Equal Educational Opportunities Act of 1974
Congress passed the EEOA as a house bill amending the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965. The only legislative history available for reference is from a similar bill passed in 1972. The House Committee on Education and Labor noted that the bill was significant in that it contained the first "illustrative definition of a denial of equal educational opportunity", and that this lent clarity to schools, governmental authorities, and students as to what, precisely, their rights were.
Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services
In 1979, Congress passed legislation that split the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare in two parts — creating the Department of Education and the Department of Health and Human Services. The Bureau of Education for the Handicapped (BEH) — established in 1967 by Title VI of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act — then became the core of the new Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services. Dr. Edwin W. Martin, Jr., then Deputy Commissioned of Education,and Director of BEH was nominated by President Carter to be the first Assistant Secretary for OSERS. He was confirmed unanimously by the Senate. The Rehabilitation Services Administration and the National Institute of Disability and Rehabilitation Research were the other components of OSERS.