In January of 2012, the Chester-Upland School District announced that it did not have enough money to continue operating through the end of the school year and without state intervention would be forced to close. The District filed a lawsuit in federal court against the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania seeking the resources it needed to remain open and continue educating the students of Chester.
The Court held 10 days of trial on the issue of whether the state was complying with the federal Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) to provide adequate education to students in special education. In July the State and District entered into a Settlement Agreement in which the state supplied $29 million in additional funds and agreed to appoint a Special Education Officer to be located in Chester Upland for one year to ensure appropriate education services were provided students with IEPs. In May 2013, the Law Center filed a motion to enforce the settlement agreement to obtain compensatory education for certain failures to comply with IDEA during 2012-13. As a consequence, the District has agreed to provide compensatory education to hundreds of Chester Upland students pursuant to two separate compliance agreements, one covering 2011-12 and one covering 2012-13.
