Court to Weigh Public Schools' Responsibility to Fund Private Special Education - washingtonpost.com: The Supreme Court will consider a question this week that has riled parents, cost local school boards here and across the country hundreds of millions of dollars, and vexed the justices themselves: When must public school officials pay for private schooling for children with special needs?
The issue has emerged as one of the fastest-growing components of local education budgets, threatening to 'seriously deplete public education funds,' which would then detract from the care of students with disabilities who remain in the system, according to a brief filed by the nation's urban school districts.
It has also become one of the most emotional and litigious disagreements between frazzled parents and financially strapped school officials, with the battles often ending in court. District of Columbia schools allocated $7.5 million of this year's $783 million budget just for such legal costs.
Congress and the court have made it clear that every child with disabilities has a right to a 'free appropriate public education.' If the school system can't provide one for a child with a disability, it must reimburse parents for private school costs.
