Amelia County School Bd. v. Virginia Bd. of Educ.
| Decision Date | 08 June 1987 |
| Docket Number | Civ. A. No. 87-0297-R,87-0298-R. |
| Citation | 661 F. Supp. 889 |
| Parties | AMELIA COUNTY SCHOOL BOARD, Plaintiff, v. VIRGINIA BOARD OF EDUCATION, Mark A. Farley, George W. Farley, and Betty L. Farley, Defendants. COUNTY SCHOOL BOARD OF HENRICO COUNTY, VIRGINIA, Plaintiff, v. David COMPTON and Amelia Compton, Defendants. |
| Court | U.S. District Court — Eastern District of Virginia |
James P. McElligott, Jr., McGuire, Woods, Battle & Boothe, John A. Gibney, Jr., Kathleen S. Mehfoud, Lacy & Mehfoud, Richmond, Va., for Amelia County School Bd.
Kelley H. Brandt, American Civil Liberties Union Foundation of Virginia, Inc., Donald H. Stone, Youth Advocacy Clinic, T.C. Williams School of Law, University of Richmond, Richmond, Va., for ACLU Foundation of Va.
Joan W. Murphy, Asst. Atty. Gen., Kimberly S. Ritchie, Richmond, Va., for Virginia Bd. of Educ.
J.T. Tokarz, Henrico County School Bd., Highland Springs, Va., for County School Bd. of Henrico County, Va.
Frank M. Feibelman, Peter W.D. Wright, Wright & Associates, Richmond, Va., for Mark A. Farley, George W. Farley, Betty
L. Farley, David Compton and Amelia Compton.
Civil Action Numbers 87-0297-R and 87-0298-R were removed to this Court by defendants. Plaintiffs now move to remand the actions to the appropriate state courts. Because identical issues and arguments have been presented in the two cases, the Court consolidates them for purposes of these motions only. For reasons stated below, plaintiff's motions will be granted, and the actions will be remanded to the state system.
Plaintiff is the Amelia County School Board, the entity responsible under Virginia law for the supervision of the Amelia County Public Schools. Defendant Mark A. Farley, a resident of Amelia County, Virginia, was enrolled in Amelia County Public Schools and received special education services from 1983 to 1985. Since September 1985, he has attended private school. Defendants George W. Farley and Betty L. Farley, also Amelia County residents, are Mark's parents. Defendant Virginia Board of Education is responsible for preparing and supervising the implementation of special education programs by the local school divisions.
As required by law, plaintiff developed an Individualized Educational Program (IEP) for Mark for the 1985-86 school year. Pursuant to that IEP, Mark was to be enrolled at Amelia County High School. Instead, Mark's parents enrolled him in The New Community School, a private facility located in Richmond, Virginia.
Mark's parents requested a due process hearing, seeking tuition reimbursement for the private school placement. The hearing officer found that the School Board had complied with all procedural requirements, and that Mark would properly be educated within the Amelia County Public School system. The matter was appealed to a state reviewing officer, who reversed the hearing officer's decision, and held that the School Board should pay Mark's private school tuition.
The School Board, pursuant to Va.Code § 22.1-214 D, appealed the reviewing officer's decision to the Circuit Court for the County of Amelia. Defendants removed the action to this Court, claiming that plaintiff, through "artful pleading," has attempted to avoid federal jurisdiction. Plaintiff disagrees, and moves to remand the action to the Amelia County Circuit Court. The matter has been fully briefed by both sides, and is ripe for decision. Additionally, the American Civil Liberties Union Foundation of Virginia, Inc., together with the Youth Advocacy Clinic at the T.C. Williams School of Law at the University of Richmond, have filed a brief amici curiae opposing remand.
Plaintiff is the County School Board of Henrico County, Virginia. Defendants are Daniel Compton and Amelia Compton, Henrico County residents and the parents of Samuel Compton. Until March 1986, Samuel was enrolled in a special education program at Crestview Elementary School, within the Henrico County system.
On March 6, 1986, Samuel's parents placed him in a residential program at the Psychiatric Institute of Richmond. On March 26, 1986, Samuel was involuntarily committed for hospitalization and treatment by the Henrico County Juvenile and Domestic Relations Court. Samuel was placed at the DeJarnette Center in Staunton, Virginia, a psychiatric facility operated by the Virginia Department of Mental Health and Mental Retardation.
