COPAA Response to April 9, 2007 Forbes Article, "A Costly Education"
April 2, 2007
Editor
Forbes.com
Re: A Costly Education (April 9, 2007)
Dear Editor,
Your recent Forbes Article, "A Costly Education" gives
a misleading impression of parents who are forced to litigate
to protect their children's educational rights.
The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act was passed 32
years ago to ensure that children with disabilities receive a
free appropriate public education--a right they had long been
denied, and which many continue to be denied. Parents prevail
in litigation and recover their attorneys' fees only if the school
district provides an education so inferior that it fails this
modest standard.
School districts often use insurance policies to pay their own
litigation costs and litigate to the bitter end. The Ravenswood,
California school district paid its own lawyers nearly $2.1 million,
about 5.5% of its annual budget, to defend a program a federal
court found grossly deficient.
A Georgia school district hired a law firm to defend its failure
to provide any meaningful program to a child with autism. After
refusing parents' repeated efforts to settle, the school district
lost at every level through the Court of Appeals. Ultimately,
taxpayers had to pay $420,000 in legal fees for the school district's
law firm--more than double the $200,000 in fees for parents'
counsel. Had the school district settled after due process, the
parents' fees would only have been $15,000.
Litigation is rare, with only 5 due process hearings per 10,000
special education students. The ability of parents to bring suit
as private attorneys general is critical to IDEA's enforcement
scheme. Like other civil rights laws, IDEA provides for fee shifting
to ensure vigorous enforcement by citizens who often cannot afford
attorneys. Nearly 2/3 of children with disabilities are in families
earning under $50,000 a year.
Since the District of Columbia imposed attorneys' fee caps,
untimely evaluations and unimplemented hearing officer decisions
have increased, and children receive inferior educations. Basic
economics teaches that price controls will only worsen the shortage
of attorneys who represent parents. (There is no shortage of
lawyers representing school districts).
Special education remains inadequate in this country. In a recent
GAO survey, 30 of 31 states were out of compliance with IDEA's
basic requirements.
When children with disabilities receive inappropriate educations,
America pays enormous social and economic costs. Capping attorneys'
fees and creating other obstacles to parents' ability to enforce
the IDEA will only perpetuate these problems, and deny children
access to the education they rightfully deserve.
We would be happy to discuss any of the issues raised by this
letter with you and answer any questions you have about special
education litigation.
Thank you,
Jessica Butler
Chair, Board of Directors
Council of Parent Attorneys & Advocates, Inc. |
