Noah Feldman, Columnist

Supreme Court Gets Between Schools and Parents

Justices will decide how much education disabled students deserve.

January 11, 2017 at 7:38 PM UTC

Noah Feldman is a Bloomberg Opinion columnist. A professor of law at Harvard University, he is author, most recently, of “To Be a Jew Today: A New Guide to God, Israel, and the Jewish People."

Pick me! Pick me!
Photographer: Scott Eisen/Bloomberg

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The U.S. Supreme Court took up this challenging policy question Wednesday: How much is a school district obligated to educate a disabled child? The justices will have to choose from a smorgasbord of options offered by the lower courts, the Department of Justice, and the parents and schools in the case. The choices range from just a little more than nothing to the same level of education available to other kids. The outcome will have major consequences for tens of thousands of students -- and for the schools where they study.

The case, Endrew F. v. Douglas County School District, requires the court to interpret the Individuals With Disabilities Education Act, the origins of which go back to 1975. The law tells states that if they want to get federal funding for their schools, they must provide a “free appropriate public education” to all children with disabilities.