City Must Pay Private Education of Disabled Students

The Supreme Court essentially upheld an Appeals Court ruling that said New York City must pay the private education of disabled students. The twist is that the students and their parents don't even need to try to see if the public school programs are adequate for them.

Actually, there's another twist: The lawsuit against the city was filed by former Viacom CEO and co-founder of MTV, multimillionaire Tom Freston. Freston's son Gilbert has learning disabilities, and, even though he earned a "coveted spot at the Lower Laboratory School for Gifted Education," Freston opted to send him to a smaller private school. He eventually won tuition reimbursement from the Board of Education, which then sued Freston, but later the Second Circuit Court agreed with him.

The city had tried to argue, "You can't just say, 'I have no interest in sending my kid to a public school and I'm just going to ask the school district to pay.' The statute requires that you work with the schools." The justices voted 4-4, with Justice Kennedy recusing himself. Mayor Bloomberg explained the lawsuit, "They just decided their kid needed private schools and never sent their child to public schools and just sent us a bill. We thought that that was not appropriate, that the city can't afford to send every child to private school."

Freston had said before the ruling that he was fighting for the principle of the matter. The NY Times reports that Freston says he's donated the tuition reimbursements to tutoring programs for public school children. According to the Daily News, Freston is "thrilled" and wanted to "ensure that our government, as a matter of public policy, fulfills its obligations to families by ensuring they have access to suitable special education programs."

The city is concerned because more and more families are applying for tuition reimbursement and it may cost the city millions more. The NY Sun has an editorial blasting the decision.

Contact the author of this article or email tips@gothamist.com with further questions, comments or tips.

By Jen Chung in News on October 11, 2007 3:42 PM

Comments [rss]

Joan

Thank you Mr. Freston for setting precedence for my child to get the education that he deserves. Our Public School District does not have a program, nor the knowledge to correctly help, a Twice Exceptional student. You did a very good thing for those of us who need a proper curriculum, but don't have the funds to pay for a private school. My child deserves an appropriate education based on his needs, not just what the school, without a proper knowlege of the underliying issues of the diagnosis, can paste together for him. Other districts in our area have had 2e programs, for a different exception than our childs, for 25 years. Our district has never even heard of it. Does my child need to get lost in the system because the district hasn't progressed in the last 25 years?

guest

The problem is this: There is a limited education budget. When more of it is used to send "special" children to expensive "special" schools, less is available for everything else. So, the gifted and regular kids will get less.

There is no free school lunch.

guest

Finally!

http://eganfoote.wordpress.com

Egan, out!

guest

(Oh, and by cheating, I mean giving students the answers to their tests. AP tests and Regents' exams.)

Benjamin N. Cardozo High School, in Bayside, NY.

guest

Benjamin N. Cardozo High School, if you're interested, is where the teachers of advance placement classes cheated to make sure the grade average would continue to justify their existence.

Rampant cheating. In fact, once you're an A.P. student, you barely have to work again, they're so desperate to keep you in.

guest

Yeah, well, maybe the public school system should get better before it feels insulted that nobody wants to send their kids there. My education in the public system was CRAP. The standards are so low, and the teachers so pathetically underpaid and desperate (my advance placement teachers actually CHEATED, yes, cheated, in order to keep our grades up out of fear of losing their classes), that I'm not surprised nobody trusts the public school with their special needs children if they don't have to. I did well, but would hate to have been a special needs child.

guest

was this kid autistic or learning disabled?

are these terms interchangeable now?

and what's with the name of that school, school for gifted education? wtf?

Public schools are fine, he just didn't want his kid with the unwashed poor. I mean what's the difference really? they're retarded, rich retard or poor colored retard, still retard.

too bad all his money couldn't fix that problem.

guest

Forcing a child to undergo a year of academic failure in an inadequate program in order to finance an appropriate program is sadistic.

It doesn't matter how much money you have the state must provide a free and adequate public education. If public schools aren't up to it or don't give a crap about "retards" then they should have to pay the bill.

guest

Does anyone here have any experience with kids that have disabilities? There is an autism epidemic and unfortunately the majority of public schools can't provide what a lot of these kids need.

I am a big believer in public schools, and would be thrilled if there was one appropriate for my child. And he did go to public school for special ed for 2 years before going to a state approved private school which could provide the education that he needs. It would have been better for him to go to the school right away then waste 2 years.

guest

Well, this could be said to set a precedent for vouchers.

guest

we need term limits for judges - most of them are out of their minds.

guest

correct JMH, and freston never tried. he should not be reimbursed.

JMH

I agree with [4] - the poll frames the issue poorly. The problem with this ruling is that you don't KNOW that "it would be useless exercise to put a child through an inadequate program" until you give it a try.

guest

That poll question - specifically the "yes" answer - is terribly worded. I didn't know it was a fact that every NY public school has inadequate special education programs. It assumes too much - just like Mr. Feston.

but most people think this is a bad decision so it doesn't matter.

_

poll nazi

guest

shit, i am 39, deaf, and still in school (2 MA's under my belt and a PhD on the way, folks!)... now i found a way to pay back all those damn student loans, etc.!!!

thank you, gil freston and the court judges.... idiots!

guest

That poll question - specifically the "yes" answer - is terribly worded. i didn't know it was fact that every NY public school has inadequate programs for disabled students.

but i'm glad 89% of folks thinks this is a bad decision.

guest

gil freston is actually a good friend of mine, he's very bright, the news makes him look like a retard, whereas in actuality he was just a little crazy when he was younger.

guest

I'm glad you got around to this Jen.

I was gonna mention Karma due to the fact that the father was CEO of viacom. he founded MTV, nuff said.

Now we gotta foot the bill so his retard son can go to a 230k a year private school. I went with the upper limit because there was a 230k reimbursement sent in to the DOE.