Brendan and all, so basically the Practice Test Question that Brendan is referring to encompasses the idea that because 504 is a civil rights law and protects any student with a disability it also protects (from a civil rights point of view) any student who is eligible for special education. So while IDEA may not specifically protect the student’s right to attend a field trip, 504 does.
I have attached a graphic that may help.
If you look at the entire student population (the outer circle), this is all the students in the school.
The middle circle is any student who qualifies for Section 504. You will see that it also surrounds the inner circle.
The inner circle is students who qualify for special education. You can see that it is labeled IDEA and 504 students because any student who qualifies for special education is protected by Section 504.
Sometimes the more we get into this the more confusing it seems. I think if you look at it with the idea that IDEA is an education law that assures every child who qualifies (based on 13 specific conditions) FAPE (a Free Appropriate Public Education). 504 is a civil rights law that protects every student with a disability from discrimination based on that disability, thus assuring FAPE. The big difference between 504 and ADA is that 504 specifically relates to schools (entities that receive federal funding).