Section 504 Compliance

What is Section 504?

Section 504 is the part of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, which applies to persons with disabilities. Section 504 is a civil rights act, which protects the civil and constitutional rights of persons with disabilities. The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act was passed in 1975 as The Education of the Handicapped Act. Both require a free appropriate public education, eligibility for services, procedural safeguards, evaluations and special education services. However, in one situation of eligibility services and the provision of those services is through special education, IDEA, and in the other situation those services are provided by regular education, Section 504. The Weld RE-5J School District is attempting to be proactive in its attempts to meet the requirements of Section 504 through the development of this material and the forms which accompany it. The intent of developing the forms is to provide for all schools, and therefore, the district, a consistent application of process and procedures in order to assure appropriate supports for students who qualify.

What does Section 504 State?

Section 504 states that no person with a disability can be excluded from or denied benefits for any program receiving federal financial assistance, including public schools. Section 504 and special education are two separate services. All school districts should have a Section 504 Coordinator to answer your questions about Section 504. The Director of Student Services is the Section 504 Coordinator at Weld Re-5J and can be reached at 970-587-6815.  

How Section 504 defines "disability."

Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 protects persons from discrimination based upon their disability status. A person is disabled within the definition of Section 504 if s/he has a diagnosable mental or physical impairment which substantially limits one or more of a person’s major life activities (e.g., walking, speaking, breathing, learning, seeing, hearing, working).

What are the guidelines for eligibility?

If the school or parent has reason to believe that, because of a disability as defined under Section 504, a child may need specific accommodations in order to participate in the school program, the school must evaluate the child. If it is determined that a child is eligible under Section 504 (see “Three-Pronged Rule” below), the school must develop and implement the delivery of necessary and reasonable accommodations.

ADA's Three-Pronged Rule to Disability Determination:

The student must have a documented impairment (i.e., from professionals in the medical, psychological, and/or educational field);

The student’s impairment must be substantially limiting (i.e., impairment must be significantly more impacting than that of non-impaired children and the impairment must be permanent in nature);

The impairment must be impacting a major life activity (i.e., caring for one’s self, performing manual tasks, walking, seeing, hearing, speaking, breathing, learning, and working).