Court Victory for Montana Students With Special Needs

Missoula, MT (KGVO-AM News) - Earlier this month, Montana’s Superintendent of Public Instruction, Elsie Arntzen, prevailed in Helena District Court over the Montana Quality Education Coalition and Disability Rights Montana organization, which sought an injunction against HB 393, the Students with Special Needs Equal Opportunity Act.

House Bill 393 established Educational Savings Accounts, which can be used by parents of children with special needs to help with their education.

I spoke with Arntzen after the court decision in her favor.

Arntzen Claims win for Special Education Students

“The Education Savings Account came from Majority Leader, Representative Sue Vinton, and it's basically to acknowledge that there is a plan of education for our special needs students, our students with disabilities that are recognized by the federal government in special education,” began Arntzen.

Arntzen was surprised that an organization with ‘Disability Rights Montana’ in the title would want to deny those same children the funding they need.

Arntzen said she won in Helena District Court

“Of course, we were taken to court, myself and my office, as well as the governor's office,” she said. “It was stated by the judge that the plaintiffs Disability Rights, which I think was quite interesting, that an organization that should support students of unique abilities, said that these plaintiffs failed to show that there was ‘irreparable harm’.”

Arntzen said the court agreed that there would be ‘no irreparable harm’ for these special needs students to receive public education funding.

The Judge Stated that there was 'No Irreparable Harm'

“The judge said that it was very speculative that there was even going to be any irreparable harm, and he acknowledged that special education is extremely important in our public school system,” she said. “So it was a win for our families, it was a win for our students, and I'm very pleased that the judge went ahead and agreed that there was no irreparable harm.”

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Arntzen expanded on the judge’s decision.

‘Irreparable harm’ in the manner of what the judge stated was that how special education is so important to our students, and found that it was still too either early in the game to recognize that it would cause harm for the funding or harm to the students,” she said. “At this point, we are moving forward to make sure that all of our students in our public school system have a quality education that is given to them and granted to them by our Constitution.”

Click below to read the Order on Preliminary Injunction.

According to Arntzen’s Public Information Officer Brian O’Leary, “the suit failed because the plaintiffs waited 10 months after the law went into effect to file the injunction. The court acknowledged the seriousness of the potential harm to students who may not receive special education services as outlined in their Individual Education Plans, or the potential harm to school district budgets, the nature of the impact is too speculative to support an irreparable harm finding at this stage, prior to litigation.”

Out of 45 applications, 23 were eligible, some in very small communities in Montana, such as Harlem, Monforton and Pioneer.