WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court on Monday strengthened the rights of the millions of parents who have children with disabilities, ruling they may go to court on their own to fight a school district's choice of a special education program.
The unanimous decision opens a door that had been closed to these parents in many parts of the nation, where judges had ruled that they could not go to court unless they hired a lawyer to represent them.
But as the parents of an Ohio child with autism said in their appeal to the high court, private lawyers were "often too expensive for the average 'unrich' American." The justices said a private lawyer was not required because the federal law that gave children with disabilities a right to a "free appropriate public education" also gave their parents a right to fight for them in court.
"We conclude the Individuals With Disabilities Education Act grants parents independent, enforceable rights," said Justice Anthony M. Kennedy.
He noted the law empowered parents at each step of the process in deciding on the proper education program for their child.
Moreover, "the potential for injustice" would be great, Kennedy added, if wealthy parents could fight for their children in court while poorer parents were barred because they could not pay for a lawyer.
About 7 million of the nation's children have physical or mental disabilities that bring them under the protection of the federal law.
The ruling is a partial victory for Jeff and Sandee Winkelman of Parma, Ohio. Their youngest child, Jacob, is autistic, and they disagreed with school officials on the best placement for him in kindergarten.
The parents enrolled him in the private Monarch School, where tuition was $56,000 a year. They paid for the first year, but because their family income was less than $40,000, they could not continue to pay the cost on their own.
They wanted the school district to pay for the private school and reimburse them for the first year's tuition.
The district refused, and when they tried to challenge the district in court, a federal judge in Cleveland and the U.S. court of appeals in Cincinnati threw out their case on the grounds that they did not have a lawyer.
The federal education law says "any party aggrieved" by the school district's decision may go to court, but appellate judges in New York, Philadelphia, Chicago, Atlanta, Richmond and Cincinnati all ruled this referred only to the child. Under this reasoning, the 6-year-old with autism could represent himself in court, but his parents could not.
