The British Columbia Teachers' Federation (BCTF) is pleased to have the opportunity to present its views on priorities for the 2018 provincial budget to the Select Standing Committee on Finance and Government Services. The BCTF represents 43,000 members who are teachers and associated professionals in public schools across British Columbia. The…

Updates a 1993 article describing two successful full-inclusion cases involving disabled students. In a 1994 case, a disruptive junior high student with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder and Tourette Syndrome was placed temporarily in an off-campus, self-contained program. The Ninth Circuit Court affirmed the trial court's decision…

Movement for full inclusion of students with disabilities in regular classrooms asks educators to take landmark 1975 Education of the Handicapped (recently reauthorized as the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act) a step farther. All five of the 1993-94 inclusion-related legal cases favored general education environments--even for severely…

Although disabled students in two major cases have won inclusionary placement in regular classes, numerous other "full inclusion" cases recently were decided in school districts' favor. This article provides a recent illustrative case (a disruptive student with ADHD and Tourette Syndrome) and a question/answer discussion about…

This discussion of impending revisions to the Canadian Copyright Act focuses on the need for inclusion of a fair dealing provision in any revisions, defined either through legislation or the courts, and for the use of a random sampling of photocopying in libraries to establish blanket reprography fees. (Author/CLB)

If recent trends for serving students with severe disabilities continue, concerns about program costs and benefits may join those of policy and best practice. This article briefly reviews the full-inclusion literature, examines recent case law, considers program costs, and provides conclusions and implications for future decision making. (39…

In June 1998, the Wisconsin Supreme Court upheld the constitutionality of an amended school-choice program allowing disadvantaged students to attend parochial schools using publicly funded vouchers. The case turned on the inclusion of parochial schools as an addition to a program with numerous preexisting choices. "Choice" (not…

School administrators are caught between the special education requirements of a free appropriate education and the mainstreaming preference embodied in federal law. This article analyzes circuit court cases and explains four overlapping judicial standards that influence mainstreaming decisions. Administrators should avoid blanket-separation and…

Full inclusion is a confusing topic. Many people misunderstand the "least restrictive environment" provision of the federal Individuals with Disabilities Education Act. Districts need not educate every disabled child in a regular classroom for the entire day, but have numerous options, so long as each child is carefully evaluated. Recent…

In the United States, national legislation was created to protect disabled students' education rights. Courts have provided tests for integrating such students into school systems. Some are concerned this advocacy has gone too far and that court decisions authorizing "full inclusion" misinterpret the law's intent. This article examines…

Although the two religion clauses in the First Amendment don't mention neutrality, 40 years of U.S. Supreme Court decisions have integrated that concept into their interpretations. Current understanding of neutrality has been shaped by defining benchmarks: enactment of the 1984 Equal Access act; inclusion of religious speech as a subset of free…