District-Initiated Due Process Hearing Decisions Under the IDEA: Frequency and Outcomes

The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) is the primary federa legislation for special education in public schools. Its core obligation for school districts is the provision of a free appropriate public education (FAPE) to eligible students.  The primary adjudicative mechanism, which the parties must exhaust before judicial determinations of FAPE, is the due process hearing (DPH). The filing party for a DPH may be the parent or the school district. The IDEA regulations for ‘‘standard’’ DPHs require school district filings for denial of independent educational evaluations (IEEs) at public expense and, with limited exceptions, permit school district filings to override lack of parental consent for evaluations. Additionally, per the IDEA’s structure, a limited number of the IDEA’s corollary state laws provide varying additions to the consent requirements, thus providing the potential for more district-initiated DPHs seeking an override. Empirical research on the frequency and outcomes of DPHs under the IDEA has been extensive. A common perception is that parents initiate almost all of these hearings. Yet, the research to date concerning the initiating party for DPH decisions provide notably limited findings concerning frequency and outcomes of hearings in which a school district is the initiating party. The purpose of this analysis is to provide a more accurate national snapshot of district-initiated DPH decisions.