Education of the Handicapped Act Amendments of 1990

Education of the Handicapped Act Amendments of 1990 - Title I: General Provisions - Amends the Education of the Handicapped Act (the Act) to reauthorize funding and to change references to handicapped individuals or children to references to individuals or children with disabilities.

Extends coverage of children with disabilities to include those with autism, traumatic brain injury, or attention deficit disorder.

Redefines "special education" to include instruction conducted in the home, in hospitals and institutions, and in other settings, and instruction in physical education.

Redefines "related services" to include therapeutic recreation, social work services, and rehabilitation counseling.

Defines "transition services," and requires that the individualized education program include a statement of needed transition services for students beginning no later than age 16 and annually thereafter (and when determined appropriate for the individual, beginning at age 14 or younger), including when appropriate a statement of interagency responsibilities or linkages before the student leaves the school setting.

Sets forth definitions of assistive technology devices and services.

Includes the Bureau of Indian Affairs when acting on behalf of schools it operates on Indian reservations, and tribally controlled schools funded by the Department of the Interior, under the definition of public or nonprofit private agency or organization.

Provides for an abrogation of State immunity to suits in Federal court for violations of the Act.

Directs the Secretary of Education (the Secretary) to: (1) maintain a program planning process for the implementation of 13 specified discretionary grant programs and of the evaluation and program information provisions of the Act; (2) conduct independent evaluations of such programs and provisions; (3) report such program plans and evaluation findings to the Congress; (4) develop procedures for acquiring and disseminating information derived from such programs; (5) require grant and contract recipients to prepare reports in a form that will maximize dissemination of relevant information; and (6) convene panels of experts to evaluate proposals and applications.

Sets forth certain goals and priorities for involving minorities and underserved persons in 13 specified discretionary grant programs. Directs the Secretary to develop a plan to provide outreach services to increase the participation of the following entities in competitions for grants and contracts under such programs: (1) historically Black colleges and universities and other higher education institutions whose minority student enrollment is at least 25 percent; (2) minority institutions of higher education; (3) nonprofit and for-profit agencies at least 51 percent owned or controlled by one or more minority individuals; and (4) underrepresented populations. Requires the Secretary to: (1) expend one percent of funds for such programs in each of FY 1991 through 1994 to implement such plan; and (2) report to the Congress on progress toward increasing minority participation in such programs.

Title II: Assistance for Education of All Handicapped Individuals - Amends title II (Assistance for Education of All Handicapped Children) of the Act to include assistance for the education of handicapped children on reservations for whom services were provided through contract with an Indian tribe or organization prior to FY 1989. Requires the Secretary of the Interior to submit to the appropriate congressional committees a plan for services to all handicapped children residing on reservations, regardless of whether a reservation is served by a school funded by the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA).

Revises State plan requirements for a comprehensive system of personnel development. Requires annual updating of the plan to ensure an adequate supply of qualified personnel to administer, support, and provide special education and related services to children and youth with disabilities. Requires, as appropriate, State descriptions of intended response to such personnel requirements for the upcoming year, and State reports on activities completed and information compiled with respect to such requirements for the year just ending. Sets deadlines for full State compliance with such requirements.

Directs the Secretary to conduct an evaluation study of current planning and a plan for developing and implementing a common computerized information management system within the Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services (OSERS) to make program information accessible to the Congress, the Department of Education, and other interested parties.

Modifies and adds to requirements for State data collection and for evaluation reports. Directs the Secretary to provide for special studies to assess the implementation of the Act. Revises provisions for cooperative agreements with the States to study the effectiveness of the Act.

Title III: Centers and Services to Meet Special Needs of Handicapped Individuals - Requires the Regional Resource Centers to provide services consistent with the priority needs of their region. Requires the Federal Resource Center to assist the regional centers in delivery of technical assistance consistent with such priority needs. Directs the Secretary to: (1) develop guidelines and criteria for operation of Regional and Federal Resource Centers; (2) establish a panel representing Office of Special Education Programs staff, State special education directors, representatives of disability advocates; and (3) when appropriate, consult with the regional resource center directors.

