Dr. Joe Reinert

The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) extends federal protection to all disabled persons who face barriers to their full participation in daily life by reason of disability. Little has been written about the impact of the ADA on public schools. The ADA includes five titles: Title I 'Employment,' Title II 'Public Services,' Title III 'Public Accommodations,' Title Four 'Telecommunication,' and Title Five 'Miscellaneous Provisions.' This study focused on Title I, Title II and Title III, which are the titles that affect school districts. The primary purpose for this study was to identify the extent to which Nebraska Class II and Class III school districts have achieved compliance with Title I, Title II, and Title III of the Americans with Disabilities Act. To accomplish this purpose, a survey instrument was mailed to randomly selected superintendents of schools in Class II and III Nebraska school districts. Three sections of the ADA (Title I 'Employment,' Title II 'Public Services,' and Title III 'Public Accommodations') were examined. Descriptive statistics were used to describe the item-by-item results. The second purpose for conducting this study was to find whether there were any significant differences in the extent of compliance with Title I, with Title II, and with Title III of the ADA among Class II and III small-enrollment school districts, medium-enrollment school districts, and large-enrollment school districts. To determine a significant difference among three titles, a univariate analysis of variance (ANOVA) was conducted for each of the titles. A significant difference was found in Title III (p =.048). However, when a post hoc Hotelings Multivariate Test of Significance (MANOVA) was conducted, no significant difference was found between the dependent variables--Title I, Title II, and Title III. A third purpose for this study was to determine the extent to which the ADA had actually had an actual impact on Nebraska Class II and Class III school districts. The results of the survey instrument were reviewed, and it was determined that every school district had to make some changes to come into compliance with each of the three pertinent titles of the ADA.