How-to-Study Blog

On June 22, the Supreme Court ruled that parents of special-education students may seek reimbursement from public schools for private school tuition, even if their child never received special-education services in public school. The decision centered on a Oregon high school student who had struggled throughout public school. The boy had been evaluated for learning disabilities, but was found ineligible for special-education services. His parents enrolled him in a private residential school for his junior year of high school. Testing at that time found the boy to have attention deficit hyperactive activity disorder and other disabilities.

The Supreme Court ruling squarely puts the onus on the public schools. It will require the schools to intensify their efforts to identify disabilities as early as possible, and to ensure the validity of their evaluation procedures. It can also, unfortunately, open the floodgates for parents to question the results of school evaluations and to enroll their child in expensive private schools in the expectation that the public schools will have to pay in the end. This is a loaded issue. What are your thoughts?