High Court Case Could Rein In Private Placements Under IDEA

Washington

On the first day of the new U.S. Supreme Court term next week, the justices are sure to hear starkly contrasting portraits of special education in the nation’s largest school district.

In a case from New York City, the 1.1 million-student district argues that school officials made every attempt to provide an appropriate education plan under the federal Individuals with Disabilities Education Act for a young student with a learning disability. But the boy’s father rejected a proposed placement in an elite public school program, the district says, and seemed intent on enrolling his son in a specialized private school and seeking public reimbursement for the tuition.

The district’s allies go further to contend that in New York and elsewhere, wealthy parents of students with disabilities have learned to manipulate the system to win public payment...