The IDEA Fairness Restoration Act will override the Supreme Court's decision in Arlington Central School District v. Murphy (2006) and allow parents who prevail to be reimbursed for their expert witness fees. H.R. 4188 will help to level the playing field. H.R. 4188 is essential to protect the rights of 7 million children with disabilities and their parents.

Here are a few reasons why the IDEA Fairness Restoration Act is so important:

• When prevailing parents cannot recover expert costs, the playing field is neither level nor fair, and children are denied a free appropriate public education and other fundamental IDEA rights.
 
• Hiring qualified medical and technical expert witnesses can cost many thousands of dollars.  Few parents can afford this high cost, putting due process out of reach for most parents, who struggle to afford what their children with disabilities need.

• School districts use tax dollars to employ and pay for psychologists and other paid experts at IEP meetings and hearings.  Parents have fewer resources and yet must bear a greater financial burden. Approximately 36% of children with disabilities live in families earning less than $25,000 a year; over 2/3 earn less than $50,000 a year.

• Congress intended for parents to recover their expert witness fees in the Handicapped Children's Protection Act of 1986.  H.R. 4188 will restore Congress' original intent.

• If parents cannot afford due process, the IEP process becomes even more one-sided and unfair.  School personnel control the IEP process and usually outnumber parents. The right to due process helps ensure that school districts provide free appropriate public educations to children with disabilities.

• Most parents turn to due process and litigation as a last resort. In 2003, the GAO reported that there were 5 due process hearings per 10,000 special education students. When parents are forced to request due process, they need expert witnesses to prevail.

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A Pennsylvania public interest organization represented the mother of 8th grade student with dyslexia and written expression disorders. The child had struggled to read and write all his life. The school district failed to provide a scientifically-based reading program so the child was failing.

His single mother was forced to request a due process hearing to implement the recommendations of an independent evaluator and obtain appropriate special education services for her child. This parent had to borrow $1,400 to pay the independent evaluator to testify. She also had to pay for the expert's time while being cross-examined by the school district for two days.  She won her due process case.

Because this case was decided before the Supreme Court’s decision in Murphy, the mother was able to recover her expert fees. But - if she had requested a due process hearing after Murphy, she would not be allowed to recover her expert witness fees. Without an expert, it would have been difficult to pursue the case if at all. The IDEA Fairness Restoration Act will ensure that parents can recover their expert witness fees.

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