NSBA signs on to amicus brief in Thompson R2-J School District v. Luke P.
NSBA has joined the Colorado Association of School Boards (CASB), along with the Colorado BOCES Association and the Colorado Special Education Directors Consortium, in an amicus brief to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit (CO, KS, NM, OK, UT, WY) in Thompson R2-J School District v. Luke P. At issue in the case is whether, under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), an individualized education program (IEP) must ensure a student’s self-sufficiency or the student’s progress in school constitutes an educational benefit sufficient to satisfy the act’s requirements. The brief argues that the U.S. district court in the case ignored U.S. Supreme Court and Tenth Circuit precedent and created a novel legal standard by ruling that an IEP is insufficient under IDEA if it does not ensure a student’s progress not only in school, but also at home, at church, and in the communities. "If school districts are obligated to ensure progress at home and in the community in order to defend the appropriateness of the public education program," the brief states, then they "will need to operate around-the-clock public education programs in multiple private settings, including grocery stores, restaurants, and churches." The brief also contends that families of students in special education will lose privacy because they "will be forced to open their doors and invite educational authorities into their homes in the name of public education." Such a consequence, the brief continues, never was intended by Congress, which "never provided funding for the IDEA substantive standard that this case prescribes." The brief concludes that where a student has made progress in the school’s program, "there is no justification for a finding that a school district has failed to satisfy IDEA and ordering a publicly funded residential placement." Lead author on the brief was CASB attorney Kathleen Sullivan.
CASB et al. brief in Thompson R2-J School District v. Luke P.