On June 22, 2009, the US Supreme Court in Forest Grove School District v. T.A. (No. 08-305) issued a 6-3 decision in favor of T.A., a student with AD/HD and related disorders. T.A. had ongoing difficulties in school but despite repeated requests was not evaluated for AD/HD by the Forest Grove (Oregon) School District.
The Court, in an opinion authored by Justice John Paul Stevens, ruled that students with disabilities are eligible to receive tuition reimbursement for placement in a private school when the district fails to provide them a free and appropriate public education as required by the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA).
According to Clarke Ross, CHADD’s CEO, “the Court’s decision in the case affirms the responsibility of school districts to properly identify and evaluate students suspected of having a disability such as AD/HD, and provide them a free and appropriate public education. When school districts fail or choose not to meet this requirement, parents have a right to find another school that can provide their child with a free and appropriate public education, and seek reimbursement for that placement.”
In reaching its decision, the Court found that the 1997 amendments to IDEA do not bar recovery for tuition reimbursement, as some lower courts have ruled, and that absent clear Congressional language in the 1997 IDEA amendments, the earlier court decisions (Burlington School Committee v. Massachusetts Department of Education, 1985, and Florence County School District IV v. Shannon Carter, 1993) establishing the right to tuition reimbursement are still valid case law.
To help educate the Court about the diagnosis and unintended consequences of untreated AD/HD, CHADD joined an amicus brief written by the Disability Rights Legal Center and Davis Wright Tremaine LLP. Civil rights organizations also joined in support of T.A., including the Learning Rights Law Center, Public Counsel, and the Association for Parent-Child Advocacy.
Read the Court's full decision here.
http://www.councilofcollaboratives.org/files/08-305.pdf
http://www.chadd.org
