Special Education Case That Made It to Supreme Court Enters Final Chapter
February 13, 2018
By: Christina Samuels
Source: Education Week
When the U.S. Supreme Court created a stronger standard for special education in a unaminous decision last year, observers could be forgiven for believing that was the end of the story.
But for the family at the center of Endrew F. v. Douglas County School District, the decision had the practical result of sending their dispute—at this point, eight years old—back to the lower court to be evaluated under the standard that the higher court outlined. That standard: that special education must offer “an educational program reasonably calculated to enable a child to make progress appropriate in light of the child’s circumstances,” not an education that is just a little bit more than nothing.
On Monday, U.S. District Judge Lewis Babcock, in Denver, ruled that the 66,000-student Colorado district is responsible for the private school costs for Endrew, known as Drew, who has been attending a private school for students with autism since he was in elementary school.