Association of Community Organizations v. New York

• Decision Date: 20 June 2003
• Docket Number: No. 03 CIV. 1080(JGK).,03 CIV. 1080(JGK).
• Citation: 269 F.Supp.2d 338
• Parties: ASSOCIATION OF COMMUNITY ORGANIZATIONS FOR REFORM NOW, et al., Plaintiffs, v. NEW YORK CITY DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION; Joel Klein, Chancellor, New York City Department of Education; Albany School District; and Lonnie Palmer, Superintendent, Albany School District, Defendants.
• Court: U.S. District Court — Southern District of New York

269 F.Supp.2d 338

ASSOCIATION OF COMMUNITY ORGANIZATIONS FOR REFORM NOW, et al., Plaintiffs, v. NEW YORK CITY DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION; Joel Klein, Chancellor, New York City Department of Education; Albany School District; and Lonnie Palmer, Superintendent, Albany School District, Defendants.

No. 03 CIV. 1080(JGK).

United States District Court, S.D. New York.

June 20, 2003.

Charles King, Crowe, Deegan Dickson and Benrubi, LLP, Glen Cove, NY, for Plaintiffs.

Lisa Grumet, Michael D. Hess Corp. Counsel, New York, NY, for Defendants.

OPINION AND ORDER

KOELTL, District Judge.

This class action lawsuit¹ is brought pursuant to 42 U.S.C. § 1983 by the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now and the parents of schoolchildren residing in New York against two local school districts and their superintendents or district heads for alleged violations of the No Child Left Behind Act ("NCLBA" or "the Act"), 20 U.S.C. § 6301 et seq. The Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now, along with the parents of schoolchildren, including Eunice Staton, Charlene Mingo, Latasha Gibbs, Charlene Wilson, Keikola Valentine, Laverne Jones, Carmella Glass, Deborah Powell-Jasper, Birdie Kite, Michelle Tucker, and, (collectively "the plaintiffs") have raised two causes of action against the New York City Department of Education and its Chancellor, Joel Klein (the "New York City defendants"); and the Albany School District and its superintendent, Lonnie Palmer (the "Albany defendants") (collectively "the defendants"), including a claim pursuant to 42 U.S.C. § 1983 for violation of the NCLBA (Count 1) and a claim under Article XI, Section I of the New York State Constitution (Count 2), and they seek various injunctive and equitable relief.²

The plaintiffs now seek a preliminary injunction requiring the defendants, among other things, to comply immediately with various provisions of the NCLBA and preventing the defendants from using for any other purpose funds previously allocated for compliance with NCLBA requirements.

In addition, pursuant to Fed.R.Civ.P. 12(b)(6), the defendants have moved to dismiss the plaintiffs' claim alleging violations of the NCLBA, on the grounds that based on the standards articulated by the Supreme Court in Gonzaga Univ. v. Doe, 536 U.S. 273, 122 S.Ct. 2268, 153 L.Ed.2d 309 (2002), the plaintiffs cannot maintain individual lawsuits under the NCLB The defendants have also urged the Court to decline to exercise supplemental jurisdiction over the remaining claim under the New York State Constitution.

Because the Rule 12(b)(6) motion to dismiss is potentially dispositive of the motion for a preliminary injunction, the Court will resolve that motion prior to deciding the remaining motion.

I.

On a motion to dismiss, the allegations in the Complaint are accepted as true. See Grandon v. Merrill Lynch & Co., 147 F.3d 184, 188 (2d Cir.1998). In deciding a motion to dismiss, all reasonable inferences are drawn in the plaintiffs' favor. See Gant v. Wallingford Bd. of Educ, 69 F.3d 669, 673 (2d Cir.1995); Cosmas v. Hassett, 886 F.2d 8, 11 (2d Cir.1989). The Court's function on a motion to dismiss is "not to weigh the evidence that might be presented at trial but merely to determine whether the complaint itself is legally sufficient." Goldman v. Belden, 754 F.2d 1059, 1067 (2d Cir.1985). Therefore, the defendants' motion to dismiss should only be granted if it appears that the plaintiffs can prove no set of facts in support of their claims that would entitle them to relief. See Swierkiewicz v. Sorema, N.A, 534 U.S. 506, 122 S.Ct. 992, 998, 152 L.Ed.2d 1 (2002); Conley v. Gibson, 355 U.S. 41, 45-46, 78 S.Ct. 99, 2 L.Ed.2d 80 (1957); Grandon, 147 F.3d at 188; Goldman, 754 F.2d at 1065.

