While in the first grade, Michael Panico was found to be handicapped as defined by the EAHCA. Public school officials in Burlington, Massachusetts, subsequently created an IEP for him. However, after two years it became clear that the school he was attending “was not equipped to handle his needs,” and a new IEP was created, which involved his moving to another school for the 1979–80 academic year. His parents, however, did not agree with the proposed IEP and sought review consistent with the EAHCA’s provisions. In the meantime, Panico’s parents, at their own expense, enrolled him in a private special-education school that was state approved. During that time the Bureau of Special Education Appeals (BSEA), part of Massachusetts’s department
