SEATTLE — Makena Simonsen is paying about $44,000 this year for tuition, board and other expenses to attend a program for students with disabilities at Bellevue College.
She’s learning how to budget, cook and speak up for herself — the kinds of things students who receive special education services could learn for free in public schools until they are 22.
Simonsen, 21, has an intellectual disability and had been in special education programs since elementary school. But she lost the chance to enroll in those free services when she graduated with a regular high school diploma from the Edmonds School District in 2022.
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She’s now suing the district in Snohomish County Superior Court, arguing that it violated her constitutional right to an education and state law requiring districts to provide “sufficient quantity and quality” of instruction for students to succeed after high school. She’s also arguing that the district discriminated against her by not holding her to the same standards as her peers.
Families whose children qualify for special education services often use the federal Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, or IDEA, which guarantees students with disabilities a free and appropriate education, to challenge the school system when their children’s needs aren’t being met.
Simonsen and her mother, Debbi McHugh, tried that route in 2023 and lost the following December when an administrative law judge ruled the district had not violated IDEA or Simonsen’s rights and that she met the requirements for a regular diploma.
The family’s lawyers are now trying a new approach: They are going after the diploma itself, arguing that the district “passed” Simonsen through the system and gave her a “meaningless” diploma. By doing so, the district cut off access to programs that could help her, they said.
Simonsen graduated with a 3.87 grade-point average, but reads, writes and does math at an elementary grade level, according to the lawsuit. She got A’s or A-minuses in math classes but can’t tell “how many quarters, nickels, or dimes are in a dollar,” the document notes.
Simonsen’s attorneys contend she received more outside help than what’s generally acceptable for students with disabilities, and that teachers modified the curriculum to the point that she wasn’t being assessed on core skills. In a math retail store management course, for example, students performed many tasks, including working the cash register, while Simonsen made Italian sodas and warmed corn dogs for her classmates, according to the lawsuit. She got an A.
“Was she actually given the opportunity to receive an education if you’re passing her through, giving her A’s in her English class, reading at a second grade level?” said Alex Hagel, one of Simonsen’s attorneys.
The case could affect other students like Simonsen, Hagel said.
“There’s been a line of cases that says the constitution guarantees an opportunity to access education, but there has not been a case that really dives into and defines what an opportunity to access an education looks like,” he said.
Simonsen’s lawyers argue the case is about “educational malpractice” and “benevolent discrimination.” While no one intentionally set out to hurt Simonsen, the result was the same, they said.
Curtis Campbell, a spokesperson for Edmonds School District, said the district does not comment on pending litigation.
But in a court filing, the district denied that it failed to provide Simonsen the basic education to which she was entitled. Her general education classes were aligned with state standards, and many of the family’s alleged violations of IDEA rights were already litigated in the earlier hearing, the district’s lawyers said. They argue the current case should be dismissed.
The district’s attorneys said the school system acted in “good faith and without malice” and if there were damages, they may have been caused by Simonsen or third parties.
Parents often face an uphill battle when they go against districts and state agencies in special education cases, said Meghan Burke, a professor of special education at Vanderbilt University. They’re expensive, parents often don’t have lawyers, and the emotional toll on families can be enormous, Burke added.
If students receiving special education services meet the milestones for a regular high school diploma, they should get one, she said.
But, she added, “that general education diploma can sometimes stop you from accessing services in adulthood that you need,” including postsecondary transitional services designed to help students with disabilities obtain educational, life skills and employment opportunities that could significantly affect their adult lives.
Simonsen has unspecified neurodevelopmental disorder, ADHD, dyslexia, dyscalculia and dysgraphia.
Although she received special education services since elementary school, her family said they didn’t know the extent of her disabilities until she got to high school, where most of her classes were in a general education setting. A 2021 neuropsychological evaluation the family sought determined Simonsen’s IQ was 67, which indicated an intellectual disability.
The case manager who handled Simonsen’s freshman year individualized education program, the legal document detailing how she’d be educated, was “wonderful” and “very hands-on,” McHugh said.
But even then there were red flags, she said. Simonsen’s IEP indicated that she wanted to go on to be a pediatrician. McHugh said she was skeptical, but said the case manager told her they were still assessing Simonsen’s abilities and could adjust the plan over time. But that didn’t happen after the case manager left in Simonsen’s sophomore year, McHugh said.
By then it was the pandemic, and school districts had switched to online learning. Standards were relaxed.
McHugh believes her child got lost in that tumultuous period.
“They passed all these kids, all the way through,” she said. “You didn’t have to be held accountable for a whole lot during that time because everybody was discombobulated. … There was probably a reason why nobody got to know Makena at a deeper level.”
While IEP documents include postsecondary plans, McHugh said she didn’t know that Simonsen could continue her education through VOICE (Vocational Opportunities in Community Experiences), a transition program for students with disabilities in the Edmonds School District.
When McHugh inquired, a school official told her the program was for students with more severe disabilities like Down syndrome and those who used wheelchairs, she said.
By her final year of high school, Simonsen’s IEP still included that she hoped to go on to four-year college and pursue a degree in medicine, McHugh said.
“They just had no clue,” McHugh said. “To me it feels black and white about my child; it’s about what she’s capable of and what she’s not,” she said.
While McHugh has seen her daughter thrive at the Bellevue program, even after completion she doesn’t expect Simonsen to be able to live independently.
Simonsen returns home most weekends, and gets help to go grocery shopping.
“We are very much a part of her everyday,” her mother said.
McHugh, a nurse who no longer works due to multiple sclerosis, said covering Simonsen’s continuing education has been financially challenging for the family of six. They primarily rely on her husband’s income as an executive sales account manager, and have co-signed Simonsen’s private student loans to fund her Bellevue tuition.
She worries that Simonsen won’t be able to pay back the loans on a Social Security disability income. The lawsuit asks the district to pay for the Bellevue program.
For her part, Simonsen said she loves the Bellevue program. She’s learned how to create a schedule and develop a nighttime routine. She’s taken classes in communications, writing, science and one about her disability. She wants to work with children or the elderly when she graduates.
“I know what I can and can’t do,” Simonsen said. “That’s what (Bellevue’s program) has kind of taught me. That’s what I really like, I know more about myself than I did at 16 and 17 years old. It kind of opens up my brain.”
With the fall semester behind her, Simonsen is looking forward to this year. A personal finance class last semester was challenging but necessary, she said. She learned about budgeting, taxes and banking, including the difference between cash, credit and debit. She also learned about different types of federal financial support available for individuals with disabilities, including Supplemental Security Income and Social Security Disability Insurance.
She still struggles with counting money in her head, and thinks she’ll stick with plastic. But “it’s good for me (to) know,” she said.
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