The Breaking News Blog

Looking for a special education attorney in PA? Learn how to choose the right one for your family's needs. Contact the Law Office of Mark W. Voigt for more information.

During the pandemic, many school districts have ignored their students with education special needs. They created all virtual or hybrid instructional models without any regard for the difficulties such children face in learning that way. I cannot emphasize enough that THE IDEA REMAINS IN EFFECT DURING THE PANDEMIC. School districts must offer every child with a disability a free appropriate public education no matter how inconvenient it may be for them. If a district fails to offer a child FAPE, parents have powerful remedies including tuition reimbursement, compensatory education, extended school year services and many others. Please contact me for a free consultation to discuss your rights.

Many parents come to me seeking tuition reimbursement from their school district so their special needs child can attend a private school. These parents often have tried for years to convince their school districts to help their child but received nothing in return.

Many Parents don’t fight for their children’s special education rights because they think they cannot afford an attorney. However, I have proudly represented Parents with limited financial means for sixteen years. My hourly fees often are much lower than other, far less experienced attorneys. In select cases, we may agree on a cap or limit to Parent’s legal fees.

Sadly, many special needs children suffer through years of educational neglect in their public school districts. Compensatory education is an important remedy for such students. It gives them a bank of hours to use, at District expense , for private tutoring, online courses, computers and other educational purposes. In a new case called G.L. v. Ligonier Valley School District Authority, the Third Circuit Court of Appeals ruled there is no limit to the amount of compensatory education a hearing officer may award a deserving child.

I just received the following note from one of my clients. This is why I became a special education attorney:

Some school districts do not spend the money and effort necessary to write IEP's with measurable baseline data. As a result, I often see IEPs with boilerplate annual goals and “baselines to be determined” later. This shortcut enables districts to write lots of IEPs in short order. However, it violates the student’s rights under the IDEA.