Gadsby by Gadsby v. Grasmick

• Citation: 109 F.3d 940
• Decision Date: 21 March 1997
• Docket Number: No. 96-1292,96-1292
• Parties: 117 Ed. Law Rep. 58, 21 A.D.D. 101 Eric GADSBY, by his parents and next friends; Carol GADSBY; John Gadsby, Plaintiffs-Appellants, v. Nancy S. GRASMICK, Officially, Superintendent, Maryland State Department of Education; Maryland State Department of Education, Defendants-Appellees.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Fourth Circuit

Page 940

109 F.3d 940

117 Ed. Law Rep. 58, 21 A.D.D. 101

Eric GADSBY, by his parents and next friends; Carol GADSBY John Gadsby, Plaintiffs-Appellants, v. Nancy S. GRASMICK, Officially, Superintendent, Maryland State Department of Education; Maryland State Department of Education, Defendants-Appellees.

No. 96-1292.

United States Court of Appeals Fourth Circuit.

Argued Jan. 29, 1997.

Decided March 21, 1997.

ARGUED: Gary P. Peller, Georgetown University Law Center, Washington, D.C., for Appellants. JoAnn Grozuczak Goedert, Assistant Attorney General, Baltimore, MD, for Appellees. ON BRIEF: Matthew B. Bogin, Michael J. Eig, Bogin & Eig, P.C., Washington, D.C., for Appellants. J. Joseph Curran, Jr., Attorney General of Maryland, Baltimore, MD, for Appellees.

Before HAMILTON, WILLIAMS, and MICHAEL, Circuit Judges.

Vacated and remanded by published opinion. Judge HAMILTON wrote the opinion, in which Judge WILLIAMS and Judge MICHAEL joined.

OPINION

HAMILTON, Circuit Judge:

Eric Gadsby and his parents, Carol and John Gadsby, appeal the district court's adverse judgment against them. In their complaint, the Gadsbys allege that the Maryland State Department of Education (MSDE) violated the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), 20 U.S.C. §§ 1400-1485, and should be held liable for the costs of Eric's private school placement for the 1993-94 school year. Because the district court incorrectly held that the Gadsbys had no potentially valid cause of action against MSDE, we vacate its judgment in favor of MSDE and remand for further proceedings consistent with this opinion.

I.

Because this appeal involves both IDEA and various State statutory and administrative provisions, it is helpful to begin our discussion with an overview of the relevant code provisions before reviewing the particular facts of this dispute.

A.

IDEA, known originally as the Education of the Handicapped Act, ¹ was enacted to ensure that all children with disabilities have access to a "free appropriate public education" to meet their unique needs. 20 U.S.C. § 1400(c). A "free appropriate public education" is defined as "special education and related services" that (1) have been provided at public expense and under public supervision and direction; (2) meet the standards of the state educational agency; (3) include an appropriate preschool, elementary, or secondary school education in the state involved; and (4) are provided in conformity with the individualized education program required under § 1414(a)(5). Id. § 1401(a)(18).

To effectuate this goal, Congress established a three-tiered funding, administration, and implementation scheme, under which the state must submit a plan of compliance to the Secretary of Education which provides federal IDEA funds to the state. See 20 U.S.C. §§ 1412-1414. The state is then responsible for administering the funds on the state level including the distribution of federal funds to local education agencies (LEAs) and the implementation of policies and procedures to ensure that each LEA expends the funds in a manner consistent with the purpose and substantive provisions of IDEA. See id. §§ 1413(a), 1414(b). In order to qualify for IDEA funds, each LEA must apply to the state education agency (SEA) and provide certain assurances of compliance with IDEA. See id. § 1414(a). The LEA then provides services directly to children with disabilities using the funds obtained from the SEA. See id.

A state wishing to receive funding under IDEA must have in effect a policy assuring all children with disabilities a free appropriate public education and establish specific procedures to ensure compliance with IDEA by both state and local education agencies. See id. § 1412. More specifically, each state must submit a state plan to the Secretary of Education setting forth, inter alia: (1) policies and procedures for ensuring that funds received under IDEA are expended in accordance with its provisions, see id. § 1413(a)(1)-(2); (2) a description of programs and procedures for personnel development, see id. § 1413(a)(3); (3) policies and procedures to provide for the participation of children in private schools in programs established under IDEA and to provide special education services to children in private schools who are referred to the state for educational services, see id. § 1413(a)(4); and (4) procedures for the annual evaluation of the effectiveness of state programs under IDEA, see id. § 1413(a)(11). Of particular import to this litigation is IDEA's directive to the states to establish policies and procedures for developing and implementing interagency agreements between the SEA and other state and local agencies to define the financial responsibility of each agency for the provision of a free appropriate public education to each child with a disability and to resolve interagency disputes. See id. § 1413(a)(13).

