In Talia Richman’s “Sun Investigates” piece from May 2, 2019, we learn about just how rare it is for the parents of students with disabilities to prevail in legal battles against Maryland school districts.

Read the full article here at the Sun’s website:

https://www.baltimoresun.com/news/investigations/bs-md-due-process-hearings-20190502-story.html

The Baltimore Sun published this article in 2019 as investigative journalism looking into a similar problem of the hearing system in Maryland based on a study by Project Heal of the Kennedy Krieger Institute. While the parental “success” rate is far worse in Virginia compared to Maryland, this article helped inspire us to investigate the system in Virginia. There is a pernicious, disparate impact on the poor and those of limited means under both hearing officer systems because disabled children almost always lose and therefore are deprived of their fundamental rights under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA). We hope our fight in Virginia inspires parents in other states to fight for the rights of their disabled and special needs children. We set up Hear Our Voices to support such future fights in whatever way we can.