Defendants requested a due process hearing, seeking reimbursement for the Psychiatric Institute and DeJarnette placements, and prospective payments for appropriate residential placement. The hearing officer determined that defendants were not entitled to reimbursement for Samuel's psychiatric hospitalization, but that plaintiff must provide a residential placement for Samuel. Subsequently, the hearing officer determined that either Little Keswick School in Keswick, Virginia or The Dooley School/St. Joseph's Villa in Richmond, Virginia were appropriate placements.
Both parties appealed. The state reviewing officer ruled that (1) plaintiff must develop and implement an IEP providing for a residential placement for Samuel, (2) the self-contained day program proposed by plaintiff was inappropriate, and (3) plaintiff should reimburse defendants for the cost of Samuel's psychiatric hospitalization since September 2, 1986.
The School Board, pursuant to Va.Code § 22.1-214 D, appealed to the Circuit Court for the County of Henrico. As in Civil Action Number 87-0297-R, the case was removed to this Court, and plaintiff now moves to remand the action. Again, the matter has been fully briefed by the parties and amici.
The motions before the Court concern the interplay between § 615 of the Education for All Handicapped Children Act (EAHCA), 20 U.S.C. § 1415, and Va.Code § 22.1-214. Under the EAHCA, states may qualify for federal financial assistance by effecting "a policy that assures all handicapped children the right to a free appropriate public education." 20 U.S.C. § 1412(1). States must submit detailed plans to the Secretary of Education, which describe the state's goals and programs, and must, among other things, recognize the uniqueness of each handicapped child through the development of IEP's. Board of Education of the Hendrick Hudson Central School District v. Rowley, 458 U.S. 176, 181-82, 102 S.Ct. 3034, 3038, 73 L.Ed.2d 690 (1982). The Commonwealth of Virginia, via Va.Code §§ 22.1-213 et seq., has developed policies, plans, and procedures to comply with the dictates of the EAHCA. This method of dual federal/state regulation has been dubbed "cooperative federalism." Town of Burlington v. Department of Education of Massachusetts, 736 F.2d 773, 783 (1st. Cir.1984), aff'd sub nom. Burlington School Committee v. Department of Education, 471 U.S. 359, 105 S.Ct. 1996, 85 L.Ed.2d 385 (1985).
More specifically to the point of the matters before the Court, the EAHCA contains a provision for the appeal of administrative decisions.
Any party aggrieved by the findings and decision made under subsection (b) of this section who does not have the right to an appeal under subsection (c) of this section, and any party aggrieved by the findings and decision under subsection (c) of this section, shall have the right to bring a civil action with respect to the complaint presented pursuant to this section, which action may be brought in any State court of competent jurisdiction or in a district court of the United States without regard to the amount in controversy. In any action brought under this paragraph the court shall receive the records of the administrative proceedings, shall hear additional evidence at the request of a party, and, basing its decision on the preponderance of the evidence, shall grant such relief as the court determines is appropriate.
20 U.S.C. § 1415(e)(2).
Likewise, the Virginia Code allows for such appeals, and closely tracks the language of the federal statute.
Any party aggrieved by the findings and decision made pursuant to the procedures prescribed pursuant to subsections B and C of this section may bring a civil action in the circuit court for the jurisdiction in which the school division is located. In any such action the court shall receive the records of the administrative proceedings, shall hear additional evidence at the request of a party, and basing its decision on the preponderance of the evidence, shall grant such relief as the court determines appropriate.
Va.Code § 22.1-214 D.
Defendants contend that an appeal, such as the ones in these cases, from a reviewing officer's decision, must, by nature and necessity, come within this Court's federal question jurisdiction. 28 U.S.C. § 1331. Plaintiffs, on the other hand, argue that, as the "aggrieved parties," they are the masters of their appeals, and may choose which law, state or federal, under which to appeal, and which forum, state or federal, in which to pursue those appeals.
Cognizant of the underlying principles of the EAHCA, the statutory schemes developed by the federal and Virginia legislatures, and the arguments of the respective parties, the Court must first examine the general concerns of removal jurisdiction, the "artful pleading" doctrine, and preemption. Next, with an eye towards fleshing out the "cooperative federalism" principle, the specifics of the instant cases will be addressed.
28 U.S.C. § 1441(a) provides as follows:
Except as otherwise expressly provided by Act of Congress, any civil action brought in a State court of which the district courts of the United States have original jurisdiction, may be removed by the defendant or the defendants, to the district court of the United States for the district and division embracing the place where such action is pending.
28 U.S.C. § 1447(c) requires remand, prior to final...
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