“[E]ducation is perhaps the most important function of state and local governments. … It is the very foundation of good citizenship.”

In 1954,  Chief Justice Earl Warren, speaking for the U.S. Supreme Court in Brown v. Board of Education wrote these words, beginning the decades long process of racial desegregation of public schools. 20 years later, children with disabilities were not just segregated, but in many states, including Montana, completely excluded from receiving any public education at all.

Through a series of court cases and fervent advocacy, disability advocates helped pass two important laws, Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act (“Section 504”), in 1973, and the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (“IDEA”), in 1975. Section 504 finally opened the door to public education for children with disabilities. IDEA then set a minimum standard for the quality of education students with disabilities must receive and provided funding to states to implement individualized education programs (“IEPs”) for students with disabilities in the Least Restrictive Environment (“LRE”).  At the same time, in 1972, Montana adopted a new constitution which “[guarantees] [e]quality of educational opportunity . . . to each person of the state” in Article X, Section 1.

These new laws made great strides to help students with disabilities receive a free appropriate public educate (“FAPE”) alongside their non-disabled peers.  But the work is not done. Students with disabilities in public and private schools today still face segregation and exclusion and have poorer educational outcomes then students without disabilities.

Through education, advocacy, systemic litigation, and policy work, Disability Rights Montana works to enforce and expand the rights of students with disabilities. We want young people with disabilities to have the same opportunity as other students to leave high school ready for further education, employment, and independent living and participate fully in the economic, cultural, and civic life of their communities.