January/February, 2008 FORUM Article

 Highlighted Resources:
• Guidance for Extended School Year Services

Parents Denied Reimbursement For Evaluation

A federal appeals court ruled in favor of an Ohio school district in a dispute with parents who claimed they should be reimbursed for the cost of an independent evaluation to determine if their child had a learning disability.

The 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled in a 3-0 opinion that the while the parents had a right to seek an independent educational evaluation (IEE) under facts of the case, reimbursement at public expense was not required. The circuit judges affirmed a decision of a northern Ohio federal judge in denying payment for the private evaluation.

The case involved parents of a student who attended the Woodmore Local School District in Woodville from kindergarten until his high school graduation in June 2006.

When the student was halfway through his junior year in high school, the parents made a written request to the district to have him tested for a learning disability. In response to subsequent disciplinary action against the student, the parents requested a due process hearing and asked that the district be ordered to perform the requested evaluation.

Prior to the hearing, the school system completed a multi-factored evaluation and concluded that the student was not eligible for special education services under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA). Unhappy with the decision, the parents paid for a private, independent evaluation.

An impartial hearing officer at a subsequent hearing concluded that the student did not qualify for special education services despite his Attention Deficit Disorder and allergy problems because his educational performance was not adversely affected.

As a result, the officer also concluded that the parents were not entitled to reimbursement for the cost of their private evaluation. The parents then took the case to U.S. District Court, which ruled in favor of the district last January.

The parents did not contest the district court's eligibility determination in their appeal to the 6th Circuit, nor their right to obtain an independent evaluation. The sole issue was whether federal and state regulations required reimbursement to them for the cost of the private evaluation.

The appellate panel, in an opinion not attributed to a specific judge, said federal law provides that parents of a child who may have a disability have the right to obtain an independent evaluation of the child. "The district court properly construed the implementing regulations as stating that, if there is a hearing where the parent was afforded due process and the final decision 'is that the agency's evaluation is appropriate, the parent still has the right to an independent educational evaluation but not at public expense,'" the appeals court said.

Circuit judges said the parents had participated in a two-day due process hearing before an impartial hearing officer during which numerous exhibits were introduced and witnesses testified about the district's evaluation testing process and conclusions. "Witnesses included the student's mother, the school psychologist, the athletic director, the special education director, the special education teacher, the student's guidance counselor and his teachers for economics/ government, math, chemistry, and English," the court said. "There is no evidence that the district failed to undertake the burden of defending the appropriateness of both its evaluation and its eligibility determination at the due process hearing," it said.

Reprinted from Gongwer News, Volume #76, Report #231, Article #04, 11-26-07.