Tuesday, July 19, 2011

Parent reimbursement upheld by federal district court in Colorado

Here's an interesting one: a federal district court in Colorado has upheld a lower court decision that " parents of a student with psychiatric and emotional disorders, who unilaterally placed the student in a private residential treatment facility, are entitled to tuition reimbursement" (emphasis added). In other words, the parents put their daughter in this facility without the prior consent of their sending school district to pay for such a placement, but the district is being required to pay for it, nonetheless.
The editor further notes:
 The school district has appealed the district court's decision to the Tenth Circuit. As pointed out by the district court, the three-judge panel drawing this case will face for the first time the question of what test to employ to determine whether a private placement is reimbursable under IDEA.
(If this interests you, read the abstract, as there are a few more ins and outs than I've entered here.)

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