LANDMARK COURT SPECIAL EDUCATION CASE

Landmark Court Special Education Case

Florence School District v Shannon Carter

Sarah Kerschgens

EDU 203 Special Education

Dr. Becky Norton

September 28, 2019

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A case was brought before the Supreme Court in 1993 after being appealed by

Florence School District regarding a claim that Florence School District had breached its duty

under IDEA to provide their daughter “with free appropriate public education”. The IEP that

Florence School District drew up, stated that Shannon was to make only 4 months progress in

reading and math during the course of 10th Grade As the parents were dissatisfied with this

IEP, they withdrew their daughter from their public school and placed her in a private school

specializing in educating children with disabilities. Shannon's parents claimed this school

provided their daughter with the education that is proper under IDEA and therefore they sued

the District for reimbursement of the costs for the private school.

In the case Florence School District v. Carter, the Supreme Courts ruled in favor of

Carter. They agreed that the school district had totally missed its mark with the IEP and that

the progress was totally inadequate. Although the private school did not fulfill all the

requirements under IDEA, they reevaluated Shannon's IEP quarterly instead of the mandatory

yearly, they supplied her with a lower teacher-student ratio and they had developed a plan that

allowed Shannon to receive passing marks and progress from grade to grade The courts also

found that in the 3 years that Shannon was at the private school her reading grades had

improved substantially. The courts found that the move from the public school to the private

school was substantiated and that Shannon was receiving the proper education under IDEA

and was therefore entitled to reimbursement of tuition and other costs.

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This case was a Landmark Case as the courts ruled that even though Carter was in a

private school that was not listed under a special education school, and that the school did not

satisfy all the states standards of education, they were providing her with the appropriate

education under IDEA. This case was backed up by a previous ruling in School Comm. Of

Burlington v. Department of Ed. Of Mass in 1985. To note are the following

Section 1401(a)(18) defines “free appropriate public education” as, special education and

related services that

(A) have been provided at public expense, under public supervision and direction, and without

charge,

(B) meet the standards of the State educational agency,

(C) include an appropriate preschool, elementary, or secondary school education in the State

involved, and

(D) are provided in conformity with the individualized education program. . . .

Florence School District was opposed to reimbursement as they claimed this would put

a burden on all School Districts financially if parents could just “withdraw” their children from

public schools and place them in private schools but the Supreme Court ruled that this

financial burden would only incur costs if the public schools did not meet the standards of

IDEA and not provide students with “appropriate free public education” in a public school

setting or place the child in a suitable private school setting of the States choice.

This case was important and as it was backed by the ruling in Burlington V. Mass

Education, it has helped parents when school boards fail to provide students with disabilities
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the right to find alternative schools that are appropriate to their child's individual needs. With

this court ruling IDEA has been amended to include Guidelines for the situation when parents

place their children in private schools without the consent of the public school boards.
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REFERENCES

Florence School District v. Carter Nr.91 -503

Retrieved September 28, 2018

http://www.wrightslaw.com/law/caselaw/ussupct.carter.htm

Burlington School Committee v. Mass Department of Education

Retrieved September 28, 2018

http://www.wrightslaw.com/law/caselaw/ussupct.burlington.htm