Access Center for Education is in the process of researching how much money school districts spend on attorney fees for special education. Attorney fees for public school district special education represents services provided by attorneys directly to the district in consultation regarding individual cases. These services are provided on cases that go to hearing, cases that go to mediation, and cases that do not make it as far as mediation.
Reimbursements to parents occur when both parties either settle prior to hearing or the parent prevails in the administrative hearing. Reimbursements cover parent's attorney fees, independent educational evaluations and costs for other services and evaluations.
This page provides a growing list of how much school districts pay for these two types of expenses.
Irvine Unified School District
| IUSD | 2004 |
|---|---|
| Legal Retainer and Service Fees | $195,000 |
| Parent Reimbursement | $435,000 |
"In Hamilton County, Tenn.,...school officials spent $2.2 million on lawyers and expert witnesses to avoid having to reimburse Maureen and Philip Deal the $60,000 annual cost of providing their autistic son, Zachary, with one-on-one behavioral training. Administrators warned that giving in could have made the district responsible for $10 million a year in services for other children. In December, the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit sided largely with the parents. The district is reviewing its options."
"Westport...[Conn] school district has spent more than $2 million on legal fees and settlement costs in the last six years to fight parents' complaints that special education students get short shrift...Ms. Gilchrest, Westport's director of pupil services, said that during the 2003-4 school year, "if we had said yes to every request that went to due process, it would have cost an additional $1 million." Settling those cases cost the district $309,000, she said. Thus, even with $153,000 in legal fees, she said, taxpayers saved more than $500,000."