Michigan Schools and Parents of Disabled Children in Conflict


As in other states, Michigan schools are seeing more and more parents of disabled children pulling them out of public schools, providing alternative private education, and then suing the Michigan Schools to foot the bill. It has become a problem and growing expense for public schools across the nation, ever since the passing of the federal Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, which states that public schools are required to provide special education students with a free, appropriate public education. Disputes arise when parents and school administrators are in conflict over what is appropriate.

The Michigan Schools recently had its Birmingham school district sued by parents of a 17-year-old son with bipolar, obsessive compulsive and Asperger