Revises services for deaf-blind children and youth to modify age eligibility requirements for transitional assistance. Authorizes use of grant or contract funds for pilot projects designed to expand local school district capability to provide supplementary services to such children. Authorizes the Secretary to enter into grants or cooperative agreements to establish and support single and multistate centers for program development and expansion through technical assistance and pilot supplementary services for such children and youth and their families. Directs the Secretary to make a grant, contract, or cooperative agreement for a national clearinghouse on deaf-blind children and youth.

Revises provisions for early education for handicapped children to provide for involvement of parents and adult role models with disabilities. Requires the technical assistance development system to provide assistance to parents of and advocates for infants, toddlers, and children with disabilities, as well as direct service and administrative personnel involved with such children. Revises provisions for information dissemination through networks and for referral sources. Allows research projects and training projects to include programs to integrate children with disabilities into regular preschool programs.

Revises programs for severely handicapped children to include among authorized uses of program funds: (1) student transportation to and from school; (2) training of educators in strategies that include integrated settings for educating such children alongside their nondisabled peers; (3) use of existing information dissemination networks; (4) statewide projects to improve education of and services to such children and youth and to change to integrated environments; and (5) extended school year demonstration programs for infants, toddlers, children, and youth with serve disabilities. Directs the Secretary to give priority to programs that increase the likelihood that severely handicapped children and youth will be educated with their nondisabled peers.

Revises provisions for postsecondary education to allow model programs to include joint projects that coordinate with special education and transition services. Includes under functions of certain regional centers and model programs outreach activities, including technical assistance for model programs adapted to the special needs of individuals with disabilities. Increases the minimum funding level for the four regional postsecondary centers for the deaf.

Revises secondary education and transitional services for handicapped youth to include assistance for transition to independent and community living. Directs the Secretary to make one-time, five-year grants, on a competitive basis, to States in which the State agencies for education and for vocational rehabilitation apply jointly to develop, implement, and improve systems for transition services for youth with disabilities from age 14 through the age they exit school. Provides for separate evaluation of such grants program. Requires information dissemination through the use of existing networks. Directs the Secretary to fund one or more demonstration models designed to establish appropriate methods of providing assistive technology devices and services to secondary school students making the transition to vocational rehabilitation, employment, postsecondary education, or adult services.

Establishes new programs for children and youth with serious emotional disturbance. Authorizes the Secretary to make grants to and contracts and cooperative agreements with various entities for projects to improve special education and related services to such children and youth, including research and demonstration of innovative approaches. Authorizes the Secretary to make competitive grants to local educational agencies in collaboration with mental health entities for demonstration projects to provide services for such children and youth.

Authorizes appropriations for FY 1990 through 1994 for the following programs under part C (Centers and Services to Meet Special Needs of Individuals with Disabilities): (1) Regional Resource and Federal Centers; (2) services for deaf-blind children and youth; (3) early education for children with disabilities; (4) programs for children with severe disabilities; (5) postsecondary education; (6) secondary education and transitional services for youth with disabilities; (7) grants to State agencies for joint programs for transition services; and (8) programs for children and youth with serious emotional disturbances.

Title IV: Training Personnel for the Education of Handicapped Individuals - Revises provisions for grants, including scholarships, for personnel training to specify that this includes inservice as well as preservice training for related services as well as for special education and early intervention. Gives minority students priority for receipt of any fellowships or traineeships made available by an institution under such a grant. Requires such fellowship recipients to work in related programs for a period equivalent to that during which such assistance is received, or else to repay such assistance. Authorizes the Secretary to determine that a portion of training supported through such grants shall be: (1) conducted on an interdisciplinary basis; and (2) designed to assist special educators in properly coordinating service provision with related service personnel. Requires certain training programs to require practice to demonstrate the delivery of related services in an array of regular and special education and community settings. Directs the Secretary to make such personnel training grants, which include scholarships, to historically Black colleges and universities, and other institutions of higher education whose minority student enrollment is at least 25 percent.

