>like tens of thousands of other families in New York City, she has hired a lawyer and is filing a “due process” claim against the Department of Education. These lawsuits are referred to as Carter cases, following a 1993 Supreme Court case that gave parents nationwide the same recourse. If the city settles, or the family wins in a hearing, the DoE will be liable for the cost of services, transportation, evaluations, and/or tuition at a specialized private school. In Hayley’s case, the payment will include an annual tuition of nearly $90,000. The city may also be required to pay the parents’ legal fees — typically in the four- or five-figure range — incurred to file the suit each year.
>Although parents across the United States can sue their school districts for private-school tuition, no one is as likely to opt for this route as a New Yorker. **The rate of claims per student in New York State is ten times higher than the national average. **In the 2023–24 school year, according to federal data, New York State represented nearly 70 percent of all special-education due-process claims filed in the United States — and in 2021, 98 percent of these cases came from New York City. According to New York’s Independent Budget Office, the city’s total spending on these cases has more than quadrupled in a decade, from $234 million in 2015 to $1.1 billion in 2025. For 2027, the city has budgeted approximately $1.5 billion for private-school tuition, private services, student transportation, and lawyer costs. That’s about 4 percent of the city’s entire education budget.
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>like tens of thousands of other families in New York City, she has hired a lawyer and is filing a “due process” claim against the Department of Education. These lawsuits are referred to as Carter cases, following a 1993 Supreme Court case that gave parents nationwide the same recourse. If the city settles, or the family wins in a hearing, the DoE will be liable for the cost of services, transportation, evaluations, and/or tuition at a specialized private school. In Hayley’s case, the payment will include an annual tuition of nearly $90,000. The city may also be required to pay the parents’ legal fees — typically in the four- or five-figure range — incurred to file the suit each year.
>Although parents across the United States can sue their school districts for private-school tuition, no one is as likely to opt for this route as a New Yorker. **The rate of claims per student in New York State is ten times higher than the national average. **In the 2023–24 school year, according to federal data, New York State represented nearly 70 percent of all special-education due-process claims filed in the United States — and in 2021, 98 percent of these cases came from New York City. According to New York’s Independent Budget Office, the city’s total spending on these cases has more than quadrupled in a decade, from $234 million in 2015 to $1.1 billion in 2025. For 2027, the city has budgeted approximately $1.5 billion for private-school tuition, private services, student transportation, and lawyer costs. That’s about 4 percent of the city’s entire education budget.
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