Update: U.S. Department of Education page on IDEA still offline

A page devoted to the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act was not accessible on the U.S. Department of Education’s website for most of the day Wednesday.

Department officials blamed “technical issues” with their website’s servers and said they were working to restore it.

At 3:30 p.m. Wednesday, people seeking information about the Individuals with Disabilities Act at its normal web address – idea.ed.gov – were directed to a page that said:

“The servers hosting our idea.ed.gov website are experiencing technical issues. We are working to resolve this issue, please check back later.”

“We’re working on it,” said a department spokeswoman in Washington, D.C., when contacted by phone. Asked if the page had been removed, she said, “No.”

The department tweeted at 8:20 a.m. Wednesday that servers were experiencing technical issues.

People needing information or assistance regarding the IDEA were directed to call 800-872-5327.

The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act – or IDEA, as the federal law is known – requires that public schools provide children with disabilities a “free and appropriate” education just like other students.

The law was a topic of contention during a confirmation hearing for U.S. Education Secretary Betsy DeVos, who was sworn in Tuesday.

DeVos said during the hearing that implementation of laws for students with disabilities should be left to the states. Later, when told that IDEA is a federal civil rights law and must be followed where federal dollars are in play, DeVos said, “I may have confused it.”

This story was originally published February 8, 2017 at 9:53 AM with the headline "Update: U.S. Department of Education page on IDEA still offline."