From the New York Times, Education Week (subscription required), National Law Journal:

The Supreme Court heard arguments on Tuesday in a case that seeks to determine when taxpayers must pay for private school education for students with disabilities. White House lawyers backed a family’s argument that their child’s private school costs should be covered even though he had not first received special ed services in public school.

The case involves an Oregon student whose school tested him and said he did not have a learning disability that justified special education services. An independent evaluation later revealed that the student had attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, and his parents sued for public funds to cover his private school costs.

The school district says the federal Individuals With Disabilities Education Act allows reimbursement for a special education student’s private school tuition only if the child has previously received publicly financed special education services.

During oral arguments, Justice John Paul Stevens suggested that school districts might have an incentive to refuse to provide special education services if they are only required to pay for private programs for students who previously received publicly funded services.

A similar case ended in a 4-4 Supreme Court deadlock in 2007 when Justice Kennedy recused himself for reasons that were not disclosed.

Earlier post here.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, April 29th, 2009 at 4:05 pm and is filed under education, IDEA, law, learning disabilities, NOT2BEMISSED, personal stories, special education. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.