On May 5, 1972, the Federal District Court for Eastern Pennsylvania made final the order, injunction, stipulation and consent agreement in the suit filed by the Pennsylvania Association for Retarded Children (PARC), currently The Arc of Pennsylvania, against the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the Secretary of the Department of Education, the State Board of Education, the Secretary of the Department of Public Welfare and all their instrumentalities on behalf of 13 Children with mental retardation who had been denied access to a free public program of education and training PARC v. Comm. of Pa. 343 F. Supp. 279 (1972). The agreement mandated the development of a Commonwealth Plan for the Identification, Location and Evaluation of Mentally Retarded Children (COMPILE), and Commonwealth Plan for the Education and Training of Mentally Retarded Children (COMPET) as well as the establishment of due process procedures. These documents were developed through the coordinated effort of the Pennsylvania Departments of Education and Public Welfare and Association for Retarded Children (PARC). They were reviewed for contents and approved. COMPILE provided for the establishment of a state task force and 29 local task forces (one in each intermediate unit) whose primary purpose is to insure that the intent and spirit of the Right to Education Consent Agreement is carried out throughout the Commonwealth.

You can access the Pennsylvania State Task Force website by clicking on the link below:

PA State Task Force