Elijah is a fourth-grader who is autistic, has ADHD and does not speak. He loves going to school. He especially enjoys being outdoors in the school’s playground. He loves wearing different kinds of hats and cares deeply about his teachers and friends. His parents say he sees the world differently from others and embraces the traits that make him unique.
“Even though he doesn’t communicate, he understands everything you’re saying,” said his father, Joshua Stokes. “He just can’t speak, [but] he wants to tell you he loves you and he cares about you.”
Elijah attends The Day School at The Children’s Institute, an approved private special education school paid for by Pittsburgh Public Schools. Seeing him thrive there has been deeply rewarding for his parents, Joshua and Alyssa Stokes. But reaching that point required years of state complaints, mediation and legal disputes over technology, therapies, evaluations and other services they said PPS failed to provide.
“Parents should not be happy about winning comp services,” Joshua said, referring to compensatory education, which provides additional services to make up for services a student was denied. “If you get a settlement or a ruling in your favor or a mediation agreement that gives you comp services, you think you won, but it’s like your kid missed those services at a crucial time …”
The Stokes’ experience illustrates a broader concern raised by special education advocates and attorneys: PPS frequently resolves disputes with families one case at a time, often through settlements and compensatory services, without necessarily correcting the problems that caused them.
PPS has spent nearly $1.4 million over the past five years on settlements and parents’ legal fees in special education disputes, according to data obtained by Public Source through a Right-to-Know Law request. That figure excludes fees paid to the district’s primary legal counsel, Weiss Burkardt Kramer, which said it could not separate settlement-related costs from other billable services. During the same period, PPS spent more than $1.4 million on compensatory education for students with disabilities whose education was disrupted during COVID.
Some cases end in resolutions through Individualized Education Program (IEP) meetings or state mediations. School districts often settle with parents to provide compensatory education. Few cases go to a formal due process hearing.
“Settlements, while they will resolve an individual case, the barriers remain, and without those barriers being addressed, it continues,” said Cindy Duch, parent training and information director at the PEAL Center.
PPS declined an interview request. In an email response, district spokesperson Ebony Pugh said the most common barriers the district has faced in providing students a Free Appropriate Public Education are reliable specialized transportation and the availability of one-on-one nurses because of staffing shortages.
Under cover of COVID
Issues with PPS over Elijah’s special education services began when he was a preschooler at PPS Roosevelt in 2018. He was placed in an early intervention program, which offers specialized services for students who have developmental delays.
When PPS went remote in spring 2020, Alyssa said Elijah’s services were significantly reduced. She said he did not receive an iPad or an augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) device, which helps non-verbal children communicate, and his regular services largely stopped. Instead, he received a weekly instructional call from a therapist and no Extended School Year (ESY), which allows for special education services to be provided beyond the regular school year.
Alyssa said she was “basically homeschool[ing]” him, creating a picture communication board and learning activities to help him communicate, write and practice fine motor skills.
Special education laws and rights, by the acronyms
- FAPE: Free Appropriate Public Education is a fundamental education right to students with disabilities. Education should be free and tailored to students’ individual needs.
- LRE: Students should receive FAPE in the Least Restrictive Environment. They should be educated in a regular classroom with non-disabled peers to the greatest extent, while receiving extra supports.
- IDEA: The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act is a law that ensures FAPE is provided to all students with disabilities.
- Section 504: This law is to ensure students with disabilities have equal access to education opportunities and are not discriminated against on the basis of their disability.
- IEP: An Individualized Education Program is a legally binding written plan to provide eligible education services and accommodations for students with disabilities.
- IFSP: Individualized Family Service Plan is similar to an IEP but geared toward children in early intervention programs.
- ESY: Extended School Year provides special education services to students beyond the regular school year.
When Elijah entered first grade that fall, the Stokes family said PPS did not complete a neuropsychological evaluation for autism. The district conducted other evaluations, classified him as having a global developmental delay and placed him in a regular classroom while he continued learning virtually.
“They kept saying, ‘Due to COVID, we can’t evaluate him, and we can’t put him in an appropriate program,’” Alyssa said, referring to what she said district staff told the family.
Pugh declined to comment on questions related to Elijah’s case. She said the district is required to conduct psychoeducational evaluations when requested, which include some neuropsychological assessments. While the district can raise suspicions and recommend parents for medical evaluations, it cannot medically diagnose students with autism.
PPS is still making up more than 600,000 hours of disability services lost during the pandemic, as reported by WESA.
Duch said funding gaps can make it harder for districts to provide required services. When Congress enacted IDEA, it authorized the federal government to cover up to 40% of the per-pupil cost of educating students with disabilities, but federal funding has remained well below that level. In Pennsylvania, the special education funding share has increased. The 2026-27 budget includes $1.6 billion in special education funding, a 3.6% increase from the previous year.
