The program will be run by the county counsel's office, which will hire a full-time attorney and paralegal to work with school districts to ensure that the needs of children with learning disabilities are being met. Districts are required to conduct an assessment of a student's special education needs if a parent asks for one. If the student is deemed eligible, districts are supposed to develop individual plans. These plans could involve hiring a tutor for a student who remains in a mainstream classroom, or putting a child in a smaller classroom where he or she can receive more attention, officials said. A student with more severe problems could be placed in a private school, at the district's expense.
Parents can challenge school districts over the adequacy of a child's individual program.
But many lack the knowledge, financial resources or willingness to pursue administrative remedies or lawsuits, according to Probation Department employee Rosalee Brouillette. County Counsel Ann Ravel soft-pedaled the possibility of filing lawsuits against school districts that fail in their legal obligations. Still , the threat of litigation is clearly designed to get the districts attention . School officials complained that they were being threatened with litigation over a problem they want to fix. The problem, they said, is that they are in a financial bind because federal and state governments have imposed special education mandates without providing adequate funds to implement them.