Misconceptions About Tuition Reimbursement: A Connors Seat Can Help Families Who Are Between a Rock and a Hard Place
The special education world, and tuition reimbursement in particular, can be confusing and daunting to navigate. Many families of special needs children assume that you need a significant amount of money to pay for tuition at a private school before suing a school district or the Department of Education for the cost of tuition.
This is a misconception: you don’t! But there is some fine print.
It’s true that things are simpler if you can pay up front for a private school. In that case you may have a ripe claim and be able to sue on the grounds that your child has been denied a “free and appropriate education” (FAPE).
Many parents are not in a financial situation to afford 50+ thousand dollars out of pocket. But that does not mean you are out of luck. The first thing to remember is that you cannot sue for tuition reimbursement at a school that your child isn’t attending.
The case Connors v. Mills, a District Court case, provides help in this grey area. In this case, Nancy Connors, the mother of a young girl with learning disabilities, sued her school district alleging that they deprived her daughter FAPE. Although the parents lost their claim, the case has come to stand for the legal proposition that parents can sue for prospective funding of a private school program.
As a result of this case, some schools began offering some students a Connors Seat — a seat extended on credit which allows the child to enroll in the private school. This way families do not have to pay money upfront, and they gain the opportunity to sue for reimbursement.
The challenge in obtaining a Connors Seat is that they are few and far between. They are not particularly appealing for the private schools because they can create a cash flow problem — payment can take years depending on the litigation or settlement process. Overzealous lawyers, who may have been unsuccessful in the past, have contributed to schools’ reluctance to offer seats due to fear of being burned financially.
The takeaway is that hope is not lost if a family does not have the money upfront; however, a Connors Seat can be difficult to come by. They exist but are in short supply.
Because of our experience in this area, Marc and I have had success candidly evaluating, and then representing, a case that made a Connors Seat become a more realistic option for one family. Contact us for assistance today.
Jonathan Gottlieb
Partner
195 Montague Street
14th Floor
Brooklyn Heights, NY 11201
Jonathan@GottliebFirm.com
(646) 820-8506