Revises provisions for demonstration grants for personnel training to require that both preservice and inservice training include a component addressing coordination among all service providers, including regular educators.

Requires parent training and information centers to have minority parents and minority professionals on their boards of directors. Adds networking and reporting requirements for such centers and programs. Gives priority to grants to establish five new experimental parent training and information centers to serve large numbers of parents of children with disabilities located in high density areas that do not have such centers.

Allows certain grants to State educational agencies and institutions for traineeships to be used also to assist the State to develop and maintain its comprehensive system of personnel development and to conduct recruitment and retention activities.

Revises provisions for clearinghouses to require reporting of numbers of individuals served, listing of new products developed and disseminated, and description of responses and of strategies and activities used for outreach to areas with populations of minorities and underrepresented and underserved groups.

Revises provisions for reports to the Secretary to require inclusion of additional information from parent training and information centers and from clearinghouses.

Authorizes appropriations for FY 1990 through 1994 for various programs under part D of the Act (Training Personnel for the Education of Individuals with Disabilities).

Title V: Research in Education of Handicapped Individuals - Revises provisions for research and demonstration projects for the improvement of instruction and learning of children with disabilities. Authorizes various research projects in special education, program management, administration, and delivery of special education, early intervention, and related services. Establishes a program for model demonstration projects, some of them school-based, to provide ombudsman services to help resolve problems that are barriers to receipt of services for children and youth with disabilities.

Includes therapeutic recreation within the definition of recreation for children with disabilities, for purposes of research and demonstration projects in physical education and recreation for children with disabilities.

Authorizes appropriations for FY 1990 through 1994 to carry out part E of the Act (Research in the Education of Individuals with Disabilities).

Title VI: Instructional Media for Handicapped Individuals - Revises provisions for instructional media for individuals with disabilities to refer to television, literacy, and visually, impaired individuals. Provides for the loaning of descriptive video materials. Authorizes the Secretary to make a grant to or contract with Recording for the Blind, Inc., to provide free textbooks and other educational publications and materials to blind and other print-handicapped students through transcribed tapes and cassettes.

Authorizes appropriations for FY 1990 through 1994 to carry out the following programs under part F of the Act (Instructional Media for Individuals with Disabilities): (1) captioned films, television, descriptive video, and educational media for individuals with disabilities; and (2) grants to or contracts with Recording for the Blind, Inc.

Title VII: Technology, Educational Media, and Materials for Handicapped Individuals - Revises provisions for financial assistance for technology, educational media, and materials for individuals with disabilities to refer to assistive technology, related services appropriate networks, and literacy. Directs the Secretary to ensure closed-captioning of the instructional materials used with such funds. Prohibits awarding of specified grants, contracts, or cooperative agreements unless the applicant agrees that the assisted activities will be appropriately coordinated with the State entity receiving funds under certain provisions of the Technology-Related Assistance Act.

Authorizes appropriations for FY 1990 through 1994 to carry out part G of the Act (Technology, Educational Media, and Materials for Individuals with Disabilities).

Title VIII: Handicapped Infants and Toddlers - Includes social work services within the definition of early intervention services for infants and toddlers with disabilities.

Revises requirements for a statewide system to include: (1) preparation and dissemination, by the lead agency to all primary referral sources, of information materials for families on the availability of early intervention services; (2) training of primary referral sources with respect to the basic components of early intervention services available in the State; and (3) procedures for determining the extent to which primary referral sources, especially hospitals and physicians, disseminate information on the availability of early intervention services to parents of infants with disabilities.

Title IX: Technical Amendments - Retitles the Act as the Individuals With Disabilities Education Act. Changes all references to handicapped infants, toddlers, children, and youth to infants, toddlers, children, and youth with disabilities.

Title X: General Provisions - Sets forth the effective date of this Act.