Stacey G., by William and Jane G. v. Pasadena Independent School Dist.
| Decision Date | 20 January 1983 |
| Docket Number | No. 81-2355,81-2355 |
| Parties | 8 Ed. Law Rep. 237 STACEY G., by her next friends, WILLIAM AND JANE G., Plaintiffs-Appellees, v. PASADENA INDEPENDENT SCHOOL DISTRICT, Defendant-Appellant. |
| Court | U.S. Court of Appeals — Fifth Circuit |
Donald G. Henslee, David P. Ryan, Austin, Tex., for defendant-appellant.
Sarah A. Scott, Brooklyn, N.Y., Annie S. Garcy, Houston, Tex., for plaintiffs-appellees.
Appeal from the United States District Court for the Southern District of Texas.
Before GARZA, TATE and WILLIAMS, Circuit Judges.
Stacey G., a minor severely handicapped by an autistic/mentally retarded condition, brought this suit through her parents as next friends against various Texas state and local agencies and officers. Questioning various deficiencies in Texas placement procedures and decisions, the thrust of the suit was to obtain for Stacey a free, appropriate public education that adequately dealt with the handicapped child's mental and emotional handicaps, as mandated by federal and Texas statute.
This appeal by one of the defendants, the Pasadena Independent School District ("Pasadena"), concerns only the narrow issue of whether the district court properly granted a preliminary injunction on August 9, 1981, ordering Pasadena to pay "[p]ending resolution of this cause" the costs of a private school in which Stacey had been placed by her parents. 1 Pasadena contends (1) that the district court erred as a matter of law in holding that Texas regulation required it to pay the costs of private schooling during the pendency of the judicial review of the handicapped child's placement procedures and (2) that, if the preliminary injunction was indeed issued in the exercise of the court's equitable powers, no irreparable harm is shown that would justify this injunctive relief. At oral argument, both parties agreed that, if the grant of the injunction is reversed on the first ground, then a remand would be appropriate for findings of fact and conclusions of law as to whether injunctive relief was properly granted under general equitable powers; for the district court's order (although perhaps implying such a basis) did not explicitly set forth the findings of fact and conclusions of law that constituted the grounds for granting a preliminary injunction, as required by Fed.R.Civ.P. 52(a).
Finding that Texas regulation did not require maintaining the child at public expense in a private school placement effected by her parents, we vacate the preliminary injunction; however, we remand for further proceedings to determine whether the temporary placement at public expense was warranted under the equitable powers of the court.
Stacey G., born in 1967, is a severely handicapped child. She has been enrolled in Pasadena and in private special-education programs for the mentally and emotionally retarded since the age of four, due to her low IQ score and her autistic tendencies. From the fall of 1974 through the close of the 1978-79 school year, during the normal schooling months Pasadena furnished Stacey special programs for handicapped children, based upon her undoubtedly severe mental defects and emotional disturbances. Pasadena did not then offer summer special education programs for autistic/mentally retarded/emotionally disturbed children such as Stacey, and her parents at their own expense independently placed her in a private residential facility in the summers of 1978 and 1979. In the summer of 1979, Stacey's parents had requested Pasadena to pay for this summer schooling, but the district refused.
Dissatisfied with Pasadena's program for Stacey for the 1979-80 school year, her parents maintained her in the private school at their expense during that year, since Stacey was showing improvement. However, commencing in December 1980, they attempted to secure a more adequate program from Pasadena providing residential placement at public expense. They requested a hearing, as provided by state administrative procedures, on January 21, 1981. Although the hearing commenced on February 19, 1981, due to various procedural hiatuses on the part of state officials it was still not concluded by the summer of 1981.
Alleging the inadequacies of the state procedures and the real danger of severe regression should Stacey's current placement in a structured residential program be terminated, her parents brought this suit on July 8, 1981. By this time, their insurance and means had run out, while Pasadena had no summer program. At the hearing on the preliminary injunction, the showing made indicated that state administrative placement of Stacey (for the required individualized training at public expense) could not practicably be accomplished for several months.
