Heather Hulit, Berney & Sang
The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) is a federal law that requires local school districts and charter schools (schools) to provide a free and appropriate public education (FAPE) to children with special education needs. When schools fail to provide these children with FAPE, parents may file an administrative complaint seeking relief for those IDEA violations. Compensatory education is by far the most common remedy for children who are denied FAPE. But the way compensatory education is distributed is often rife with delays and unexpected denials so that the compensatory education fund can become merely “monopoly money.” Besides the negative impact this has on children, it also limits the capacity of special education litigation to deter schools from violating students’ rights. There is a simple solution to this problem—third-party trusts.
