Glossary of Special Education Acronyms

IDEA is the "Individuals with Disabilities Education Act" -
A US federal law which guarantees that all children with disabilities receive a free and appropriate education at no cost and in the least restrictive environment possible.

Under IDEA, funds are provided to states to support special education and related services for children with disabilities, through/from the Office of Special Education Programs (OSEP) in the U.S. Dept. of Education.  OSEP also oversees the use of these funds.

A LAN is a Local Area Network. 
There are 62 LANs throughout the state of Illinois.  LANs are community based groups made up of educators, community members and individuals from local and state social service agencies.  Their purpose is to provide a more seamless system of care for children and adolescents with disabilities within their local geographic area.

Through the LANs, which are guided by the Department of Children & Family Services (DCFS) and the Illinois State Board of Education (ISBE), both DCFS and ISBE have contributed to a pool of funds (referred to as flex-funds) that is divided up among the 62 LAN's, and made available to help fund wraparound plans for youth who are at risk of more restrictive placements.  The wraparound plans are presented and approved at wraparound councils, also through the LAN's.  In Lake County, our LAN is referred to as LAN 35 (they are all numbered), and we currently have 3 separate wrap councils which cover the entire county.

Room & Board funding refers to dollars that are used, or were previously used, to pay for the residential placements of students.  A large part of the Room & Board dollars have been used in the past several years to fund discretionary projects across the state as well as provide "flex-funds" to the LANs.

"Corey H."
Corey H refers to a class action lawsuit that was brought against the Chicago Board of Education and the Illinois State Board of Education.  It claimed that children with disabilities in Chicago Public Schools (CPS) were not being educated in the least restrictive environment, as required by federal law (IDEA).  It was actually filed in 1992.  After several years of hearings and negotiating, a settlement was reached in 1999.  (Details of the settlement can be found online and on the ISBE website.)