Finding the Right Special Education Attorney for you

Choosing the right special education attorney requires careful consideration of several factors. Here are some steps to help you find a qualified and experienced special education attorney: Research: Start by researching special education…

“?!?*# Buses”

Much as you can count on Autumn in New York City to bring colorful leaves and earlier and earlier Halloween decorations in stores (wait, is that a Santa display I see?!), you can also count on busing issues. But this year busing issues are,…

Statement Calling for a Halt to the Practice of Separating Children from their Parents

I am proud to be a member of the Council of Parent Attorneys and Advocates, also known as COPAA. COPAA’s mission is to protect and enforce the legal and civil rights of students with disabilities and their families. COPAA is an amazing organization…

Rights of Children of Undocumented Parents

I’m a Special Education Attorney always looking for ideas for my Blog. I have been speaking with Immigration Law Attorneys about what educational issues would be most relevant to their clients. Given the current political climate, I thought…

Supreme Court Decision adopts “APPROPRIATELY AMBITIOUS” Standard for Educational Benefit

In a unanimous opinion today, the Supreme Court held that “to meet its substantive obligation under the IDEA [Individuals with Disabilities Education Act], a school must offer an IEP [individualized education program] reasonably calculated…

Good News for NYC Special Education Students

There's some good news tucked away in New York City's Department of Education's Report on the Fiscal 2017 Executive Budget. The projected Budget would be $1.2 billion more than the DOE's 2016 Adopted Budget. Much of the increase reflects an…

School District Settles Special Education Lawsuit

The Hastings-on-Hudson school district in New York recently settled a federal lawsuit brought against it in June 2014 by a group of parents of special needs students. According to The Rivertowns Enterprise July 8, 2016 newspaper, the School…

Reading and Math Scores Mixed in New York; Number of Students with Disabilities Taking Statewide Tes

As discussed in a prior post, the U.S. Department of Education ("DOE") performs an annual review of States, as mandated by the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, to determine how well they are meeting the needs of their Students…

Failing to Meet Education Department Reqs.

According to the June 2016 release of the U.S. Department of Education's most recent evaluation of state performance, twenty-seven states and the District of Columbia failed to meet the requirements of the Individuals with Disabilities Education…

529 Able Accounts

Parents of children with disabilities should be very excited about the debut of this new tax-free savings account. This will be a great option for those who are intimidated by Supplemental Needs Trusts ("SNT"); Trusts that are intended to financially…

What the Heck is Educational Benefit???!!!

Parents often ask me how much progress their children with disabilities are "expected" to make for Districts to be compliant with FAPE (Free Appropriate Public Education). I tell them that the Supreme Court has determined that Districts must…

Common Core Standards

Expect to hear about this a lot over the next year. What are they? They are a new set of national education standards in math and English language arts. These standards will take effect in most states next year. Do we need them? Well, let’s…