Porter v. Board of Trustees of Manhattan Beach

• Decision Date: 08 October 2002
• Docket Number: No. 01-55032.,01-55032.
• Citation: 307 F.3d 1064
• Parties: Dashiel PORTER, by and through his Guardian ad Litem Deborah Blair PORTER; John Porter, an individual; Deborah Blair Porter, an individual, Plaintiffs-Appellants, v. BOARD OF TRUSTEES OF MANHATTAN BEACH UNIFIED SCHOOL DISTRICT; Manhattan Beach Unified School District; Gerald F. Davis, in his Official Capacity as Superintendent of Manhattan Beach Unified School District; Linda M. Jones, individually; Linda M. Jones, in her Official Capacity as Director of Pupil Personnel Services of Manhattan Beach Unified School District; Board of Education of the State of California; California Department of Education; Delaine Eastin, in her Official Capacity as State Superintendent of Public Instruction for the State of California; Gerald F. Davis, individually, Defendants-Appellees.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Ninth Circuit

Page 1064

307 F.3d 1064

Dashiel PORTER, by and through his Guardian ad Litem Deborah Blair PORTER; John Porter, an individual; Deborah Blair Porter, an individual, Plaintiffs-Appellants, v. BOARD OF TRUSTEES OF MANHATTAN BEACH UNIFIED SCHOOL DISTRICT; Manhattan Beach Unified School District; Gerald F. Davis, in his Official Capacity as Superintendent of Manhattan Beach Unified School District; Linda M. Jones, individually; Linda M. Jones, in her Official Capacity as Director of Pupil Personnel Services of Manhattan Beach Unified School District; Board of Education of the State of California; California Department of Education; Delaine Eastin, in her Official Capacity as State Superintendent of Public Instruction for the State of California; Gerald F. Davis, individually, Defendants-Appellees.

No. 01-55032.

United States Court of Appeals, Ninth Circuit.

Argued and Submitted April 4, 2002.

Filed October 8, 2002.

Steven M. Wyner, Manhattan Beach, CA, for the plaintiffs-appellants.

Andrew V. Arczynski, Filarsky & Watt, Ojai, CA, for the defendants-appellees Board of Trustees of Manhattan Beach Unified School District and Manhattan Beach Unified School District.

John W. Allen, Gibeaut, Mahan & Briscoe, Los Angeles, CA, for the defendants-appellees Linda M. Jones and Gerald F. Davis.

Allan H. Keown, Deputy General Counsel, California Department of Education, Sacramento, California, for the defendants-appellees Board of Education of the State of California, California Department of Education and Delaine Eastin.

Mark L. Gross and Seth M. Galanter, United States Department of Justice Civil Rights Division, Washington, D.C., for the amicus United States of America.

Appeal from the United States District Court for the Central District of California; Ronald S.W. Lew, District Judge, Presiding. D.C. No. CV-00-08402-RSWL.

Before: HAWKINS and FISHER, Circuit Judges, WEINER, District Judge.^*

FISHER, Circuit Judge.

The plaintiffs, a child with a disability and his parents, filed this suit under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act ("IDEA"), 20 U.S.C. § 1400 et seq., and 42 U.S.C. § 1983. They allege that the failure of the defendants to implement the directives of an order issued as a result of an IDEA due process hearing denied Dashiel Porter a free appropriate public education. The district court dismissed the complaint for want of jurisdiction, ruling that plaintiffs were required to exhaust California's complaint resolution process before suit. We hold that (1) further exhaustion of California's due process procedures enacted to comply with § 1415 of the IDEA would be futile, (2) the plaintiffs were not required to exhaust California's complaint resolution procedure and (3) the district court erred in dismissing the plaintiffs claims for prospective injunctive relief against the state defendants based on Eleventh Amendment immunity.

I.

A. Statutory and regulatory background.

In 1975, finding that more than half of the nation's eight million children with disabilities were not receiving appropriate educational services, Congress appropriated federal funds for state special education programs and made them available on the condition that states implement policies assuring a "free appropriate public education," sometimes referred to as a "FAPE," for all children with disabilities. 20 U.S.C. § 1412(a) (establishing right to a free appropriate public education); id. § 1400(c) (congressional findings). Known then as the Education of All Handicapped Children Act ("EHA"), and today named the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act or IDEA, the law "confers upon disabled students an enforceable substantive right to public education in participating States, and conditions federal financial assistance upon a State's compliance with the substantive and procedural goals of the Act." Honig v. Doe, 484 U.S. 305, 310, 108 S.Ct. 592, 98 L.Ed.2d 686 (1988) (citation and footnote omitted); see also Bd. of Educ. v. Rowley, 458 U.S. 176, 188-89, 102 S.Ct. 3034, 73 L.Ed.2d 690 (1982) (holding that the EHA established right to public education for students with disabilities that "consists of educational instruction specially designed to meet the unique needs of the handicapped child, supported by such services as are necessary to permit the child `to benefit' from the instruction").

