On December 1 2021, the New York City Department of Education and the New York State Education Department entered into an illegal back door memorandum effectively transferring all impartial hearings for children with disabilities in New York City to the Office of Administrative Trials and Hearings (OATH), a New York City controlled agency. On December 27, just four days before leaving office, former Mayor Bill DeBlasio issued Executive Order 91 which attempts to unilaterally change the law in New York City even though this change is against federal regulations. The New York City Department of Education and New York State Education Department are now training the OATH hearing officers and will be phasing out and replacing the 160 current impartial hearing officers in the coming months.

As parents and advocates for disabilities in New York City, we vehemently oppose the move to OATH. We are concerned that 160 independent impartial hearing officers, many of whom have been hearing officers for more than a decade, will be replaced with 40-50 city hired and controlled hearing officers. There are many inherent conflicts of interest in this move. The New York City Department of Education and New York State Education Department are aware of the parents' concerns. There are pending lawsuits in federal and state courts, a formal complaint to the Commissioner and a discrimination lawsuit. Moreover, the Citywide Council on Special Education passed a resolution in February in which they opposed the move to OATH.

Despite the opposition, the New York State Education Department and New York City Department of Education continue to move forward rapidly on the transfer of the hearings to OATH. If students with disabilities do not receive fair hearings, it is reasonable to fear that there will be a backlog of appeals to the New York State Review Officer. This would make the process even more onerous for families and will delay and deprive thousands of students with disabilities of the vital services they need. Even more concerning is the impact this will have on minority, low income and immigrant families who may lack the resources to appeal their case. 

In response to the concerns of parents and advocates, there is a bill pending before the New York State Assembly. A09287. If passed, this bill will protect children with disabilities and their families from NYC's attempt to control impartial hearing officers. The bill very simply conforms the existing law to federal special education law, to the original vision of impartiality. The proposed legislation states that impartial hearing officers must be totally impartial and not be employees of NYC or city-controlled agencies. This would change New York State Regulations to comport with Federal Regulations under the IDEA and would protect students with disabilities' due process rights.

Join us in asking our elected officials to support New York State Assembly Bill A09287 to keep Hearing Officers in New York City impartial and hearings FAIR!