Opinion ID: 551748
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Whether Tara's graduation from high school cuts off her

Text: 26 eligibility under the Act. 27 In limited circumstances, EAHCA requires public education past the point where eligibility for services normally ceases. EAHCA provides: 28 [A] free appropriate public education ... for all handicapped children between the ages of three and twenty-one within the State ... except that, with respect to handicapped children ... aged eighteen to twenty-one, inclusive, the requirements of this clause shall not be applied in any State if the application of such requirements would be inconsistent with state law or practice ... respecting public education within such age groups in the State. 29 20 U.S.C. Sec. 1412(2)(B). Department of Education regulations interpret this section to mean that (i)f a public agency provides education to non-handicapped children in any of these age groups, it must make a free appropriate public education available to at least a proportionate number of handicapped children of the same age. 34 C.F.R. Sec. 300.300(b)(2) (1984). Courts reviewing this section have refused to impose an interpretation requiring school districts to educate handicapped children until age twenty-one. Wexler, 1985-86 EHLR DEC. 557:288. When a handicapped student appropriately graduates from high school, the obligations of the school board cease. Id.; Gorski v. Lynchburg School Bd., 1988-89 EHLR DEC. 441:415 (4th Cir.1989). Because Tara completed the credit hours and curriculum necessary to graduate from high school, and because she failed to present evidence that non-handicapped children receive post-graduation secondary education under Tennessee law, her graduation cut off her right to further secondary education from the state.