The poor child's mother read the letter and called the rich child's parents. She knew her child could make the same kind of progress. So the parents of the rich child took some of the money they got back from the school and used it to pay for an independent evaluation of the poor child. They hired the same expensive lawyer. And, after the expected delays, the poor child got the same program as the rich child.
Today there are two children who have a future because of money.
The ability to get an independent evaluation and enforce the recommendations is the only hope those children had. Schools have much deeper pockets than parents, and unlike the children in this story, they have nothing to lose from delay. The barriers to getting independent evaluations and receiving effective services are already formidable. Think long and hard before you raise those barriers higher. My comments on the proposed changes to Massachusetts Special Education regulations concern your proposal to allow schools to call a hearing before funding an independent evaluation.