Elijah received occupational and speech therapy but lacked other supports, including an aide and learning devices, his parents said. In December 2020, after Elijah began falling behind in reading and science the district determined that he needed a higher level of support and recommended an autism support classroom at Liberty Elementary.
Elijah began attending the Liberty classroom virtually in January 2021 but struggled to learn.
“He’s biting, kicking, he’s screaming, he’s throwing stuff at [Alyssa], and even during COVID, when he was in the special class, it was still the same thing, and it was so challenging, I couldn’t even be in the room sometimes,” Joshua said.
Without an aide or specialist at home, his parents said, he struggled to focus and became agitated when asked to do schoolwork.
“No one tells you what to expect in the future, so there’s times like, ‘Are we wasting our time with this?’” he said. “It is so overwhelming at times, you’re like, ‘Well, what kind of future is he going to have?’”
When PPS resumed in-person instruction that fall, the district evaluated Elijah and diagnosed him with level-two autism, meaning he required substantial support.
A series of complaints, mediation and settlement
Elijah’s challenges increased when he began attending Liberty in person.
The school’s autism support classroom was in the basement, in a small room with concrete walls and high windows. Student desks were packed closely together, with dividers separating each seat. The room contained panel boxes and pressure gauges, and Joshua said it seemed like a utility room and became extremely hot. He said students received therapies in a small storage space next to the classroom.
Elijah hated returning to the classroom after recess, his parents said, and sometimes had to be picked up from school.
“It got to the point where he was severely hurting himself and freaking out on behaviors we’ve never even seen before, because he was … stressed out,” Alyssa said. “He was trying to escape the school, he was hurting himself, he would come home covered in marks because he was biting himself.”
Pugh said every special education classroom must be approved by the state Bureau of Special Education, so any room currently or previously used as a classroom would have been approved. She said Liberty currently has two autism support classrooms.
The Stokes family filed a state complaint about the classroom conditions and another alleging that PPS failed to provide Elijah with a full-time aide during his bus rides home. The state did not require PPS to relocate the classroom but directed the district to make changes to the room, Joshua said.
Pugh said a K-2 autism support classroom was added in 2023 but declined to comment on the location of that classroom before that.
State complaint: Parents or guardians can file a formal complaint against a school district alleging that the district has violated the requirements of state or federal education laws.
State mediation: Parents can choose mediation as a free, voluntary and confidential alternative to a formal due process hearing. It is offered by the Office of Dispute Resolution and can be requested at any time, before or during a due process hearing.
Due process: In due process hearings, a hearing officer determines a resolution for a dispute between parents and school districts. Attorneys represent school districts, while parents may choose counsel of their own or proceed without it. The hearing officer issues a decision after questioning witnesses and examining evidence. The decision is legally enforceable.
In January 2022, the family entered state mediation seeking to place Elijah in a private school. PPS initially proposed Conroy, a district special education school, but the Stokes family sought placement at The Day School. Elijah ultimately enrolled there, with PPS responsible for his tuition, services and transportation.
Later that year, after multiple state complaints and mediation sessions, the Stokes family reached a settlement with PPS over allegations including but not limited to the failure to provide technology and occupational therapy during COVID, delayed evaluation, missed ESY services, the lack of a full-time aide and missed school hours at Liberty.
A nondisclosure agreement bars the family from discussing the settlement amount and certain other details.
Jeff Ruder of Ruder Law, which represents families in special education and disability cases, said compensatory education claims often arise when districts fail to identify disabilities, provide appropriate behavioral or emotional supports or deliver required reading, communication and other specialized services.
Millions in settlements and compensatory education
The district’s nearly $1.4 million in settlements included amounts ranging from $140 to $225,000 in a single case, according to district records.
As part of its special education fund, PPS spent nearly $300,000 on compensatory education between May 2021 and January 2026. Payments included reimbursements to families, payments to service providers and the cost of devices.
Once a district agrees to provide compensatory services, the funds are generally held by the district or a third-party trust. Families can submit invoices or receipts for approved services.
Duch said better training for families could reduce special education disputes. School districts should be intentional about informing parents of their rights and use Individualized Education Plan (IEP) meetings to help families understand the process, she said.
Without well-informed parents, Duch said, PPS risks relying on settlements rather than addressing structural problems.
“$1.4 million, that could have gone towards services, not towards making up what was not provided to students,” she said.
If the money is not used within the period established by the agreement, the remaining funds typically revert to the district.
“Lots of kids are awarded comp ed that is never used,” said Pam Harbin, a former PPS board member and co-founder of Education Rights Network. “It’s kind of another burden on the family to figure out, like, how to use this pot of money.”
Jeff Ruder said settlements can benefit families by avoiding the uncertainty of a formal due process hearing. A hearing could result in more compensatory education, he said, but settlements can provide faster access to services, greater certainty and reimbursement of parents’ legal fees.
Brandi Suter of Extraordinary Law said attorneys may encourage families to settle if it means students will receive services sooner, because due process proceedings can take months and can be emotionally and financially draining.
