Due Process Hearing Frequency

The right to due process is an important component of protecting children’s rights under IDEA because it ensures that school districts comply with the law. Nonetheless, most parents attempt to resolve disputes with the school district.  Parents turn to due process hearings as a last result and the statistics bear this out.  Hearings are rare.  The median number of due process hearings per 10,000 students was 1.4 in 2005 nationwide, a decline from 2.4 in 1999, according to a Department of Education commissioned study.  Ellen Schiller, Volume 1, The SLIIDEA Sourcebook Report at 102 (April 2006).  Moreover, 90% of school districts had no due process hearings at all in 2004-2005, and only 4% of school districts were involved in IDEA litigation of any kind.   Ellen Schiller, et al., Marking the Progress of IDEA Implementation at 19-20 (April 2006).  COPAA’s study of due process hearings in the 2005-06 school year produced similar results. In 2005, there were 6.7 million students on IEPs aged 3-21. But the number of hearings was low: there were approximately 4,150 fully-adjudicated hearings nationwide in 2005-06.1 There were 43 states with fewer than 25 fully-adjudicated hearings for 2005-06.2

In 2000, the Government Accountability Office found that there were only 5 due process hearings per 10,000 special education students. GAO Report 03-897, Numbers of Formal Disputes are Generally Low and States are Using Mediation and Other Strategies to Resolve Conflicts (2003). Indeed, a 2003 Department of Education study found that 94% of districts had no disputes go to a hearing. Only 0.3% of total spending on special education in 2000 was for mediation, due process hearings, and court cases. 150 Congressional Record S.5351 (May 12, 2004) (statement of Senator Kennedy).

1  While the number of hearings in the District of Columbia was higher than in many other states, counsel for the D.C. public schools has admitted that in 70 percent of cases, it has no meritorious defense but goes to a hearing anyway, D.C. Appleseed Center, A Time for Action, The Need to Repair the System for Resolving Special Education Disputes in the District of Columbia, (2003).   The large number of hearings in Washington D.C. is the result of long-standing problems, including D.C.’s failure to timely evaluate and develop IEPs and failure to obey Hearing Officer Decisions and comply with settlements.  Almost one-third of all due process hearings arise from DCPS’ failure to comply with a previous HOD or to implement a settlement agreement. Id.  Another one-third are filed because DCPS failed to timely evaluate children or develop IEPs.

2  COPAA thanks intern Rush Perez for his assistance in compiling the national statistics.