School Would Rather Spend $30,000 on Out Of District Placement than Effective Remediation

Lydia Stanton is a young lady with Down Syndrome, and at the end of fifth grade, June 2006,  she could not read.

Her mother, Wendy Stanton, decided to pay privately for an intensive Lindamood Bell program over the summer, and Lydia became a reader, and a writer.  The cost was about $15,200.   

Stanton made a formal request of Lydia's school district, Boonton, for reimbursement for the 2006 Lindamood Bell program and for placement at LMB for the 2006-2007 school year.  The total request was for $32,000.

The district denied the request, but made a settlement offer to send Lydia to an out-of-district school; tuition can be as much as $30,000.

So Ms. Stanton filed suit.

I don't get it -- LMB is educating this girl and making it potentially possible for her to live independently -- why is the school district blocking effective remediation?