Supreme court ruled in favor of parents in the Oregon case re:reimbursement of private school
June 27, 2009
By JESSE J. HOLLAND
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court has ruled that parents of special
education students who opt for private school instead of trying the public
system cannot be barred from seeking public reimbursement for their tuition
costs.
The court ruled 6-3 Monday in favor of a teenage boy from Oregon whose
parents sought to force their local public school district to pay the
$5,200 a month it cost to send their son to a private school.
Federal law calls for school districts to reimburse students or their
families for education costs when public schools do not have services that
address or fulfill the students’ needs. Under the Individuals with
Disabilities Education Act, the nation’s special education students are
entitled to a “free and appropriate public education.”
Schools have argued that the law says parents of special education
students must give public special education programs a chance before
seeking reimbursement for private school
tuition.
But advocacy groups and parents of some special education students contend
that forcing them to try public schools first could force children,
especially poor ones, to spend time in an undesirable situation before
getting the help they need.
Justice John Paul Stevens said in his majority opinion that the federal
Individuals with Disabilities Education Act requires a school district to
pay for private special ed services if the public school doesn’t have
appropriate services.
“We conclude that IDEA authorizes reimbursement for the cost of special
education services when a school district fails to provide a FAPE and the
private-school placement is appropriate, regardless of whether the child
previously received special education or related services through the
public school,” Stevens said.
In the case before the Supreme Court, the family of a teenage Oregon boy
diagnosed with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder — who was
identified only as T.A. — sued the school
district, saying the school did
not properly address the student’s learning problems. The family is seeking
reimbursement for the student’s tuition, which cost $5,200 a month. The
family paid a total of $65,000 in private tuition.
In its appeal, the Forest Grove School District said students should be
forced to at least give public special education programs a try before
seeking reimbursement for private tuition. If not, parents would bypass
public schools and go directly to private school — and then ask for
reimbursement from school systems already burdened by ever-increasing
costs.
The court’s decision does not require reimbursement, but Stevens said
school officials “must consider all relevant factors, including the notice
provided by parents and the school district’s opportunities for evaluating
the child, in determining whether reimbursement for some or all of the cost
of the child’s private school education is warranted.”
Justice David Souter, Antonin Scalia and Clarence
Thomas dissented.
“Given the burden of private school placement, it makes good sense to
require parents to try to devise a satisfactory alternative within the
public schools,” Souter said in the dissent.
This is the court’s second attempt at resolving this issue. The high court
split 4-4 on a similar case from New York City two years ago. Justice
Anthony Kennedy recused himself in the New York case but was among those
who ruled on the Oregon case.
Nationwide, the number of special education students placed in private
schools at public expense has not changed significantly over the last two
decades, Justice Department lawyers said, citing statistics from the U.S.
Department of Education. Just under 67,000 pupils were in private
placements in 2007 — just 1.1 percent of the country’s nearly 6 million
special education students.
The case is Forest Grove School District v. T.A., 08-305.
Copyright (c) 2009 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.
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