Connecticut's special education statute and regulations provides that an individual with a disability who turns 21 during the school year is entitled to receive special education only until the end of that school year. A group of disabled students brought a class action law suit arguing that the State's failure to provide special education to individuals with disabilities between the ages of 21 and 22 violates the IDEA because the State provides public education to non-disabled individuals in that age range through adult education programs that allow their students to earn high school diplomas. After determining that the Connecticut adult education programs provided to individuals over the age of 21 qualified as “public education” under the IDEA, the United States Federal Court, District of Connecticut, held Connecticut must also provide a free appropriate public education under the IDEA to disabled students who have not yet obtained the age of 22.

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