The LEA, on the other hand, must apply to the state for funds under IDEA. See 20 U.S.C. § 1414(a). Section 1414(a) provides that in its application, the LEA must, among other things: (1) provide assurances to the state that payments will be used to pay costs directly attributable to programs implementing the provisions of IDEA, see id. § 1414(a)(1); (2) maintain records and furnish information as may be necessary for the state to perform its duties under IDEA, see id. § 1414(a)(3); and (3) provide assurances to the state that the LEA will establish or revise an individualized education program for each child with a disability at the beginning of each school year and review its provisions at least annually, see id. § 1414(a)(5). In the event that an LEA has no program for a free appropriate public education in place or fails to maintain an existing program, § 1414(d)(1) provides a stopgap measure, ensuring the provision of a free appropriate public education:

Whenever ... a[n] [LEA] ... is unable or unwilling to establish and maintain programs of free appropriate public education which meet the requirements established in subsection (a) ... the [SEA] shall use the payments which would have been available to such [LEA] to provide special education and related services directly to handicapped children residing in the area served by such [LEA].

Id. § 1414(d)(1).

Thus, IDEA delegates supervisory authority to the SEA, which is responsible for administering funds, setting up policies and procedures to ensure local compliance with IDEA, and filling in for the LEA by providing services directly to students in need where the LEA is either unable or unwilling to establish and maintain programs in compliance with IDEA. The LEA, on the other hand, is responsible for the direct provision of services under IDEA, including the development of an individualized education program (IEP) for each disabled student, the expenditure of IDEA funds to establish programs in compliance with IDEA, and the maintenance of records and the supply of information to the SEA as needed to enable the SEA to function effectively in its supervisory role under IDEA.

Although the SEA's role under IDEA is primarily supervisory, § 1412(6) places the ultimate responsibility for the provision of a free appropriate public education to each student on the SEA:

The State educational agency shall be responsible for assuring that the requirements of this subchapter are carried out and that all educational programs for handicapped children within the State, including all such programs administered by any other State or local agency, will be under the general supervision of the persons responsible for educational programs for handicapped children in the State educational agency and shall meet education standards of the State educational agency. This paragraph shall not be construed to limit the responsibility of agencies other than educational agencies in a State from providing or paying for some or all of the costs of a free appropriate public education to be provided handicapped children in the State.

20 U.S.C. § 1412(6). In addition, the legislative history indicates that § 1412(6) was included in the statute to "assure a single line of responsibility with regard to the education of handicapped children." S. REP. NO. 94-168, at 24 (1975). This report states further that while different agencies may deliver services under IDEA, "the responsibility must remain in a central agency overseeing the education of handicapped children, so that failure to deliver services or the violation of the rights of handicapped children is squarely the responsibility of one agency." Id.

In addition to its substantive provisions, IDEA also contains a comprehensive set of procedural safeguards to ensure that the parents or guardian of a handicapped child are notified of decisions affecting their child and have an opportunity to contest these decisions. See 20 U.S.C. § 1415. Under the procedural provisions of IDEA, any SEA or LEA which receives assistance under IDEA must establish and maintain such procedural safeguards. See id. § 1415(a). These safeguards include the right of parents to examine all relevant records with regard to the education of their child, see id. § 1415(b)(1)(A); the right to obtain an independent educational evaluation of the child, see id.; written prior notice to the parents whenever an agency proposes or refuses to initiate or change the identification, evaluation, or educational placement of the child or the provision of a free appropriate public education to the child, see id. § 1415(b)(1)(C); and the opportunity to present complaints with respect to the provision of a free appropriate public education to the child, see id. § 1415(b)(1)(E). Once a complaint is received under § 1415(b)(1), the parents have a right to an impartial due process hearing conducted by either the SEA or the LEA. See id. § 1415(b)(2). If this hearing is conducted by the LEA, any party aggrieved by the findings and decision may appeal to the SEA which...