In re Michael J.

As is true of virtually every new statute which engenders a new field of litigation, the enactment of section 232 et seq. of the Family Court Act providing in effect that tuition for handicapped children be a charge upon local and/or State authorities, has created in these early stages of its viable life, a maze of conflicting decisions by courts of original jurisdiction and even by different departments of the Appellate Division. The symmetry of the law is such however, that this chaotic condition should ultimately reach the State’s highest tribunal for definitive statutory construction.

By…