More Students on the Spectrum, More Lawsuits......
Published June 07, 2009 @ 04:39PM PT
Today's Orlando Sentinel says that there has been a "surge" of students on the autism spectrum in Florida schools, and describes the challenges of providing an "appropriate" education for them. While there were 3,243 students with autism in Florida public schools in 1998-9, there were more than 15,200 this year.
I don't know the specifics for my own school district's autism program, but there's no question there are more students with autism in the public schools than before (and especially as my district has a well-regard in-district autism program) Ten years ago, programs like the one my son is in simply did not exist. Students were sent out of the district or who knows what; my son's middle school program is only in its third year. Ten years ago, Charlie could not have been educated in the public schools, which would have offered nothing for him. And even still, there have been days when we've not been sure if they still can, or if the services provided are entirely appropriate.
No surprise to read that, in California, more parents are in legal disputes with their school district, according to yesterday's Fresno Bee:
Records kept by the Office of Administrative Hearings in Sacramento, which assigns administrative law judges to hear special education disputes, show that there were 38 requests for hearings at Clovis Unified since September 2005 -- more than double the number filed for Fresno Unified, which is twice the size of the Clovis district. Clovis also had more hearing requests than other Valley school districts.
.........Clovis Unified spends $34 million a year on special education programs, she said -- about 6% of its overall budget.
Clovis is more willing to fight than other districts -- even when it means racking up more than $100,000 in costs for a case.
The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act ensures that students with disabilities are provided with "appropriate" educational services up till the age of 21 and it's precisely what is an "appropriate education" that parents and school districts clash over. With more students in Florida and all over to provide more services for, what "appropriate" means is going to remain in dispute. Frankly I'd rather that school districts do the right thing and, instead of racking up six-figure legal bills, put that money into programs, services, and teachers---to put their dollars into what students need, rather than into lawyers' pockets.
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Comments (3)
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Author
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Kristina is a Classics professor in Jersey City, New Jersey, a blogger (formerly at AutismVox), a translator (of Virgil), and an advocate every day for her son, Charlie.
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I am guessing that strapped school districts are willing to absorb those big legal costs because providing FAPE to autistic child with all the therapies involved would cost a lot more. With parents who are not savvy about special ed offer a designation that only involves an RSP or speech teacher (SLD, SLI). With parents who are savvy, go to court. Hopefully more states will force insurers to cover these therapies. Expecting the schools or other governmental agencies to do so might be expecting too much.
Posted by California Father on 06/08/2009 @ 01:37PM PT
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After speaking to a few other parents, I discovered that our district is declassifying most kids with an autism diagnosis if they want to stay at the local school, esp. if they are "higher functioning"! They are lucky to get a 504. I'm sort of flabbergasted by this since we've always had very good interactions (although they did put my older daughter with PDD-NOS on a 504). I'm assuming the ramifications of this is that there are no IEPs to deal with and have to live up to. If there is no IEP, does that mean they do not have to do a functional behavioral analysis or implement behavioral intervention plans?
Posted by Ecki Stern on 06/08/2009 @ 01:45PM PT
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I had a conversation about this sort of thing once, and I have a question--are these legal fees coming directly out of a litigating district's funds or is there some kind of pooling system or separate line item? (While not relevant immediately, the context of the conversation was over what I perceived as a certain cavalierness about liability, and how that would affect the bottom line in a particular program. The explanation in that case was that the legal money came out of a different pocket--"tort fund". Also, at least in our state there are also contractual relationships between certain legal firms maintained on retainer for the particular purpose of IEP disputes.)
I'm a legal naif--I've never really gotten legal battles, esp. when the district loses, where the fees amount to 15X+ than the amount originally in question since different pocket or no, it's still $ spent on litigation. Is it the case that once the ball starts rolling that it just keeps on so, or is it a case of a calculated strategy to make the process such a nightmare that families would think twice before getting into it?
If someone is savvy about the particular economics in question, please explain. Thanks.
BTW--new bill just introduced on June 4, 2009. H.R. 2740, the IDEA Fairness Restoration Act. "This bill would overturn a 2006 Supreme Court decision that prohibits the payment of fees to expert witnesses representing parents in IDEA due process. The fees would only be paid by school systems which are found by the courts to have wrongfully denied an appropriate education to students with disabilities under IDEA." FYI.
Posted by Regina Claypool-Frey on 06/08/2009 @ 02:44PM PT
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