In deciding the motion, the Court may consider documents that are referenced in the Complaint, documents that the plaintiffs relied on in bringing suit and that are either in the plaintiffs' possession or that the plaintiffs knew of when bringing suit, or matters of which judicial notice may be taken. Chambers v. Time Warner, Inc., 282 F.3d 147, 153 (2d Cir.2002); see also Brass v. Am. Film Techs., Inc., 987 F.2d 142, 150 (2d Cir.1993); Cortec Indus., Inc. v. Sum Holding L.P., 949 F.2d 42, 47-48 (2d Cir.1991); VTech Holdings Ltd. v. Lucent Techs., Inc., 172 F.Supp.2d 435, 437 (S.D.N.Y.2001). "[W]hen a plaintiff chooses not to attach to the complaint or incorporate by reference a document upon which it relies and which is integral to the complaint, the court may nonetheless take the document into consideration in deciding the defendant[s'] motion to dismiss, without converting the proceeding to one for summary judgment." International Audiotext Network, Inc. v. AT & T Co., 62 F.3d 69, 72 (2d Cir.1995) (internal citation and quotation marks omitted); see Yucyco, Ltd. v. Republic of Slovenia, 984 F.Supp. 209, 215 (S.D.N.Y.1997).

A.

In order to resolve the merits of the defendants' motion to dismiss, it is necessary to outline the basic provisions of the NCLBA.

The purpose of the NCLBA is "to ensure that all children have a fair, equal and significant opportunity to obtain a high-quality education and reach, at a minimum, proficiency on challenging State academic achievement standards and state academic assessments." 20 U.S.C. § 6301. The NCLBA, which is aimed a strengthening elementary and secondary schools, is a comprehensive education reform statute. 20 U.S.C. §§ 6301(1)-(12). The NCLBA's purpose is to be accomplished through a variety of means including, among other things,

holding schools, local educational agencies, and States accountable for improving the academic achievement of all students, and identifying and turning around low-performing schools that have failed to provide a high quality education to their students, while providing alternatives to students in such schools to enable the students to receive a high-quality education.

20 U.S.C. § 6301(4). It is the implementation of the NCLBA's provisions aimed at satisfying § 6301(4) that are issue in the current litigation.

Congress has authorized, pursuant to its federal spending powers, states as well as local educational agencies to receive federal funds in order to carry out the purposes of the NCLBA, provided that they abide by various conditions and requirements imposed by the Act. See 20 U.S.C. §§ 6302(i), 6303(g), 6311(a)(1), 6316(a)(1).³ States receiving NCLBA funds must have the State educational agency "submit to the [Secretary of Education] a plan" that "demonstrated that the State has adopted challenging academic content standards..." 20 U.S.C. §§ 6311(a)(1),(b)(1)(A). Local educational agencies, such as the New York City and Albany school districts, that receive NCLBA funds must abide by the requirements in § 6316 of the Act. See 20 U.S.C. § 6316.

Section 6316 provides, in relevant part, that local educational agencies receiving NCLBA funds "use the State academics assessments ... described in the State plan to review annually the progress of each school served ... to determine whether the school is making adequate yearly progress ..." 20 U.S.C. § 6316(a)(1)(A). What constitutes "adequate yearly progress" is to be defined by the State in which the local educational agency is located and in accordance with the standards outlined in § 6316(b)(2). Those schools that fail to achieve adequate yearly progress for two consecutive years are to be designated for "school improvement." 20 U.S.C. § 6316(b)(1)(A). A school that continues to fail to achieve adequate yearly progress for two years after being designated for school improvement must be identified by the local education agency for "corrective action." 20 U.S.C. § 6316(b)(7)(C). If after a year of being designated for "corrective action" a school fails to make adequate yearly progress, the school is to be designated for "restructuring." 20 U.S.C. § 6316(b)(8)(A).

When a school has been identified for "school improvement" "corrective action" or "restructuring", the NCLBA's transfer and parental notification provisions are triggered. 20 U.S.C. §§ 6316(b)(1)(E), (5)(A), (7)(C)(i), 8(A)(i), (b)(6). The local educational agency must, for schools falling into any of these three categories, "not later than the first day of the school year following such identification, provide all students enrolled in the school with the option to transfer to another public school served by the local education agency, which may include a public charter school, that has not been identified for school improvement ..." 20 U.S.C. § 6316(b)(1)(E)(i).

This option to transfer to schools that have not been identified for school improvement, corrective action or restructuring is not without exception. The option to transfer is not available if such a transfer is prohibited by state law. See id. In addition, the NCLBA requires that in providing the option to transfer, the "local educational agency shall give priority to the lowest achieving children from low-income families ..." 20 U.S.C. § 6316(b)(1)(E)(ii). Also, if all of the schools to which a student may transfer are designated for improvement, corrective action or restructuring, the local education agency "shall to the extent practicable, establish a cooperative agreement with other local educational agencies in the area for a transfer." 20 U.S.C. § 6316(b)(11). However, absent a cooperative agreement, a transfer may not be available. See id.

In addition to the transfer condition, the schools in the second year of being designated for improvement and continuing while they are designated as needing "corrective action" or "restructuring" must, in order to continue to receive NCLBA funds, offer what are known as "supplemental educational services" ("SES"). 20 U.S.C. §§ 6316(b)(5)(B), (7)(C)(iii), 8(A)(ii). SES are to be provided to eligible children "from a provider with a demonstrated record of effectiveness, that is selected by the parents and approved for that...