Opinion ID: 398788
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: The Elimination of Residential Placements

Text: 22 State law requires that the New York State Commissioner of Education maintain a register of schools qualified to meet the educational needs of handicapped children. N.Y.Educ.Law (McKinney) § 4407.4. A handicapped child is eligible for placement in a school on this list at public expense if no appropriate education is available in either the child's school district, a neighboring school district, or through the area Board of Cooperative Educational Services Program (BOCES). N.Y.Educ.Law (McKinney) §§ 4401.2, 4402.2. Defendant Ambach has removed from that list all residential schools serving children with specific learning disabilities, acting on the ground that learning disabilities do not necessitate residential treatment. 23 The District Court found that a residential school must be an option available to the local Committee on the Handicapped. The Court relied on federal law. The relevant federal requirements are, first, that a state make available a continuum of educational placements for children, 45 C.F.R. 121a.551, and, second, that if placement in a public or private residential program is necessary to provide special education and related services to a handicapped child, the program, including non-medical care and room and board, must be at no cost to the parents of the child. 45 C.F.R. 121a.302. 24 The District Court wholly accepted the notion that there are cases in which residential placements are necessary. And it found that the requirement that placement decisions be made on an individual basis, 45 C.F.R. 1221a.552 (Comment), overcomes the damage that residential placements might do to the fulfillment of the statutory requirement that handicapped children be educated in the least restrictive environment, 45 C.F.R. 121a.550; Stuart v. Nappi, 443 F.Supp. 1235, 1242 (D.Conn.1978). Yet the Court expressly refused to decide whether residential treatment is or is not, in fact, necessary for an individual plaintiff, or whether appropriate services for learning disabled children are or are not available in the local district in which plaintiffs reside. The Court chose to rely instead on the judgment of the local COHs, rejecting the considered judgment of the State Commissioner that residential placements are not necessary.