The district court's order granting preliminary injunctive relief was entered in the context of the prior indefinite delays in affording Stacey administrative placement, of the prospect of yet further indefinite administrative delays, of the indications that Stacey was in danger of severe regression if her placement in a highly structured training program was terminated, and of her parents' inability any longer to pay for such educational needs themselves. The district court order attempted to expedite the state administrative determinations (as to which no objection is now made), but it also required that "[p]ending resolution of this cause", Pasadena should "continue to assume the cost of maintaining Stacey at her current education placement, as ... required to do so by Section 35.75.070(E)(iii) of the Texas Education Agency's Policies and Administrative Procedures for the Education of Handicapped Students." (Emphasis added.)
By its appeal, Pasadena contends that the required maintenance at public expense of a child's current "placement" during judicial review did not, in the regulatory context, contemplate payment of fees for a private school in which the child had been placed by his parents--that the "placement" contemplated was only that which had been previously officially determined by the educational agency authorized to make the placement determination.
Stacey's parents had filed suit in federal district court, under 20 U.S.C. Sec. 1415(e), to obtain a "free appropriate public education" guaranteed by the Education for All Handicapped Children Act of 1975, 20 U.S.C. Sec. 1400 et seq.
This statute sets forth a program whereby a state may receive federal funding for education of handicapped children within its public school system if the state establishes a special education program that satisfies federal guidelines. To receive federal assistance, the state must "effect a policy that assures all handicapped children the right to a free appropriate public education." Sec. 1412(a). The state must enact its own statutory plan, affording handicapped students basic educational services, that meets detailed federal criteria and is administered by local agencies. It must provide in its plan for the "participation and consultation of the parents" of the handicapped child, Sec. 1414(a)(1)(C)(iii), and "an individualized education program (IEP) for each handicapped child," to be reviewed annually, Sec. 1414(a)(5). The parents may initiate or protest state agency action relating to the "identification, evaluation or educational placement of the child or the provision of a free appropriate public education to the child." Sec. 1415(b). The state educational agency must provide for an impartial due process hearing and appeal. Sec. 1415(b), (c). A judicial remedy is provided for review of adverse administrative determinations. Sec. 1415(e)(2).
The Texas legislature's provision for establishing and funding a comprehensive special education program for handicapped children is contained in 1 Tex.Code Ann. (Educ.) Sec. 16.104 (Supp.1981), and in regulations as authorized by the legislature that are issued by the State Board of Education and Commissioner of Education in the "Policies and Administrative Procedures for the Education of Handicapped Students," Sec. 35.71.010 et seq., 19 Tex.Admin.Code Sec. 89.201 et seq.
The issue at hand is whether under applicable regulations the state educational agency is "required "--during the process of administrative and judicial review--to maintain at its expense the handicapped child's educational program at a private school in which the child had been placed by her parents, at the time the parents' objection to the proposed state-paid program provokes administrative and judicial review. The issue involves the interpretation of a federal statutory provision and of a Texas administrative regulation directed at interim placement during the review process.
The federal act provides:
During the pendency of any proceedings conducted pursuant to this section, unless the State or local educational agency and the parents or guardian otherwise agree, the child shall remain in the then current educational placement of such child, or if applying for initial admission to a public school, shall, with the consent of the parents or guardian, be placed in the public school program until all such proceedings have been completed.
Sec. 1415(e)(3) (emphasis added). 2
Similarly, the Texas Education Agency has promulgated the following regulation:
Throughout the hearings and appeals process, the public agency is responsible for maintaining the student in the present placement except in cases where the safety of the student, classmates, or personnel is endangered.
"Texas Education Agency's Policies and Administrative Procedures for the Education of Handicapped Students," Sec. 35.75.070(1)(E)(iii) (emphasis added).
As to the federal requirement, prior decisions and federal regulation make plain that maintenance of present placement of a...
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