Can parents and children with disabilities receive pure monetary damages if they win a due process hearing?
Not in Pennsylvania. If parents are successful at a due process hearing, they may be awarded various types of relief. For example, a hearing officer may award something called “compensatory education,” which may be a number of hours of services that the school district failed to provide to the child, but will now have to “make up.” In addition, if the case is settled before proceeding to a due process hearing, the school district may establish a “compensatory education fund” consisting of a certain sum of money, from which the parents may draw from to provide appropriate educational services/resources/materials for the child.