But Suter said she believes the district has a challenge providing services consistently across schools.
“[PPS] also doesn’t have great unified direction to allow them to stop responding in a ‘let’s put out a fire one by one,’ rather than stepping back and looking at, ‘how do we stop the fires from starting,’” she said.
Harbin said that during her time on the school board, she pushed the administration to create a corrective action plan each time the district settled, with the goal of addressing the underlying problem rather than resolving only one family’s case.
PPS and district solicitor Ira Weiss declined to comment on whether the district still provides a corrective action plan.
Challenges to PPS decisions include summer school, placements, services
Here’s a look at the five due process claims brought by Pittsburgh Public Schools households to the state Office of Dispute Resolution (ODR) between 2021 and 2024.
Extended school year
Parents filed a due process complaint in 2024 alleging that PPS failed to offer timely Extended School Year services and asked for reimbursement for out-of-pocket private summer school costs. The hearing officer ruled in favor of the parents, saying PPS failed to provide adequate prior written notice and procedural safeguards, and granted the parents’ claims for tuition reimbursement and out-of-pocket expenses.
Private school options
In 2021, parents of a student with autism, ADHD and emotional disturbance challenged PPS’ proposed placement, arguing that a private school specializing in academically strong students who need autism support was more appropriate. The hearing officer ruled for the parents, finding their preferred school would support the student in a less restrictive setting. The officer also found that PPS failed to evaluate the student promptly, thus denying FAPE.
IEP shortcomings
In another 2021 case, parents alleged that PPS failed to offer or implement an appropriate IEP and special education services. The hearing officer ruled that PPS did not implement portions of the student’s IEP. ODR rejected the district’s claim that the student was educated in the least restrictive setting and awarded compensatory education.
Delayed disability determination
In 2021, parents argued PPS should have identified their high school student for special education sooner. The student, who had a medical condition and a 504 Plan, developed anxiety amid attendance problems and school avoidance. A reevaluation requested in 2020 was delayed during COVID. The hearing officer found the student’s behavior had changed significantly enough to require earlier reevaluation, ruled PPS denied FAPE and awarded 220 hours of compensatory education.
Life skills placement
In a 2022 case, PPS and an elementary student’s parents disagreed over the student’s program and placement. Parents argued that the student’s educational setting at that time was appropriate, while PPS wanted to move the student to a life skills classroom. The student, diagnosed with an intellectual disability, was falling behind in classes, had to repeat years and was not meeting IEP goals. ODR ruled in favor of the district.
Settlements are not a victory
Elijah thrived after enrolling at The Day School in 2022, and the Stokes family believed they had found stability after years of fighting.
But last year, they learned that he had gone without occupational therapy for about five weeks in 2023. They encountered transportation problems after Elijah was diagnosed with epilepsy because, they said, PPS could not consistently provide a full-time nurse for the bus.
The family also objected after PPS changed Elijah’s IEP from two weekly sessions each of speech and occupational therapy to 60 sessions of each per year, Alyssa said. She said this allowed the district to “bank” sessions rather than provide them consistently, potentially creating significant gaps in therapy at the end of the school year and before services resumed after ESY.
The Stokes family said PPS made the change without notifying them or issuing a Notice of Recommended Educational Placement, or NOREP, which allows parents to approve or reject proposed changes. Duch said a NOREP is required before parents can agree to changes in services.
Duch said school districts should be proactive about starting mediations, without waiting for families, if they feel there is a dispute. Voluntary mediations, she said, often lead to solving issues without involving the state or going to due process, and thus preserve relationships between families and districts.
Through mediation, PPS agreed to provide 30 hours of compensatory speech and occupational therapies. The district also agreed to provide Elijah 15 sessions per quarter but did not revert the IEP to two weekly sessions. The Stokes family argued that the annual total still reduced Elijah’s services. In March, the Stokes family filed a due process complaint challenging the IEP language and the failure to provide services.
The family struggled to find an attorney willing to take the case. They ultimately represented themselves, with help from the state Office of Dispute Resolution’s consultation line, while PPS was represented by attorneys from Weiss Burkardt Kramer.
“It felt like we were just negotiating a business deal,” Alyssa said.
At the end of June, the hearing officer ruled in favor of PPS, concluding that Elijah’s ESY services and the revised IEP language providing 15 therapy sessions per quarter were appropriate.
Despite the loss, Joshua said fighting for Elijah’s rights was worthwhile.
“As parents, it’s frustrating, but it’s also rewarding in knowing that he’s in such a better place now, as far as the school, because you gotta realize this started with he couldn’t even go to school a full day because his behaviors were so bad,” he said.
Recently, Elijah used his AAC device to spell the word “balloon.” His parents, who have pushed him academically throughout his education, are proud of how far he has come.
Lajja Mistry is the K-12 education reporter at Pittsburgh’s Public Source. She can be reached at lajja@publicsource.org.
This story was fact-checked by Katherine Weaver.
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