After a protracted court battle, a New Jersey school district has agreed to reimburse parents for legal fees and the cost of tuition at a state-approved private school.
The case involves a boy with autism, now 15, placed at a private school by his parents. Initially, the board of education refused to provide an IEP because the boy was not enrolled in the public school.
The settlement was reached through mediation ordered by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit. It lets stand a federal district court decision that found the school district had erred in failing to provide the boy—who lives within the district—an Individualized Education Plan (IEP) on the grounds that he was not enrolled in the local public school. The district argued that, given the boy’s enrollment status, he qualified for a lower level of evaluation and service plan, but not an IEP.
An earlier state court decision found that the boy should have been provided an IEP, but the district appealed that decision, as well.
The district court judge ruled that the boy was entitled to a full IEP from the district in past years, even though his parents had taken him out of the district’s public school and enrolled him in a private school. The decision may have an impact on students with disabilities beyond New Jersey.
