Eight years after filing a class-action lawsuit against Hawaii’s Department of Education, almost 500 former students have finally agreed to a multimillion-dollar settlement. The lawsuit itself alleged the students “were illegally denied special education services.” Specifically, it argued that the “DOE violated the federal Individuals With Disabilities Education Act, which requires that states provide free appropriate public education to all people with disabilities who are under age 22,” according to the lawsuit. The suit settled for $10.45 million.
Eight years after filing a class-action lawsuit against Hawaii’s Department of Education, almost 500 former students have finally agreed to a multimillion-dollar settlement. The lawsuit itself alleged the students “were illegally denied special education services.” Specifically, it argued that the “DOE violated the federal Individuals With Disabilities Education Act, which requires that states provide free appropriate public education to all people with disabilities who are under age 22,” according to the lawsuit. The suit settled for $10.45 million.
One of the many people who supported the students throughout the legal battle was Louis Erteschik, the executive director of the Hawaii Disability Rights Center. When commenting on how the students were treated and about the allegations detailed out in the lawsuit, he said:
“Once we identified that the state had taken this illegal action, we went to court to protect the rights of these special education students who deserved to be treated better.”
What happened to the students, though? What prompted the lawsuit? Well, according to the lawsuit, a “Hawaii law passed in 2010 known as Act 163 effectively prevented disabled students from receiving special education services after turning 20.” Many special education students who “got too old for high school…were still eligible to attend an adult education program and continue their education until they received a high school diploma.” The problem the students ran into, though, was that the “adult education programs had no services available to special education students.” The way the law was set up, “nondisabled students could receive educational services until they turned 22, but special education students could not,” according to the lawsuit.
Since the lawsuit was filed, Act 163 has been adjusted so it “no longer prevents students from receiving special education services.”
The lawsuit itself was filed by the Hawaii Disability Rights Center back in July 2010. Then, in 2013 the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled “that Act 163 violated federal law requiring that special education students be allowed to remain in school and receive services until they either earn a regular high school diploma or reach age 22.” The lawsuit reached a settlement agreement late last year but was only recently announced so that officials could work on tracking down and contacting the students involved in the case.
As part of the agreement, the DOE will have to “pay $10.25 million in two installments, partially to pay for the compensatory education or education-related services the 495 affected former special education students are entitled to.” According to terms of the agreement, that can include “continuing education, training, employment and independent living skills.”
Sources:
Hawaii Will Pay $10.25 Million To Settle Special Education Lawsuit
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