SPECIAL EDUCATION LITIGATION KEY COURT DECISIONS

Foundational Litigation

Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka Kansas (1954) African American children forced to attend segregated schools Denied their constitutional rights under the 14th Amendment

Court decision In these days, it is doubtful that any child may reasonably be expected to succeed in life if he is denied the opportunity of an education. Such an opportunity, where the state has undertaken to provide it, is a right which must be made available to all on equal terms.” End of “separate but equal”

Hobson v. Hansen (1967) Black students placed in disproportionate # in lower tracks in Washington D. C. public schools Determined to be discrimination against the socially and/or economically disadvantaged Court required school to discontinue the practice and provide compensatory education

Special Education Decisions

Diana v. State Board of Education (1970) Use of standardized tests to classify minority students Nine Mexican American students assigned to Sp. Ed. in California

Diana v. State Board of Education (cont.) Students put in special education based on IQ tests given in English standardized on a white, native-born American population items that were later determined to culturally biased

Diana v. State Board of Education: DECISION Students need to be compared to their peer group and not to non- minority group. – nondiscriminatory assessment

Mills vs Board of Education (1971) 7 students with varying disabilities (mental retardation and physical disabilities) Refused admission to Washington D.C. public schools or expelled based on disability District admitted that 12, 340 children would not be served in schools because of disabilities during the school year

Decision: “District Court ruled that school districts were constitutionally prohibited from deciding that they had inadequate resources to serve children with disabilities because the equal protection clause of the Fourteenth Amendment would not allow the burden of insufficient funding to fall more heavily on children with disabilities than on other children” (Martin, Martin & Terman, 1996).

PARC v. Commonwealth of PENNSYLVANIA (1972) Brought on the behalf of students with MR Required public education for students with MR

Larry P. v. Riles (1972, 1974, 1979, 1984) Similar to Diana but involved an African American Student Problem verified by court decision was that the test had not been validated on an appropriate population RESULT: disproportionate # of minority students placed in special education

Court said couldn’t placed students until retested with unbiased assessments California directed to retest all students in special education

Board of Education v. Rowley (1984) LANDMARK CASE Parents asked school district to provide interpreter for daughter who was deaf Initial decision was that school must provide Supreme court decision – school did not need to provide this related service

Critical Decision: APPROPRIATE DOES NOT MEAN OPTIMAL

The Independent School District v. Tatro (1984) Amber Tatro – spina bifida District did not want to provided related service of clean intermittent catheterization Not considered medical procedure in this situation

Virginia Department of Education v. Riley (1997) Department of Education v. Riley (1997) Federal funds can be withheld from states if they do not comply with the regulations and legislation concerning the education of students with disabilities.