Welcome to the IEP Student Center!
The IEP Student Center advances education through advocacy for children with disabilities. Utah currently ranks 50th out of 51 states, including DC, for per pupil expenditures. It would require an additional $5,999 of state funding for every single K-12 student in Utah to merely reach the national average. The most significant impact of insufficient funding is failure to meet the educational needs of students who have disabilities. Students with disabilities should not suffer because the state refuses to gather the necessary resources.
Federal laws, including the Individuals with Disabilities
Education Act (IDEA), provide protections for the rights of students with disabilities who must be offered a free and appropriate
education in the least restrictive environment. The school and parents should work together to make a unique Individualized Education Program (IEP) for the student that includes ambitious
goals with challenging learning objectives.
The problem in Utah is that the systems set up to provide checks and balances for implementation of IDEA are not working. Since 2008, Utah has been in “program improvement” for failing to comply with IDEA procedures to ensure that students with disabilities have meaningful academic and social outcomes.
The Utah State Board of Education (USBE) has the responsibility to correct non-compliance. Parents can seek help from USBE by filing for a Mediation, a State Complaint (an investigation) or a Due Process Hearing (an informal trial).
During the 2022-2023 school year, however, only 62% of Mediations, 77% of State Complaints, and 9% of Due Process Hearings requested were completed. Even worse, for seventeen (17) years, not one parent or student won a Due Process Hearing in Utah.
In the last twenty-seven (27) months, however, through the efforts of hard working parent attorneys, families, and the IEP Student Center, we have won four (4) of the last seven (7) Due Process Hearings adjudicated. The system has been broken, and vulnerable children have been paying the price, but we can make a difference!
What is needed most in Utah is “advocacy with teeth.” The IEP Student Center will improve education for children with disabilities by protecting the rights of parents and students, providing expert, cutting edge ideas for helping students, identifying noncompliance under IDEA, and seeking increased resources for education in Utah.
