Supreme Court of the United States / October Term 1993

Florence County School District Four, et al. v. Shannon Carter, a Minor by and Through Her Father, and Next Friend, Emory D. Carter

Decided November 9, 1993. Sandra Day O'Connor delivered the opinion of the Court.

Docket 91-1523 · 510 U.S. 7 (1993) · Cited 810 times

Holding

A court may order reimbursement for parents who unilaterally withdraw their child from a public school that provides an inappropriate education under IDEA and put the child in a private school that provides an education that is otherwise proper under IDEA, but does not meet all of § 1401(a)(18)’s requirements.

The Court’s statement of the holding, from the opinion’s syllabus. The syllabus is prepared by the Reporter of Decisions and is not part of the opinion of the Court — read the official opinion for authority.

How the Justices voted

Decided 9–0.

Majority · 9

Sandra Day O'Connor · delivered the opinion of the Court
Anthony McLeod Kennedy
Antonin Scalia
Clarence Thomas
David Hackett Souter
Harry Andrew Blackmun
John Paul Stevens
Ruth Bader Ginsburg
William Hubbs Rehnquist

“Concurring” means agreeing with the outcome; any split shown is the Court’s judgment, not each Justice’s reasoning. Source: the Supreme Court Database (Spaeth et al.), Washington University.

Precedents cited

Supreme Court decisions this opinion relies on, ordered by how often it cites each. Cases in our collection link through; others are named.

School Committee of the Town of Burlington v. Department of Education · 471 U.S. 359 (1985)
Board of Education of the Hendrick Hudson Central School District v. Rowley Ex Rel. Rowley · 458 U.S. 176 (1982)

Cited by

Later Supreme Court opinions in our collection that cite this case.

Forest Grove School District v. T. A. · 557 U.S. 230 (2009)
Arlington Central School District Board of Education v. Murphy · 548 U.S. 291 (2006)

Official text

Read the official opinion (U.S. Reports, govinfo.gov)

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Source: Supreme Court of the United States, slip opinions (1993). Citation count from the Free Law Project’s CourtListener bulk data. Data last verified 2026-07-03. Informational only; verify against the primary source before relying. Not a consumer report (FCRA).