Special Education: When Should Taxes Pay Private Tuition?

 
Here's a longer article about Tom Freston's case from the WSJ nine days ago:

A decade ago, Tom Freston, then a top Viacom Inc. executive, began a legal battle to force New York City to pay for his son's tuition at a Manhattan private school for children with learning disabilities.
 
Today, the U.S. Supreme Court is set to hear arguments to resolve the central question of the case: Must parents of special-education students give public schools a chance before having  taxpayers reimburse them for private-school tuition? How the justices respond will have broad implications for school budgets and the movement toward "mainstreaming," or educating disabled children in regular classrooms. Mr. Freston, pledging to donate any proceeds, has said the fight is about principle, not money.
 
Under a landmark 1975 special-education law, now known as the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, school systems must provide a "free appropriate" public education to disabled students.

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Special Education: When Should Taxes Pay Private Tuition?
By JOHN HECHINGER
October 1, 2007; Page B1
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB119119804628944307.html

A decade ago, Tom Freston, then a top Viacom Inc. executive, began a legal battle to force New York City to pay for his son's tuition at a Manhattan private school for children with learning disabilities.