Among the most important of the IDEA's goals is the protection of "parents' right to be involved in the development of their child's educational plan." Amanda v. Clark County Sch. Dist., 267 F.3d 877, 882 (9th Cir.2001). Toward this end, participating states are required to establish procedures giving parents "an opportunity to present complaints with respect to any matter relating to the identification, evaluation, or educational placement of the child, or the provision of a free appropriate public education to such child." 20 U.S.C. § 1415(b)(6). After making their complaint, parents are entitled to "an impartial due process hearing." Id. § 1415(f). A decision of the due process hearing "shall be final," id. § 1415(i)(1)(A), except that "[a]ny party aggrieved by the findings and decision ... 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." Id. § 1415(i)(2)(A). These procedures, including the available appeal, must be explained to parents in writing upon the filing of an administrative complaint. Id. § 1415(d).

California adopted legislation to comply with IDEA's due process hearing requirements. Cal. Educ.Code §§ 56500-56507. Under state law, a parent may initiate a due process hearing regarding the provision of a free appropriate public education for a child and that hearing will be conducted "at the state level." Id. at § 56501(a), (b)(4).¹ The decision of the hearing officer "shall be the final administrative determination and binding on all parties" unless a party "exercis[es] the right to appeal the decision to a court of competent jurisdiction ... within 90 days of receipt of the hearing decision." Id. § 56505(g), (i).

Distinct from the IDEA's due process requirements, the U.S. Department of Education promulgated regulations pursuant to its general rulemaking authority requiring each recipient of federal funds, including funds provided through the IDEA, to put in place a complaint resolution procedure ("CRP"). 34 C.F.R. §§ 300.660-300.662 (citing 20 U.S.C. § 1221e-3 as authority for rules); Lucht v. Molalla River Sch. Dist., 225 F.3d 1023, 1029 (9th Cir.2000).² The regulations require each state education agency to adopt written procedures for "[r]esolving any complaint" regarding the education of a child with a disability. 34 C.F.R. § 300.660(a). The regulations permit a complaint to be filed with both the CRP and the IDEA due process hearing system, in which case the CRP must await the due process hearing's resolution of overlapping issues, which is then binding in the CRP. Id. § 300.661(c). The regulations state further that the CRP must resolve a complaint alleging a public agency's failure to implement a due process decision. Id. § 300.661(c)(3). The regulations do not, however, state that a parent must exhaust the CRP to enforce a due process decision in court.

To comply with the Department's regulations regarding the establishment of a CRP, California established "a uniform system of complaint processing for specified programs or activities which receive state or federal funding." Cal.Code Regs. tit. 5, § 4610(a). These regulations authorize the state Superintendent of Public Instruction to investigate and attempt to resolve any complaint alleging a violation of the IDEA, including a complaint that "alleges that the local educational agency... fails or refuses to comply with the [IDEA] due process procedures ... or has failed or refused to implement a due process hearing order." Id. § 4650(a)(viii)(B). In such circumstances, the Superintendent shall offer to mediate the dispute and must resolve any remaining issues within 60 days of the receipt of the complaint, absent exceptional circumstances. Id. §§ 4660, 4662. Upon determination that a local agency is in violation of federal or state law, including violation of a due process hearing order, "the Superintendent shall notify the local agency of the action he or she will take to effect compliance," and "may use any means authorized by law to effect compliance," including withholding fiscal support and proceeding in a court of competent jurisdiction for an appropriate order compelling compliance. Id. § 4670. California's regulations do not state that the CRP process must be exhausted prior to suit under the IDEA and the CRP is not listed in the description of IDEA due process procedures that California provides to parents upon the filing of an administrative complaint.

B. Factual and procedural background.

Dashiel Porter is an autistic child, born in 1987. He was found eligible for special education when he was three years old. On June 30, 1999, responding to a complaint filed by his parents, Deborah and John Porter, California's Special Education Hearing Office ("SEHO") found that Dashiel had significant educational deficiencies resulting from the failure of the Manhattan Beach Unified School District ("MBUSD") to provide Dashiel a free appropriate public education. Based on this finding, the SEHO ordered the MBUSD and its Board of Trustees (together, "Local Defendants") to provide Dashiel with compensatory education during the 1999-2000 school year.

During the course of the 1999-2000 school year, MBUSD officials held a series of meetings with the Porters, but MBUSD never implemented a full compensatory education program. Instead, the Porters hired a private tutor for Dashiel at their own expense. On August 7, 2000, the Porters filed the complaint initiating this action, listing as de...