For some families of students who have disabilities, special education does not go as well as we wish. Children may be denied evaluations, only provided limited services, limited to services in predetermined settings, given inappropriate services, or even denied services, have services changed without adequate efforts to negotiate the change, or simply have their entreaties for services ignored.
In the US, the children may be said to have been “denied FAPE.” Students with disabilities have a legally founded right to a “free and appropriate public education.” After the legal challenges during the 1960s and 70s on behalf of children with disabilities (e.g., Pennsylvania Association for Retarded Children v. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania or “PARC” and Mills v. Board of Education) helped form the basis for the passage of federal law, that federal law had wired-in authority for children and their parents to complain about the denial of FAPE.
People have complained. What happens with those complaints?
Groups of advocates such as the Council of Parent Attorneys and Advocates, the Advocacy Institute, and others have helped parents mount complaints and monitored what became of them.1 Two other sources have discussed complaints in special education in the summer of 2025. I think they could be of interest to some of the Dear Readers of Special Education Today, so I am passing them along here.
Special Education Action, led by Callie Oettinger (a parent navigating special education), has published reports about complaints and about related matters. Initially Ms, Oettinger focused primarily on her local education agency (Fairfax, VA), but she expanded to covering events across the Commonwealth of Virginia and now is broadening her coverage to US federal actions. She has sections on IDEA and Section 504, FOIA (freedom of information actions), state complaints, and more.
Over on The 74 for 31 July 2025, Lauren Wagner and Beth Hawkins July 31, 2025 published For Decades, the Feds Were the Last, Best Hope for Special Ed Kids. What Happens Now? State-level complaints over disputes with districts have never been as easy as intended. Now, they're all desperate families have left. In the time-honored tradition of journalism, Ms. Wagner and Ms. Hawkins begin with a case study as an anchor and then spin off it to examine disputes, resolutions of disputes, the effects of budget cuts on disputes, and much more. Some Dear Readers will be familiar with much of what they cover, and will recognize short-comings, inaccuracies, and other problems with their report; they should watch for a forth-coming publication by David Bateman and colleagues that corrects many of these.2 Still, you may find the report informative.
There are, of course, many other sources and resources available. Please add any that you have found particularly valuable.
Footnote
There also are (no surprise!), academic analyses of various aspects of complaints. For an example, see an undated paper by Perry Zirkel, Alyssa I. Fairbanks, and Natalie E. Jones entitled “Outcomes Trends in State Complaint Procedures Decisions Under the Idea” that, according to a note on the article was originally published West’s Education Law Reporter (EDUC. L. REP.), vol. 396, pp. 24–32 in 2022.
David reports that he, Kara Arundel, and Melanie Reese are preparing an article about complaints that clarifies the due process process. I plan to announce their piece when- and wherever it appears. Stay tuned!