Disabled Students Deserve Education in the Least Restrictive Environment

Students with disabilities must receive a free, appropriate public education in the least restrictive environment. Federal law requires schools to educate children with disabilities in the same classes as children who are not disabled "to the maximum extent appropriate."

A child with a disability can be removed from the regular education environment only when the "nature or severity of the disability of a child is such that education in the regular classes with the use of supplementary aids and services cannot be achieved satisfactorily."

Courts interpret these requirements in different ways. Some federal courts, including Kansas, use a two part test:

• First, the court determines whether education in a regular classroom, with the use of supplementary aids and services, can be achieved satisfactorily.
  
  
• Second, if the court determines that the education in the regular classroom is not satisfactory, then the court determines if the school district has mainstreamed the child to the maximum extent appropriate.

Other jurisdictions, including Missouri, hold that a disabled student should be separated from her peers only if the services that make segregated placement superior cannot feasibly be provided in a non-segregated setting. For example, a child may be removed from the mainstream setting when:

• the handicapped child would not benefit from mainstreaming;
  
  
• any marginal benefits received from mainstreaming are far outweighed by the benefits gained from services which could not feasibly be provided in the non-segregated setting; or
  
  
• the handicapped child is a disruptive force in the non-segregated setting.