be educated in the least restrictive environment. That is, to the maximum extent appropriate they are to be educated with children who are not disabled. In the fall of 2016, approximately 63% of all school-aged children with disabilities served by IDEA spent 80% or more of their time in a regular classroom.
To implement IDEA, states and other entities (i.e., the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, the Bureau of Indian Education, the outlying areas, and the freely associated states) receive grants based on a statutory formula. In FY2017, $13.4 billion was appropriated for IDEA. Most of the federal funds received by states are passed on to LEAs based on a statutory formula. IDEA also contains state and local maintenance of effort (MOE) requirements and supplement, not supplant (SNS) requirements aimed at increasing overall educational spending, rather than substituting federal funds for education spending at the state and local levels.
Originally enacted in 1975, IDEA has been the subject of numerous reauthorizations to extend services and rights to children with disabilities. The most recent reauthorization of IDEA was P.L. 108-446, enacted in 2004. Funding for Part B, Assistance for Education of all Children with Disabilities, the largest and most often discussed part of the act, is permanently authorized. Funding for Part C, Infants and Toddlers with Disabilities, and Part D, National Activities, was authorized through FY2011. Funding for the programs continues to be provided through annual appropriations acts.