USNews and World Report reported that the US Supreme Court is expected to issue a ruling on whether public schools should reimburse the parents of special-education students for private school tuition. The law in question is the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), which states that disabled children must receive “a free appropriate public education.”

The case arises from the Forest Grove School District in Oregon, where a family enrolled their child in a $5,200/month private school after the child was expelled from public school for angry outbursts and other behavioral problems. The district deemed the boy ineligible for the special education program, though they noted that the boy could possibly have attention deficit disorder.

An appellate court ruled that Forest Grove had to pay for the student’s private school tuition. Forest Grove is seeking to reverse the decision, saying that since the boy never received public school special education, his family cannot be reimbursed for private school. The family is arguing that if a school does not reimburse families for private special education schools, public schools will have no incentive to identify a student as disabled and provide services for that student.

The decision will have serious financial ramifications for both public schools and parents of disabled students. The heart of the disagreement is the intent of the IDEA law. “The whole point of IDEA is to encourage the cooperation between parents and school districts to ensure the education of disabled children in as mainstream a setting as possible,” said Michael Best, general counsel to the New York City Department of Education. “If you allow parents to place their children in private school without ever trying public school, it undermines that cooperation.”

But the whole court case came about because the Oregon parents did seek out special education through the public school system, but were never given any support. This case does not specifically address parents who never try to enroll their children in public special education, so it is a possibility that scenario could very well lead to another court case.

New York Times Article: Supreme Court to Address Meeting the Needs of Special-Education Students