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The Globe began its reporting for this story in summer 2023, requesting special education settlements for a 10-year period from every district in the state. Some complied immediately, others took months. Some charged reasonable fees for their time, others provided the public records at no cost. Still more sought to charge fees for the settlements that the Globe deemed excessive. A sizable group said they had none. See below for more information.

The following districts told the Globe they maintained no settlement records for the period requested: Assabet Valley Regional Vocational Technical, Athol-Royalston, Avon, Berkley, Blackstone-Millville, Bristol County Agricultural, Bristol-Plymouth Regional Vocational Technical, Brookfield, Cape Cod Regional Vocational Technical, East Bridgewater, Essex North Shore Agricultural and Technical School District, Franklin County Regional Vocational Technical, Gill-Montague, Greater Commonwealth Virtual District, Greater Fall River Regional Vocational Technical, Greater Lowell Regional Vocational Technical, Hancock, Hawlemont, Lee, Mendon-Upton, Minuteman Regional Vocational Technical, Mohawk Trail, Narragansett, North Adams, Norwood, Old Colony Regional Vocational Technical, Richmond, Southeastern Regional Vocational Technical, Southwick-Tolland-Granville Regional School District, Spencer-E Brookfield, Sutton, Truro, Upper Cape Cod Regional Vocational Technical, Uxbridge, Ware, Whittier Regional Vocational Technical, Wrentham, Keefe Regional Technical School, North Berkshire School Union.

The following districts requested fees deemed by the Globe to be unreasonable: Belmont, Braintree, Brookline, Concord, Dudley-Charlton, Greenfield, Hampshire, Holliston, Masconomet, Medway, Newton, Old Rochester, Quaboag, Rockport, Somerville, Wachusett, and Winchester.

To conduct its investigation into special education settlements, the Globe requested records from every public school district in Massachusetts -- something anyone in the public has the right to do.

Such rights are enshrined in the state's public records law.

The Globe, which began its reporting last year, obtained records from 2013 to 2023. Curious about more recent settlements? Use the following email as an example to get you started. (Note: Some districts, such as Boston and Springfield, use online portals to process their public records requests.)

Dear Superintendent,

Please accept the following records request under the Massachusetts Public Records Act (M. G. L. Chapter 66, Section 10): Settlement agreements entered into by your School District with parents and guardians, from August 1, 2023 through July 31, 2024, relative to the provision of special education services and/or educational placement(s) for students with disabilities, redacted of personally identifying information.

If there are any fees for searching or copying these records, please inform me if the cost will exceed $25. However, I would also like to request a waiver of all fees in that the disclosure of the requested information is in the public interest and will contribute significantly to the public’s understanding of special education in your district. This information is not being sought for commercial purposes.

The Massachusetts Public Records Act requires a response to this request within 10 days. If access to the records I am requesting will take longer than this amount of time, please contact me with information about when I might expect copies or the ability to inspect the requested records.

If you deny any or all of this request, please cite each specific exemption you feel justifies the refusal to release the information and notify me of the appeal procedures available to me under the law.

Please call me if you have any questions.

Thank you in advance,