Jewish Special Needs Students Get Second Shot for Free Education

Three Orthodox Jewish families plausibly alleged that federal law requires the state to pay for their special needs children’s education in Jewish schools, the Ninth Circuit said Monday.

A statutory scheme that requires a family to forgo religious education to receive Individuals with Disabilities Education Act benefits, otherwise available in a private school setting, imposes a burden on their free exercise rights under the First Amendment, the opinion by Judge Kim McLane Wardlaw said for the US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit.

The IDEA requires states to provide free appropriate public education to students with disabilities but ...