In a closely watched case that has major ramifications for many Jewish special needs children and their families, the U.S. Supreme Court issued a brief order this morning affirming a lower appeals court ruling in favor of parents seeking tuition reimbursement for special-education services their son received in a private school setting.

The High Court’s order was the product of a 4-4 deadlock among the Justices (with Justice Kennedy not participating in the case).  The tie vote left standing [last year’s] decision of the New York-based U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit requiring the tuition reimbursement.

As explained by Rabbi Chaim Dovid Zwiebel, executive vice president for government and public affairs for Agudath Israel of America –and principal author of an amicus curiae
brief submitted by the Orthodox group to the High Court – students with disabilities are entitled by the federal Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) to government-funded educational services.  Such services are usually provided within public schools, but if an independent hearing officer or court finds that a school district’s program does not suit a particular student, the child may be placed in a private school to receive the necessary educational services, at the government’s expense.

Since the evaluation process can be lengthy, notes Mrs. Leah Steinberg, director of Project LEARN, Agudath Israel’s special education program, some parents opt to place their child in a private school, paying tuition out of pocket; if they eventually prevail in demonstrating the inappropriateness of the district’s proposed public school placement, they are entitled to reimbursement of the tuition costs incurred.  Mrs. Steinberg was instrumental in challenging the notion that a child must have attended a public school to qualify for special education services.

In the case before the Supreme Court, the child at issue received special educational services in a private school and his parents were seeking reimbursement of the costs.  The New York City Department of Education, however, challenged that claim on the grounds that the boy had not previously received services in a public school – something the Department of Education asserts is required by a 1997 amendment to the IDEA.  The Department’s position was vindicated by a U.S. District Court in January, 2005.

However, on appeal, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit ruled otherwise.  The court held that the IDEA does not preclude reimbursement of private school tuition even in a case where the student had not received any special education services from the school district itself.  All that matters, said that court, is that the parent must demonstrate that the district’s proposed placement would have been inappropriate, and that the actual private school placement was in fact appropriate.

In its amicus brief, Agudath Israel argued that requiring a special needs child to “suffer through an inappropriate public school placement as a prerequisite to tuition reimbursement” for a parent’s placing of a child in an appropriate private school environment would constitute an “absurd result.”

“The entire premise of the IDEA,” it asserted, “is that children with special needs, even more so than mainstream children, require an educational setting that is appropriate for their specific circumstances.  Getting it wrong could have far-reaching detrimental consequences for the healthy development of the child.”

Agudath Israel further argued that the language of the 1997 amendment does not imply that for parents to receive reimbursement for special-ed services in a private school their child must have first attended a public school program.  Rather, asserted the Agudath Israel brief, “any form of special education… services” that were “previously received through a public agency” suffice to qualify parents for reimbursements – even services that may have been furnished in a private school setting.

“Today’s tie vote at the Supreme Court,” said Rabbi Zwiebel, “does not resolve the matter definitively, as we had hoped, but still it is terrific news that for the foreseeable future parents in our community will be able to receive tuition reimbursement, at least for the costs of secular special-ed services, without being forced to jump through an inappropriate and potentially harmful public school hoop.”