To:Interested Parties
From:Special Education Appeals
Date:October 2005
The Bureau of Special Education Appeals (BSEA), physically located within the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education, is responsible for conducting impartial due process hearings and for providing mediation services when school districts and parents disagree on the provision of special education services or Section 504 accommodations. The Bureau consists of eight hearing officers, eight mediators, support staff, a scheduling coordinator, a receptionist, a coordinator of mediation, an assistant director and a director.
This memorandum is intended to summarize analysis of Special Education Appeals data for fiscal year 2005 (covering the period July 1, 2004 through June 30, 2005). Although clearly important, it should be noted that numbers alone cannot fully reflect the day to day work of the Bureau.
Rejected Individualized Educational Plans
During fiscal year 2005, the Bureau of Special Education Appeals received 6,009 rejected Individualized Educational Plans, an increase of 494 over fiscal year 2004.
Mediation
During fiscal year 2005 there were 660 mediations concerning special education and Section 504 issues conducted by the eight BSEA mediators.
Mediations are scheduled within 30 days when both parties indicate a desire to resolve disputed issues through this process. A mediation session lasts an average of two to four hours, with some cases requiring more than one session. At the end of the mediation, if an agreement is reached, the mediator writes an agreement reflecting the terms reached by the participants. Eighty-six (86)% of the mediations conducted during fiscal year 2005 resulted in written agreements, representing a 2% increase over the previous year.
Special Education Appeals
Mediation History
| School Year | Number of Mediations |
Number of Mediation Agreements |
Percentage of Mediations Held Resulting in Mediation Agreements |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2002-03 | 633 | 502 | 79% |
| 2003-04 | 601 | 512 | 84% |
| 2004-05 | 660 | 567 | 86% |
Hearings
There were 768 requests for hearings during the 2005 fiscal year. The Bureau of Special Education Appeals conducted full hearings resulting in 35 decisions, with extensive, substantive written rulings in at least 12 cases. The remaining cases were either resolved prior to proceeding to the formal hearing process or subsequent to the onset of the hearing.
It should be noted that hearing officer involvement was significant in the vast majority of cases even if a decision was not rendered.
Prevailing Party
Total # of decisions: 35
| Parents/Student | School District | Mixed Relief | Other |
| 8 | 19 | 7 | 1 |
(The "Other" category reflects decisions in which a state agency may be involved or a dispute exists between two school districts. In either situation, both parties may have received some relief.)
Representation and Prevailing Party
Of the 35 cases that resulted in decisions, the breakdown of parties' representation was as follows:
- Of the 8 cases in which parents prevailed--parents were represented by counsel in 5, by an advocate in 1, and were pro se (not represented) in 2. In each of these cases the school was represented by an attorney.
- Of the 19 cases in which schools prevailed--schools were represented by counsel in all 19 cases in which they prevailed, and of these, parents had counsel in 8, were represented by an advocate in 3 and were pro se in 8.
- Of the 7 cases involving mixed relief, parents were represented by counsel in 4 and were pro se in 3. The school had counsel in all 7.
Special Education Appeals
Decision History
| School Year | Number of Hearing Requests |
Total Number of Decisions |
Favoring Decisions* | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Parents | School | Other** | ||||||
| 1986-87 | 359 | 55 | 28 | (50.9%) | 18 | (32.7%) | 9 | (16.4%) |
| 1987-88 | 372 | 54 | 27 | (41.7%) | 22 | (40.7%) | 5 | (9.2%) |
| 1988-89 | 344 | 48 | 20 | (41.7%) | 18 | (37.5%) | 10 | (20.8%) |
| 1989-90 | 385 | 47 | 26 | (55.32%) | 16 | (34.3%) | 5 | (10.64%) |
| 1990-91 | 398 | 44 | 15 | (31.83%) | 22 | (50.0%) | 7 | (18.18%) |
| 1991-92 | 408 | 41 | 15 | (36.59%) | 16 | (39.02%) | 10 | (24.39%) |
| 1992-93 | 426 | 36 | 14 | (38.89%) | 15 | (41.67%) | 7 | (19.44%) |
| 1993-94 | 580 | 40 | 13 | (32.5%) | 20 | (50%) | 7 | (17.5%) |
| 1994-95 | 581 | 32 | 9 | (28%) | 15 | (47%) | 8 | (25%) |
| 1995-96 | 632 | 36 | 8 | (22%) | 25 | (70%) | 3 | (8%) |
| 1996-97 | 558 | 50 | 12 | (24%) | 30 | (60%) | 8 | (16%) |
| 1997-98 | 603 | 36 | 9 | (25%) | 21 | (58%) | 6 | (17%) |
| 1998-99 | 620 | 27 | 7 | (26%) | 14 | (52%) | 6 | (22%) |
| 1999-00 | 671 | 33 | 12 | (36.3%) | 14 | (42.4%) | 7 | (21.2%) |
| 2000-01 | 583 | 30 | 8 | (26.5%) | 14 | (47%) | 8 | (26.5%) |
| 2001-02 | 566 | 30 | 11 | (37%) | 18 | (60%) | 1 | (3%) |
| 2002-03 | 647 | 27 | 7 | (26%) | 13 | (48%) | 7 | (26%) |
| 2003-04 | 648 | 53 | 20 | (38%) | 20 | (38%) | 13 | (24%) |
| 2004-05 | 768 | 35 | 8 | (23%) | 19 | (54%) | 8 | (23%) |
*Please note that the low number of decisions, as compared to the number of hearing requests, reflects the very high percentage of cases which settle prior to a decision, either through mediation, advisory opinion, assistance of the hearing officer, or by action of the parties without BSEA involvement.
** Includes situations where there is no dispute between parents and public school districts but relief is sought between school districts, against the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education or another state agency; decisions in which there is mixed relief, or where the hearing officer orders a placement which is significantly different from the one offered by the school or requested by the parent.