If you're the parent or guardian of a child living in the Boise, Idaho area who has special educational needs, in particular a child who has a “disability” as that term is used in education law, you understand the challenges that you and your child face when it comes to getting a quality education. Fortunately, there are federal and Idaho state laws that are designed to help make sure your child receives the help they need when attending a public school in the Boise area.
This summary of education disability laws and rights in the Boise area is designed to give you a general understanding of the disability rights that exist for students at both the K-12 and college levels. If you have questions after reading this, the Lento Law Firm Education Law Team can help give you some answers, and where necessary can help you defend your child's legal rights to an education. Call us at 888.535.3686 or use our contact form to set up a consultation to learn more about how we can help.
There are two important federal laws that impact the kind of education a student with a disability can receive, particularly at the K-12 level. One is called the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), and the other is the Individuals With Disabilities Education Act (IDEA). A third law, section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, applies where a school receives federal funding, and prohibits the school from discriminating against a student with a disability. These laws together impose a number of requirements on public schools when it comes to providing educational opportunities for students with disabilities. (Private schools, on the other hand, may not be required to follow these laws in exactly the same way that public schools do. If your child is enrolled at a private school and you have questions about their educational rights, contact us to discuss the situation.)
The Boise Area
In addition to including Boise itself, the Boise metro area covers a number of neighboring cities including Caldwell, Meridian, and Nampa, as well as smaller towns such as Eagle, Kuna, Middleton, Mountain Home, and Garden City. With some 800,000 people living in the area, it's home to a dozen or more public school districts that together serve tens of thousands of students. The Boise metro area is part of the Idaho Department of Education's District 3 region, a large area that extends from the state's southwest border north to Adams County.
According to records compiled by the Idaho Department of Education, there are more than 11,000 students in the Boise metro area who are identified as “students with disabilities” and who receive “special education and related services” from their schools. And while the laws that apply to these schools in connection with providing educational opportunities for students with disabilities are the same, each school district may have its own way of complying with its obligations. As a parent of a child with a disability attending one of these schools, it's important to learn about your child's school's policies and procedures if you are to help make sure your child's rights are respected and protected by the school.
Colleges in the Boise metro area include Boise State University with more than 17,000 students, the College of Western Idaho, which is the largest community college in Idaho with an enrollment of more than 6,000, and smaller schools such as the College of Idaho and Northwest Nazarene University.
It's important to understand that at the college level, the obligations schools have to provide accommodations to students with disabilities change considerably. For example, colleges aren't required to provide Individualized Education Programs (IEPs) for their students with disabilities the way that grade and high schools are (though IEPs from high school can often provide helpful guidance as to the modifications that the student needs). On the other hand, they are very likely required to make the public portions of campus accessible to students with disabilities, and may have to provide a range of other modifications to their procedures for students who are registered as “disabled.” These can include additional time to complete exams, ASL interpreters for hearing-impaired students, audiobook access for sight-impaired students, and other procedures and materials designed to help disabled college students complete their education.
Understanding FAPE, Reasonable Accommodations, and IEPs
There is a lot of jargon used in connection with the laws that apply the requirements schools must meet when educating students with disabilities. Here are some of the important definitions:
- Child with a disability. A “disability” can include a wide range of things: “an intellectual disability, a hearing impairment (including deafness), a speech or language impairment, a visual impairment (including blindness), a serious emotional disturbance (referred to in this part as “emotional disturbance”), an orthopedic impairment, autism, traumatic brain injury, an other health impairment, a specific learning disability, deaf-blindness, or multiple disabilities”
- Free Appropriate Public Education (FAPE). This isn't a term that's specifically defined, but is what the federal regulations written to implement IDEA are designed to ensure. It's something that “must be available to all children” from age 3 to 21, including “to any individual child with a disability who needs special education and related services.”
- Individualized Education Program (IEP). This is something that is tailored to each child with a disability. It has detailed and specific requirements, and is designed to give parents and educators a plan that can be used to help educate the student. It will describe what modifications to the learning process, if any, will be made to help the student's progress, and will be revised periodically as the child's education progresses.
- Reasonable Modifications. In the educational context, these are modifications made in “policies, practices, or procedures” that are “necessary to avoid discrimination on the basis of disability.” Schools don't have to make every possible kind of modification for a student, particularly where a modification would “fundamentally alter the nature” of the educational services they provide.
- Least Restrictive Environment. This is a requirement that schools, to the extent possible, educate students with disabilities “with children who are not disabled,” and that they only place students with disabilities in “special classes, separate schooling” or other learning situations away from students who do not have disabilities only in situations where educating them with other students “cannot be achieved satisfactorily.”
Idaho Law for Students With Disabilities
Idaho law states that public school districts are required to “provide for the special education and related services of children with disabilities” who are enrolled with the district. The law essentially adopts the requirements imposed by federal law, and applies them to public schools in Idaho.
