Louisiana will join a growing number of states that have from parents to school districts in disputes over special education.
The state Legislature this week passed a final version of House Bill 342, which will soon head to Gov. Jeff Landry to be signed into law. Currently, parents who file special education complaints must show that the school district did not properly educate their child with disabilities. Under the new legislation, school districts will have to prove the child’s special education plan is appropriate and was properly carried out.
The shift will correct power imbalances that parents have long said unfairly tilted due process hearings — civil proceedings to resolve special education disputes — in favor of school districts, said state Rep. Alonzo Knox, D-New Orleans, the bill’s author.
Louisiana will be the first state in the South to shift the burden of proof in due process hearings to school districts, following similar action in eight other states, including New Jersey, New York, Illinois and Washington, D.C.
Kathleen Cannino, a parent advocate in St. Tammany, said she hopes the legislation will encourage districts to keep more accurate records of the services and education they provide students with disabilities because districts will have to show they followed the law.
“My hope for this bill passing is that it will force some sort of accountability,” she said.
Federal law requires school districts to provide a “free and appropriate public education” to students with disabilities. Schools must put in place a special education plan agreed upon by educators, parents and experts that can include specialized instruction, support services or special accommodations.
Parents can lodge complaints with the district if they believe the school district did not properly evaluate their child or if they did not provide proper services. Disputes that cannot be resolved through mediation are elevated to due process hearings, which are overseen by administrative law judges.
The legislation has been widely supported among special education advocates, who have long argued that leaving it up to parents to prove a school did not provide proper instruction put them at an unfair disadvantage because the school districts had access to student records and attorneys. But some school districts warned it would cost them more money.
At a senate education committee hearing earlier this month, Knox, flanked by several parent advocates, argued the bill would create a fairer system.
“The bill does not create new mandates, it does not expand eligibility, it does not open the floodgates of litigation,” Knox said. “What it does do, members, is it promotes accountability and reinforces the importance of maintaining accurate, complete special education records.”
During the 2024-2025 school year, parents prevailed in only one out of 43 due process hearings. Kathryne Hart, who lodged the sole successful complaint on behalf of her son in East Baton Rouge Parish, said the ordeal cost her family $65,000.
Another parent, Christina Martin, said it’s a struggle to get data and documents from school districts, which families need to make their case in due process hearings.
“Parents are often emotionally exhausted, financially strained and doing everything they can just to care for our children on a day-to-day basis,” she said. “Yet under our current system, families are also asked to carry the burden (of) proving that a school is failing our child, which they will not give us the information.”
At the legislative hearing this month, officials from the Jefferson Parish and St. Charles Parish school systems spoke against the legislation. Jefferson Parish School Board Member Derrick Shepherd said the change could encourage more parents to file complaints, leading to more due process hearing, which he said cost the district between $15,000 and $40,000.
“If this is going to increase hearings,” he said, “it’s going to increase the cost of the system.”
Hart said she hopes the new law pushes districts to provide teachers with more resources and training so they are better equipped to carry out education plans and better document students’ progress, which could reduce the need for due process hearings.
“I don’t think this is going to solve the underlying issues facing children with disabilities in schools,” said Jodi Rollins, who moved from East Baton Rouge to Ascension Parish to seek better accommodations for her children with special needs. “But I think it’s a deterrent.”