Schaffer, a Minor, BY His Parents and Next Friends, Schaffer, et Vir, et al. v. Weast, Superintendent, Montgomery County Public Schools, et al. (546 U.S. 49)
U.S. Supreme Court · decided November 14, 2005 · Supreme Court Database (Spaeth)
- Citation
- 546 U.S. 49 · 126 S. Ct. 528
- Decided
- November 14, 2005
- Term
- October Term 2005
- Vote
- 6–2
- Majority author
- Justice O'Connor
- Issue area
- Civil Rights
- Disposition
- Affirmed
- Outcome
- Petitioning party lost
- Ideological direction
- Conservative
Opinion excerpt
Justice O’Connor delivered the opinion of the Court. The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA or Act), 84 Stat. 175, as amended, 20 U. S. C. § 1400 et seq. (2000 ed. and Supp. V), is a Spending Clause statute that seeks to ensure that “all children with disabilities have available to them a free appropriate public education,” § 1400(d)(1)(A) (2000 ed., Supp. V). Under IDEA, school districts must create an “individualized education program” (IEP) for each disabled child. § 1414(d). If parents believe their child’s IEP is inappropriate, they may request an “impartial due process hearing.” § 1415(f). The Act is silent, however, as to which party bears the burden of persuasion at such a hearing. We hold that the burden lies, as it typically does, on the party seeking relief. I A Congress first passed IDEA as part of the Education of the Handicapped Act in 1970, 84 Stat. 175, and amended it substantially in the Education for All Handicapped Children Act of 1975, 89 Stat. 773. At the time the majority of disabled children in America were “either totally excluded from schools or sitting idly in regular classrooms awaiting the time when they were old enough to ‘drop out,’” H. R. Rep. No. 94-332, p. 2 (1975). IDEA was intended to reverse this history of neglect. As of 2003, the Act governed the provision of special education services to nearly 7 million children across…
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