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Mission: Inform Ohioans of effective steps to secure a thorough and efficient system of common schools throughout the State.

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The trial court in DeRolph has laid the groundwork for the most significant expansion of educational opportunity in the history of U.S. public schools

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IDEA, FAPE, and Equal Protection: A Guide for School Board Members

The Conclusions of Law in the trial court of the DeRolph case have significantly expanded educational opportunity for all Ohio public school students by applying equal protection to the entitlements of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act.

IDEA: Individuals with Disabilities Education Act

IDEA places many requirements on school districts which receive federal money to subsidize education of students with disabilities. The ones relevant to the following discussion are: A free, appropriate, public education (FAPE) which confers meaningful educational benefit in the least restrictive environment. Here's what the words mean:

• A free, appropriate, public education: The local schools accept responsibility for providing schooling.
• which confers meaningful educational benefit: The education must be appropriate for the ability of the student--no academic "warehousing."
• in the least restrictive environment: Students should not be isolated from other students, i.e. no physical or psychological "warehousing" of students. The requirements of IDEA have resulted in "inclusion" classes, in which individuals with disabilities are included in classrooms of students without disabilities. In theory, the cost of educating students with disabilities should be paid by the state or federal funds allocated for that purpose.

  Equal Protection Applied to IDEA and FAPE

  In the Conclusions of Law in the DeRolph case, Judge Linton Lewis extended equal protection to the class of non-handicapped Ohio public school students:

  The defendants have created and maintained an arbitrary distinction between classes of pupils without any rational basis by affording rights and benefits to some public school pupils based on the determination of a handicapping condition and denying the same rights and benefits to the remainder of the pupils in the state, in violation of the Ohio Constitution.

  Just what are the "rights and benefits" denied non-handicapped students?

  • Free, appropriate public education which confers meaningful educational benefit. Such an education is antithetical to "sitting idly in regular classrooms."
  • Parents may be reimbursed for tuition if they unilaterally withdraw their child from a public school that provides an inappropriate education and put the child in a private school that provides an appropriate education.

  Judge Lewis also ruled that funding for both students with and without disabilities should be set through a rational basis which reflects the actual needs of the students:

  The funding for special education students is required and there is no argument that these students need the services to which they are entitled. Likewise, there is no rational basis for funding the education of non-handicapped students at a funding level based on what remains after funding special education rather than being based on the actual needs of those nonhandicapped students. To so fund these students is a violation of their equal protection and due process rights.

  It is important to note that these are entitlements of individual students, not general guidelines for public education.

  What this means for students

  Judge Lewis' line of argumentation asserts that each student in a district is entitled to a free, appropriate public education which confers meaningful educational benefit. This sets a standard of service which, if unmet, can become the subject of civil action (litigation). The district's best defense would be to demonstrate that each student is in fact receiving a year's worth of educational benefit for each year of attendance.

  Unless the district is using value-added assessment to ensure compliance with these Constitutional mandates, there is a good chance that many students are not achieving a full year of academic growth for each year spent in school. Parents now have the option of moving such a child to a private school and recovering the tuition from the public school system.

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  STEPS Mission: Inform Ohioans of effective steps to secure a thorough and efficient system of common schools throughout the State.

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