Education
Many Minnesotan students who have disabilities face barriers to full participation in school, such as exclusionary discipline, reduced school days or attendance, restraint and seclusion, or placement in unnecessarily restrictive educational settings. Our Education Team, also known as our Youth Services Team, is made of attorneys and legal advocates with expertise in navigating these and other issues at school. Several members of the Youth Services Team are former special education teachers or students ourselves. Our work falls into four broad categories:
- We address systemic compliance and culture by conducting regular monitoring visits to educational programs around Minnesota. If you are concerned about an educational program for children with disabilities and believe we should monitor there, please contact info@mylegalaid.org.
- We conduct training and outreach to groups interested in special education and children with disabilities in schools. Please reach out to mndlc@mylegalaid.org to request a training.
- We work with other community organizations and the Legal Services Advocacy Project to advance policy changes at the Capitol to positively impact the educational access and experiences of children with disabilities in schools.
- We inform, advise, and/or represent clients facing issues regarding special education or other issues facing students with disabilities. We receive hundreds of calls each year and we can only represent a small percentage of clients in litigation. After a member of our team has gathered information from the client in a phone call, the case handler may follow up with our advice and resources to empower the client in self-advocacy, or may request the opportunity to evaluate the case further for possible representation. Our ability to represent clients depends on our capacity, priorities established by our boards, and the legal merit of the case and likelihood of success.
Once we’ve concluded offering our advice, we will close the case. If new questions arise, clients may call back and we can provide advice on the new questions. If you have a situation regarding an issue with special education and would like a member of our team to review it, please connect with us.
If you are an attorney licensed in the state of Minnesota and interested in providing pro bono support to special education clients, please connect with us.
Important Resources
Fact sheets
- The Rights of Children with Disabilities to Get Services at Daycare | LawHelp Minnesota
- Top 10 Tips for the Special Education Process and Individual Education Plans (IEPs) | LawHelp Minnesota
- How to Be a Good Advocate for Your Child in Special Education Services | LawHelp Minnesota
- Student Suspensions | LawHelp Minnesota
- Where, When, and How to File a Special Education Complaint
- Access to Education Records and the Family Education Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA)
- IEP Team Meetings
- My Child With Disabilities Needs Support
- Independent education evaluations (IEEs)
- Divorced parents and family structures
- Special Education Transportation
Partner Organizations
We use legal tools to solve legal problems. We work closely with other organizations, which sometimes have more appropriate resources for what our clients need instead of legal advocacy. This list is not exhaustive and there are many community organizations that are immensely helpful to children with disabilities, but we find that clients contacting MDLC for legal advice or legal advocacy may sometimes be better served by accessing the free resources listed here:
Minnesota Department of Education (MDE) is the state’s education agency (SEA) with oversight over all schools in the state of Minnesota. MDE offers a multitude of resources about legal obligations of schools and parents. MDE cannot provide legal advice or advocacy, but may be able to answer legal questions and intervene between schools and families when an issue arises. Further, MDE maintains databases of complaints, school report cards and the outcomes of conflict in special education if you want to review your child’s school data.
PACER Center is the federally-mandated parent training and education center for the state of Minnesota. PACER provides free, non-legal support for families of children and young adults with any disability from birth to age 26 across the state. PACER has dozens of trainings, workshops, and resources on topics ranging from assistive technology to the evaluation process to what makes a good IEP. PACER advocates can help you prepare for an IEP team meeting or Section 504 team meeting, attend meetings with you, and help you navigate school and other systems, knowing your rights and understanding your options. In many cases where legal tools are not appropriate for resolving the issue, we advise clients to contact PACER.
Multicultural Autism Action Network (MAAN) is a non-profit organization providing free, non-legal support to autistic children and their families with a special focus on multicultural families. MAAN provides one-on-one group support for families, along with extensive videos and trainings in multiple languages. If your child has autism and you have questions about navigating IEPs, Section 504 plans, and other special education issues, MAAN is an appropriate place to start.
The Arc Minnesota is a non-profit organization that provides free, non-legal advocacy and services to people with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD). Arc Minnesota serves people with IDD across the life span and across systems. If you have a child with IDD and you have questions about navigating IEPs, Section 504 plans, and other special education issues, Arc Minnesota is an appropriate place to start.