Illinois · special-education accountability
Due-process decisions, decoded
What is a due-process hearing — and why would a parent need one?
When a parent and a school district can't resolve a disagreement about a child's special education — whether the IEP is appropriate, where the child is placed, or what services or evaluations are owed — either side can file for a due-process hearing: a formal, court-like proceeding before a neutral state hearing officer. It is the strongest enforcement tool a parent has under federal law (the IDEA), and usually a last resort after other steps fail. Below is every Illinois decision on record (316, FY 2008–2026) — read and classified so you can see what families actually fight over and how often they win.
Why this is statewide, not per-district. ISBE anonymizes both the district and the student in every decision ("Student … v. District"), so these can't be tied to a specific district — but as a body they show the system clearly. ISBE source
What these 293 decisions were about — and how they came out
We read every decision on file and classified each by the issue in dispute and who prevailed. (Some early decisions could not be machine-read.)
Who prevailed
35%Parent prevailed (104)18%Split decision (52)46%District prevailed (136)0%Dismissed / withdrawn (1)
Parents prevailed outright in about 35% of decided cases — a reminder that these hearings are hard-fought and far from a sure thing, which is why most disputes are resolved long before this stage.
Most common issues in dispute
FAPE denial245
IEP adequacy/implementation156
Placement/LRE156
Eligibility/evaluation/child find135
Compensatory education109
Private/residential placement & reimbursement103
Related services92
Independent educational evaluation (IEE)88
Procedural/parent-participation81
Behavior/discipline/manifestation66
Disabilities most often involved
Specific Learning Disability 57Autism 50Emotional Disability 39Other Health Impairment 33Intellectual Disability 20Speech/Language 8Hearing Impairment 4Developmental Delay 3
Parents of a hard-of-hearing preschooler wanted her kept at a private school for deaf children at public expense; the hearing officer found the district's IEP placing her in a general-education early-childhood class with hearing peers was appropriate and the least restrictive setting, and denied private placement and reimbursement.
FAPE denialPlacement/LREPrivate/residential placement & reimbursement
Parents who repeatedly asked for a special-education evaluation that the school declined argued their child (diagnosed with ADHD and behavior problems) was denied a timely free appropriate education; the hearing officer agreed and awarded compensatory after-school one-to-one tutoring.
FAPE denialEligibility/evaluation/child findCompensatory education
A parent argued the district failed to implement the IEP, provide proper reading goals and transition services, and place the child correctly; the hearing officer found the placement, transition services, and implementation adequate but ordered the district to add specific reading goals and to amend the student's incomplete school records.
FAPE denialIEP adequacy/implementationEligibility/evaluation/child find
Parents claimed several years of IEPs were inadequate and sought a funded residential placement; the hearing officer found the current and earlier IEPs appropriate and the residential placement too restrictive, but found a procedural violation in one year's IEP and ordered the district to pay for the independent evaluation and implement its recommendations on re-enrollment.
FAPE denialIEP adequacy/implementationPlacement/LRE
Parents contested moving their child into the district's new autism classroom and raised concerns about nutrition, wandering off, and video monitoring; the hearing officer upheld the new placement and transition plan but found the IEP failed to address the child's eating routine and flight risk and ordered the district to add specific goals for those.
FAPE denialPlacement/LREIEP adequacy/implementation
Parents argued the district denied their child a free appropriate education by busing him to his private program in a small school bus rather than a car or minivan despite claimed anxiety and motion sickness; the hearing officer found the bus transportation appropriate and denied the requested minivan funding, tutoring, and therapy.
FAPE denialRelated services
Parents fought a move of their kindergartner from a blended pre-school class into a segregated self-contained school away from typical peers; the hearing officer found the district denied a free appropriate education by not properly evaluating and staffing the program, and ordered reimbursement for an independent evaluation and a summer ABA program plus compensatory education.
FAPE denialPlacement/LREEligibility/evaluation/child find
After her teen was expelled, the parent claimed the district failed to evaluate and serve him in time and committed procedural violations; the hearing officer found the district owed no special-education duty until the parent requested an evaluation, that its later evaluation and IEP were timely and proper, and denied all relief.
FAPE denialEligibility/evaluation/child findIEP adequacy/implementation
Parents (proceeding on their own) argued the IEP and a behavioral day-program placement were wrong, that notice was inadequate, and that staff bullied their child; the hearing officer found for the district on every issue and required no changes.
FAPE denialIEP adequacy/implementationPlacement/LRE
The district challenged its own evaluation as adequate and the parent counter-claimed denial of services; the hearing officer ruled mostly for the parent, ordering the IEP rewritten with added therapies and the district to pay for several independent evaluations, while denying a private placement and compensatory education.
FAPE denialIEP adequacy/implementationEligibility/evaluation/child find
The hearing officer found the district violated its child-find duty and denied a free appropriate education, ordering it to reimburse the parents for therapy, some tutoring, a private evaluation, and the academic portion of a private placement, while denying several other reimbursement requests.
Eligibility/evaluation/child findFAPE denialPrivate/residential placement & reimbursement