IDEA
Standard of appellate review of district court statutory review for reimbursement is mixed - facts and law.
Statute requires that local school board prove its claim in a hearing, not call a hearing to prove its claim -- the board can therefore establish its case at a timely hearing invoked by the other party.
Statute requiring the school board to establish its case doesn't shift the burden of persuasion in the district court - the claimant still must carry.
Statutory language describing third party evaluations describes the substance, not the evaluator. Private evaluations must substantially match the substantive standards of the public evaluations, despite the opacity of the regulatory criteria.
Dissent: You just made that last bit up.
http://www.ca5.uscourts.gov/opinions/pub/15/15-30164-CV0.pdf
Since 2011. An occasional commonplacing of the U.S. Circuit Courts of Appeal.
Neither an authoritative statement of the law nor legal advice. Quick work.