Basic Definitions of Special Education Law
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What is an IEP?
What is the purpose of a case conference committee meeting?
What happens if the school officials and the parents disagree about what the IEP should contain?
What is a due process hearing?
How does a due process hearing come about?
How do appeals work?
What is FAPE?
What should I do about getting a copy of the school's records?
What is an IEP?
An IEP is an Individualized Education Program designed to detail and document the plan the school intends to use with your child who has been designated as a child in need of special education services.
The IEP lists goals and objectives that it will attempt to reach with your child. It will also list the education and services that your child is to receive in order to attempt to reach those goals and objectives. The school can’t guarantee progress or the best program out there, only one in which the child will make meaningful educational progress by implementation of the IEP that is reasonably calculated to confer meaningful educational benefit.
The IEP is also supposed to contain ways to measure progress toward those goal and objectives.
The IEP is supposed to be a contract between the school, child and parents, written in such a fashion that it should be portable and can be taken to another school and implemented exactly the same way, if need be.
What is the purpose of a case conference committee meeting?
The school will convene a case conference committee meeting in which all the folks who will have a role in her education will attend and devise an IEP (individual education plan) based on your child's unique needs.
The meeting is the place for you to air your suggestions as far as placement and services for your child.
What happens if the school officials and the parents disagree about what the IEP should contain?
If you are not able to resolve the conflict, then either you or the school will ask for a due process hearing to resolve the conflict. When a case goes to due process, an independent hearing officer decides the issues.
If you do decide to go to due process, I would suggest that you shop around for an attorney in your state who does special education law as an area of practice. It's a highly specialized area, and there aren't too many attorneys who know/understand that area of law, so you might have to do a little digging.
What is a due process hearing?
A due process is an administrative hearing that is the legal mechanism used to resolve issues of contention between parents and schools about the appropriateness of IEPs for special-needs students.
How does a due process hearing come about?
After an impasse is reached between the parties, one of them will request a due process hearing. This request can be made directly to the school and a copy of it is also sent to the Indiana Department of Education.
The Indiana Department of Education will then assign an Independent Hearing Officer (IHO). This person is an administrative law judge who is generally very knowledgeable about education-related issues.
The hearing officer and the parties will solidify what the issues are to be determined at a hearing, decide on the dates for the hearing and decide whether the hearing should be open (allowing the public in to observe) or closed (meaning only the parties and their witnesses will be allowed to observe).
At the hearing, the parents generally present their evidence and witnesses first and then the school will present its case.
At the conclusion of the testimony, the hearing officer will issue a decision.
How do appeals work?
Either side can appeal the hearing officer's decision. In Indiana, that appeal goes to the Board of Special Education Appeals, who assigns a panel to review the hearing officer's decision.
In Texas, like most other states, there is no second-tier review, and either party can file an appeal directly to state or federal court, saving parents and schools time and money.
The panel will not reweigh the evidence or decide whether the hearing officer was "fair" or not. Instead, it will find whether the procedures used afforded the parties with a fair and impartial opportunity to present their case.
Either side can then appeal the decision to state or federal civil courts.
What is FAPE?
Perhaps the biggest debate in special education cases is the one over the definition of the word "appropriate," which comes from the term Free Appropriate Public Education. What does this word appropriate mean?
1. Your child is NOT entitled to the BEST special education.
As a parent, you must eliminate the word "BEST" from your vocabulary when you discuss your children's educational needs. Your child is entitled to an "appropriate education" - NOT the BEST education or an education that geared to "maximize potential." Many courts still define an "appropriate education" as "access to an education" or a "basic floor of educational opportunity."
2. Parent testimony carries little weight in the eyes of judges.
Loving parents are biased. The parents' testimony about what the child needs will not carry the day in most cases.
3. School staff will testify that their program is appropriate 99.9 % of the time.
About 85% of the time, school staff will testify that their program is BEST for the child. (Note: School staff can and do use the word "BEST" - but parents cannot.)
4. Parents must have strong knowledgeable experts in special education litigation - and experts must never use the terms "best" or "maximizing potential."
Experts must be willing to advise the IEP team, Hearing Officer, or Judge about the inadequacies of the public school program and the adequacies of parent program.
If the parents' experts testify that the school's IEP and program IS appropriate, parents will not prevail.
To understand the concepts -- FAPE v. maximizing or "best" - you should read the U. S. Supreme Court decision in Bd. of Educ. v. Rowley.
What are some examples of related services that a school might offer a child?
Requesting a related service should be based on the fact that your child needs the service in order to benefit from her/his educational program. You may request an evaluation for one of the following specific areas.
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