September 2025: 

The MLO Minute: “Students in Hospitals are Still Entitled to an Appropriate Education” — 

By Michael Connolly, Esq., Chief Operating Officer and Supervising Partner of Special Education

I recently attended a fantastic webinar sponsored by the Education Law Center on the rights of students in hospitals, which reenforced a well-known fact that is often overlooked; students with special needs, whether academic, social-emotional, or otherwise, don’t lose their right to FAPE because they were temporarily hospitalized. With the rise of students experiencing mental health needs throughout the Untied States, more and more students are finding themselves in crisis at a hospital where they may remain for some time, and often without appropriate education.

Often, students in hospitals receive very minimal education that is not individualized to either their IEP goals or needs, resulting in an extended deprivation of education, making their return to a school-based program upon discharge from the hospital challenging.  However, under Section 1302 of the Pennsylvania Public School Code, the school district where the facility or hospital is located (i.e., the host district) is responsible for the education of students residing in the hospital, including students with IEPs, whether those students reside in that district or not.  Families of such students in hospitals can and should identify and reach out to the host school district and ascertain what type of education is being provided and by whom.

For students eligible for special education, IEP meetings can and should be requested to identify what goals will be addressed while in the hospital, to establish how any related services will be provided, and to develop a plan to monitor progress and identify a potential discharge date so that appropriate planning with the appropriate school district can be made.  To the extent there are disagreements over education while a student is in-patient, the same dispute resolution mechanisms available to any student in special education remain available while in a hospital (e.g., due process hearing, mediation, etc.).  Additionally, compensatory education remains a viable remedy for the failure to receive an appropriate education while in hospital.

Our firm provides free consultations in all special education matters, and most cases are handled without charge to families. Families should not hesitate to reach out to us for a free consultation.