Before the 1970s, most children with disabilities were confined to special schools or to institutions for their education. In 1966, Congress took the first step in establishing government-funded public education for children with disabilities by creating the Bureau for Education of the Handicapped. In the late 1960s and early 1970s, a number of states also passed laws designed to partially fund special educational services for children with disabilities in public schools. In 1975, Congress found that millions of children with disabilities were still not receiving adequate educational opportunities. Congress then passed the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), which requires states to provide all children with disabilities a “free and appropriate education.” IDEA, which has been revised numerous times, determines how states and school districts are to provide special education services to more than six million eligible students. Today public schools must offer special education to eligible students, no matter how severe their disabilities. Children with disabilities also have the right to receive related services, such as special transportation, counseling, as well as speech, occupational, or physical therapy. Schools must draw up an Individualized Education Program (IEP) for each child with a disability that describes how their specific needs will be met.