The Idaho Department of Education has a number of ways that parents of students with disabilities can intervene to try to fix situations where their child is not receiving an appropriate education, or where the school is not making reasonable modifications to their child's learning situation in light of the student's particular disability. If you suspect that your child's school is not making the proper modifications to their education based on their disability, contact the Lento Law Firm Education Law Team for help. Our experienced education law attorneys are ready to discuss your child's situation with you, and will work with you to bring the issues to the attention of your child's school. Where necessary, we can use one of the five different types of dispute resolution services that the Idaho Department of Education has in place.
Idaho Dispute Resolution Procedures for Students With Disabilities
The five different types of dispute resolution procedures that parents of students with disabilities attending Idaho public schools can use are as follows:
- Facilitation. This is an optional process that your child's school district may offer. It's meant for situations where parents and the school disagree as to the types of educational modifications that are to be included in a student's IEP. A trained facilitator is selected by the Department of Education's Dispute Resolution Office. The facilitator meets with the parents and school representatives to attempt to help them resolve any disagreements about the contents of the IEP. The facilitator won't make decisions about the IEP; their role is to help guide the parties to mutual agreement. You're allowed to have a representative at the meeting with the facilitator, such as one of the experienced attorneys from the Lento Law Firm Education Law Team.
- Mediation. This, like Facilitation, is voluntary. It's very similar to Facilitation, in that the mediator will try to help the parties come to an agreement on the student's IEP. The Department of Education's Dispute Resolution Coordinator will select the mediator. Typically, mediators have a wide range of options as to how to try to resolve disagreements. The mediator might sit in on a meeting with both sides present, or may have parents in one room and school representatives in another, and spend part of the session moving between the two sides to try to narrow disputed issues. , except that the Department of Education will select the mediator. Here too, the Lento Law Firm Education Law Team can participate in the mediation with you.
- State Administrative Complaint. This is a more formal process than Facilitation or Mediation, and involves filing a complaint with your child's school district and with the Department of Education's Dispute Resolution Coordinator. If properly filed and served, the State Administrative Complaint will be investigated by the Department of Education. The DoE may ask you for additional information as part of that process. It will then determine whether the school district is violating the IDEA, and will issue a detailed written decision that will include fact findings, legal conclusions, and the reasons for the DoE's decision.
In cases where the DoE finds that the district has violated the IDEA, it will also issue a “corrective action plan” in writing that will instruct the district how it's to fix the problem. Depending on the situation, the district might be required to provide denied services to your child, to provide training to district personnel, to provide necessary technical support, or any or all of these. The Lento Law Firm Education Law Team can help draft and file a compelling, well-supported State Administrative Complaint in cases where doing so is likely to be an effective way to resolve an IDEA violation.
- Expedited Due Process Hearings. These are for situations where a student with a disability is disciplined by the school, the goal being to have the entire dispute resolved within 30 days of when it's filed. A hearing officer must be appointed within 5 days of when you request the Expedited Due Process Hearing; a resolution session must be held within 7 days of when you file (unless both you and the school agree to postpone it). The hearing must happen within 20 days of your request, with the decision made within 10 days of the hearing. If you disagree with the hearing officer's decision, you can appeal to federal or Idaho state court.
The hearing is in-person before a DoE-appointed hearing officer. You're allowed to have an attorney represent you and your student at the hearing.
- Due Process Hearing. This is based on a complaint about the school's “identification, evaluation, educational placement, or the provision of a free appropriate public education for a student with a disability.”
Examples of the types of disputes that may be resolved this way include:
- Disagreement with the school's evaluation of whether your child is eligible for special education services
- Concerns that the IEP fails to meet your child's needs, where the school refuses to modify it
- Situations where the school fails to provide the services included in your child's IEP
- Disagreement concerning the placement decision the school has made for your child
Due process hearing complaints have a longer timeline than expedited complaints. At some point, typically within 15 days of when you file the complaint, a “resolution meeting” – essentially a settlement conference – will be held to see if the parties can agree on a way to resolve the issues described in the complaint.
If the resolution meeting fails to resolve the matter, a hearing will be scheduled within 45 days, and will proceed before a hearing officer appointed by the DoE, who will issue a decision about the dispute. If you disagree with the hearing officer's decision, you may appeal by filing a civil lawsuit in federal or Idaho state court.
Protect Your Student's Right to an Education
The Lento Law Firm Education Law Team is here to help you protect your special needs child's right to an education, particularly where you believe your child is not receiving the “free and appropriate” level of education that they're entitled to under federal and Idaho law. Our experienced education law attorneys can help you at every stage, from working with the school to confirm your child's disability; to creating and refining an effective IEP; to helping make sure that the IEP is followed by the school and that your child is receiving all of the benefits to which they're entitled under the law.
If you have questions about your rights or your child's situation, call the Lento Law Firm Education Law Team at 888.535.3686, or use our contact form to set up a confidential consultation. Your student deserves the best education possible; let us help you make sure they get it!
