The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit in Philadelphia will review a case that has potential to undermine special education rights for students with disabilities. The case, D.F. v. Collingswood Public Schools, involves access to compensatory education.
Guaranteed by federal law, compensatory education is an award of special education programs or services, such as tutoring, speech or physical therapy, in order to make up for a school district’s failure to provide a “free and appropriate public education,” or FAPE. It is often the only remedy available to students to address past violations.
Last year, a New Jersey district court ruled that a child’s claim to compensatory education was moot because the child subsequently moved from New Jersey to another state.
The New Jersey-based Education Law Center (ELC) filed an amicus brief in the case, urging the Third Circuit to reverse the lower court’s decision, and was joined on the brief by nearly a dozen national and statewide advocacy organizations. The document urges the court to uphold compensatory education awards to children who leave school districts that previously denied them special education programs and services.
The decision has implications for all students with disabilities, but particularly indigent students and others, who may move out of the district, including across state lines.
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