What a difference 14 years make.

Back then, the state's shameful failure to provide federally mandated services for mentally and emotionally disabled children led to a lawsuit filed on behalf of Maui student Jennifer Felix. The case then snowballed into a class-action case on behalf of all learning-disabled children in Hawai'i, costing the state more than $1 billion.

Talk about a disgrace.

Audits highlighted a seriously flawed system, fraught with mismanagement, questionably large expenditures, fraud and theft.

But now, the U.S. Education Department has declared Hawai'i one of only nine states throughout the nation that is in full compliance with the federal special-education law — a notable accomplishment, given the fact that federal oversight ended in 2005.

While the high marks can be celebrated, it's also worth remembering the events that led to this drastic and necessary turnaround. As a result of the massive 1993 lawsuit, the Felix Consent Decree was put in place, which then set the benchmarks the state departments of education and health needed to satisfy federal mandates.

It's a shame that such extreme measures had to be taken before changes were made. The state must now maintain its progress and ensure that Hawai'i's estimated 26,000 special-needs kids never have to pay the price for its failings again.