the staff of the Ridgewood blog
Ridgewood NJ, The Federal Department of Education has ordered New Jersey to revise their special education due process system within three months. This comes on the heels of complaints that the system in New Jersey for special education cases takes too long, costs too much money, is biased with some feeling it is biased towards school district and others saying it is biased towards families.
In response, the NJ Department of Education has proposed a system outside the current Administrative Law Judges that would have hearing officers to hear and decide disputes.
Senator Sweeney in recent legislation, as recommended in the Pathway to Progress report, proposed hiring additional administrative law judges who were trained and knowledgeable about special education laws and would only hear and decide special education cases.
Last year, there were 1,811 disputes filed with the Department of Education and/or the courts