In many areas of the country special education attorneys are few and far between. But not in Washington, D.C., where there are more special education hearings than in the rest of the country combined. Now, to stem the tide of filings, the city is implementing new regulations about who can bring special education complaints and how.
Under the new regulations, lawyers will need at least 16 hours of specialized training and they must follow a code of conduct. The rules are designed to ensure that lawyers are acting on the wishes of the children and their parents.
Lawyers in the District of Columbia have long capitalized on the failings of the city’s school system, which for years regularly missed deadlines to test and treat students with disabilities. The city’s special education department is the country’s most costly at $300 million a year for 11,000 students, reports the D.C. Examiner. To read more click here.
