Missouri Deletes Maximizing From Special Education Laws

This means that Missouri has lowered its standards so that they won't have to worry about litigation. Wouldn't it have been better to make sure that the standards were lived up to?

The Missouri General Assembly has removed language from its special education laws that formerly required schools in the state to maximize the capabilities of students with disabilities. The action came less than two months after the Missouri Supreme Court let stand a state appellate court decision applying the maiximizing standard to a special education dispute, instead of the lesser "free appropriate public education" from the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act.

The General Assembly deleted from Missouri Statutes 162.670 a declaration of state policy to provide special education services to all students with disabilities sufficient to meet their needs and maximize their capabilities. The section now states that Missouri public schools must provide all students with disabilities a free appropriate education consistent with state and federal regulations implementing the IDEA.

Missouri was one of only a few states whose special education laws exceeded federal minimums. The appellate decision stated that the state law standard exceeded that of the IDEA and that the maximizing language was not idle or superfluous verbiage. Lagares v Camdenton R-II Sch. Dist., 68 S. W. 3d 518 (Mo.Ct. App., W. Dist. 2001); see Special Education Law Update, Vol. X, No. 7, p. 1.

The General Assembly also acted to delete maximizing language from statutory definitions containted in Mo. Stat 162.675, and defined the scope of court review of special education hearing appeals panel decisions described in Mo. Stat 162.962. Courts reviewing hearing panel decisions will be limited to questions about whether the decision was unsupported by competent and substantial evidence in the record, whether the hearing used unlawful procedures or was unfair, and whether the decision was arbitrary, capricious or unreasonable or an abuse of discretion. 91st Mo. Gen. Assembly, 2nd Reg. Sess, H.B. 2023

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