Changes to the 2006 Final IDEA Part B Regulations Regarding the Role of Adult Services Organizations in the IEP Process

The 2006 final IDEA Part B regulations removed the 1999 requirement that "[i]f an agency invited to send a representative to a meeting does not do so, the [school district] shall take other steps to obtain participation of the other agency in the planning of any transition services." The IDEA never gave schools authority to compel another agency to participate in transition service planning. Furthermore, neither the IDEA nor case law offered useful guidance as to what those "other steps" might constitute. The Department of Education justified removing the requirement in the comments and discussion section of the 2006 regulations: "The Act has never given public agencies [such as school districts] the authority to compel other agencies to paritcipate in the planning of tranistion services for a child with a disability...Without the authority to compel other agencies to particpate in the planning of tranistion services, public agencies have not been able to meet the requirement...to 'ensure' the participation of other agencies in transition planning. Therfore, while we believe that public agencies should take steps to obtain the pariticpation of other agencies in the planning of transition services for the child, we believe it is unhelpful to retain [the 1999 regulation]." 71 Federal Register page 46, 672 (2006).