Law Office of James M. Baron

Education Law and General Practice

Counseling and advocacy, from the halls of schools to the halls of justice.

Licensed in Massachusetts,

New Hampshire, and Florida

Massachusetts Laws & Links

Þ Massachusetts Bureau of Special Education Appeals (the state agency with jurisdiction over special education disputes).

Þ Massachusetts General Laws regarding special education (Chapter 71B).

Þ Massachusetts Regulations regarding special education (Chapter 603 Section 28).

Þ BSEA Statistics from 2007 (Highlights: In 2007, there were 6,245 rejected IEP’s, 841 mediations, and 592 hearing requests.  Out of the 592 hearing requests, only 41 made it to a formal decision—the rest were resolved.  Of the 41 decisions, parents fully prevailed in only 6, and school districts fully prevailed in 25—the rest involved mixed relief).

Þ Massachusetts Notice of Procedural Safeguards (the same handout you should be receiving annually at your Team meetings—links include English, Spanish, Albanian, Arabic, Cape Verde Kriolu, Chinese, French, Haitian Kreyol, Hmong, Japanese, Khmer, Korean, Laotian, Portuguese, Russian, Somali, and Vietnamese).

Þ IDEA (Individuals with Disabilities Education Act—Federal special education laws).

Þ Section 504 (Federal civil rights laws protecting people with disabilities).

Þ NCLB (No Child Left Behind—Federal education laws).

Þ Concord Special Education Advisory Committee (very useful information and links).

Þ Massachusetts Yellow Pages for Kids (a list of attorneys, advocates, psychologists, and other professionals who would like to help children with disabilities).

Þ Wrightslaw (very useful information for explaining special education issues).

Þ Schwab Learning (very useful information for explaining special education issues).

Special Education