WHEREAS, section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 protects the rights of persons with disabilities, providing that "No otherwise qualified individual with a disability ... shall, solely by reason of her or his disability, be excluded from the participation in, be denied the benefits of, or be subjected to discrimination under any program or activity receiving Federal financial assistance ..."; and

WHEREAS, section 504 also requires school districts to provide a free appropriate public education to each qualified student with a disability who lives in a school district's jurisdiction, regardless of the nature or severity of the student's disability; and

WHEREAS, currently, children with disabilities living in Mililani must travel to and attend Leilehua High School in Wahiawa to receive the free appropriate public education to which they are entitled, which is essential to their learning careers; and

WHEREAS, to avoid further hardship on such students, each public high school should provide free appropriate public education for the qualified students in the district in which they live; and

WHEREAS, accordingly, the 2004 Hawaii Secondary Student Conference recommends that all public high schools be required to provide the free appropriate public education for qualified students in the public high school in the district in which a student resides, regardless of learning level and capability; now, therefore,

BE IT RESOLVED by the House of Representatives of the Twenty-third Legislature of the State of Hawaii, Regular Session of 2005, that the Department of Education is respectfully requested to require all public high schools to provide a free appropriate public education to all qualified students with a disability in the district in which the students live; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that certified copies of this Resolution be transmitted to the Governor, the Chairperson of the Board of Education, and the Superintendent of Education, who in turn is requested to transmit copies to all members of the Hawaii State Student Council, and all public high school principals.

Report Title:

Section 504; Free Appropriate Public Education; High Schools