St. Tammany Parish School Bd. v. State of La.
| Decision Date | 27 May 1998 |
| Docket Number | Nos. 97-30949,98-30088,s. 97-30949 |
| Citation | 142 F.3d 776 |
| Parties | 126 Ed. Law Rep. 76 ST. TAMMANY PARISH SCHOOL BOARD, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. STATE OF LOUISIANA; The State Board of Elementary and Secondary Education; Louisiana Department of Education; The Louisiana Department of Health and Hospitals, Defendants-Appellants, v. Donna SLOCUM, Individually and on behalf of her minor child Daniel Slocum; Douglas Slocum, Individually and on behalf of his minor child Daniel Slocum, Defendants-Appellees. |
| Court | U.S. Court of Appeals — Fifth Circuit |
Robert L. Hammonds, Shelton Dennis Blunt, Hammonds & Sills, Baton Rouge, LA, for St. Tammany Parish Sch. Bd., Plaintiff-Appellee.
Charles K. Reasonover, Ambrose V. McCall, Deutsch, Kerrigan & Stiles, New Orleans, LA, for Defendants-Appellants.
Kathleen F. Hobson, Cheryl V. Cunningham, Liskow & Lewis, New Orleans, LA, Margie R. Best, Chicago, IL, for Defendants-Appellees.
Appeals from the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana.
Before KING, BARKSDALE and PARKER, Circuit Judges.
In these two interlocutory appeals, concerning the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), 20 U.S.C. § 1400, et seq., the primary issue is, pending a ruling on the merits, payment of costs for a disabled student placed at an out-of-state facility. The State of Louisiana, the State Board of Elementary and Secondary Education, the Louisiana Department of Education, and the Louisiana Department of Health and Hospitals (collectively, the State defendants) appeal from four orders regarding the placement of Daniel Slocum at a private residential facility in Kansas, at the expense of the Louisiana Department of Education, during the pendency of this IDEA litigation. We AFFIRM, and REMAND for further proceedings.
Daniel Slocum is an autistic child, eligible for IDEA special education and related services. Until April 1996, he was educated in a self-contained classroom in the public schools of St. Tammany Parish, Louisiana. On 3 April 1996, his parents and the School Board staff met to prepare an individualized education program (IEP) for him.
At the IEP meeting, it was agreed that, because of the recently-increased severity of Daniel Slocum's self-injurious behavior, he could no longer be educated in the self-contained classroom. Accordingly, the IEP, agreed to by the Slocums and the Board, provided that Daniel Slocum's placement was "Hospital or Homebound Services or other institution providing assessment and training and treatment". The IEP stated further that the "[s]election of the site will be made in accordance with the provisions of [State] Bulletin 1706, Section 451(B)"; and that "[r]eferral will also be made to [the Louisiana Department of Health and Hospitals] and any other appropriate State agency".
The Bulletin referenced in the IEP states: "School systems must apply to the [Louisiana] Department [of Education] when a student is referred to or is to be placed in an approved public or nonpublic day or residential school outside the geographic area of the school system, unless the placement is in an approved cooperative operated by school systems". Regulations for Implementation of the Exceptional Children's Act, Bulletin 1706, § 451B (Office of Special Educational Services, Louisiana Dept. of Educ. 7/1/94) (emphasis added).
On 4 April, the day after the IEP meeting, the Slocums' attorney informed the School Board by letter that the Slocums had enrolled Daniel Slocum in Heartspring School, a private residential facility in Wichita, Kansas, pending selection of a site by the School Board. That same day, 4 April, the School Board formally requested the Louisiana Department of Education to assist it and the Slocums in locating a residential facility for Daniel Slocum, and also requested guidance on how the placement was to be funded.
A week later, on 11 April, the Department of Education responded that, because the IEP did not indicate that a specific placement decision had been made, the Department was unable to carry out its responsibilities under Bulletin 1706, § 451B; but that, once the IEP committee had made a specific placement decision and the site selected was determined to be outside the geographic area of the School Board, the Department would then review the School Board's request.
In early May, the Superintendent of the School Board requested assistance from the State Superintendent of Education in determining a placement and program for Daniel Slocum.
That June, the Slocums requested a due process hearing, seeking to have the School Board pay for Daniel Slocum's education and related services at Heartspring. By letter to the Department of Education, the School Board demanded in late July that the State assume those costs and advised that "the Department of Education should participate in the due process hearing if the possibility exists that the State of Louisiana might be held responsible for the cost of the residential placement".
The Department of Education's Office of Special Educational Services responded in early August that the School Board's request for State participation at the due process hearing had been referred to the legal staff for review and recommendation. In mid-August, the Department declined the School Board's request for Department participation in the hearing.
Later that month, despite this refusal, the School Board advised the Commissioner of Administration, the Governor, and the Secretary of the Louisiana Department of Health and Hospitals
that, based on the circumstances of the case, ... the State of Louisiana, the Department of Education, and/or the Department of Health and Hospitals need to be made parties to these proceedings.
The due process hearing was conducted on 18-20 September and 13-15 November 1996, without the participation of any of the State defendants. In January 1997, the Independent Hearing Officer ruled in favor of the School Board, finding that the placement recommended for Daniel Slocum in the April 1996 IEP was designed to address primarily medical concerns and was not required for educational purposes.
The Slocums appealed to the Louisiana Department of Education, which assigned a three-member State Level Review Panel. In April 1997, a majority of the Panel reversed the decision of the Independent Hearing Officer, concluding that residential placement at Heartspring was appropriate; and that the School Board was obligated to reimburse the Slocums for the costs of Daniel Slocum's education and related services there. The Panel stated, however, that the School Board was "not precluded from asking for a sharing of cost, expenses or reimbursement from the State Educational Authority, the State Department of Education, Department of Health and Human Resources, or any other Louisiana entity or Federal agency that they may apply to".
A week later, the Slocums filed an action in federal court against the State of Louisiana and the School Board, seeking damages and attorneys' fees. That action has been stayed pending resolution of the underlying action for the interlocutory appeals in issue (the hereinafter described action filed in district court, under IDEA, for review of the Review Panel's decision).
As noted, later in April 1997, pursuant to the IDEA, 20 U.S.C. § 1415(e)(2), the School Board filed in federal court the action which spawned these interlocutory appeals. The action is for judicial review of the State Level Review Panel's decision. Section 1415(e)(2) provides, inter alia, that "[a]ny party aggrieved by the findings and decision" of the state educational agency "shall have the right to bring a civil action ... in any State court of competent jurisdiction or in a district court of the United States". 20 U.S.C. § 1415(e)(2). Named as defendants, in addition to the Slocums, were the State of Louisiana, the State Board of Elementary and Secondary Education, the Louisiana Department of Education, and the Louisiana Department of Health and Hospitals.
On 30 June, the Slocums moved, pending resolution on the merits, for keeping the placement at Heartspring, pursuant to 20 U.S.C. § 1415(e)(3), referred to as the "stay-put" provision. The section 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....
20 U.S.C. § 1415(e)(3) (emphasis added).
In that motion, and also pursuant to § 1415(e)(3), the Slocums also requested that, during the pendency of the litigation, the School Board pay the costs of Daniel Slocum's education and related services at Heartspring. They did not seek relief from the State of Louisiana or its Department of Education. But, the School Board countered that the State should share in any assessment of such stay-put costs.
In mid-August 1997, the district court granted the Slocums' motion. It concluded that, from the 3 April 1997 date of the State Level Review Panel's decision (rendered a year after the initial placement at Heartspring) until the resolution of these proceedings, Heartspring was Daniel Slocum's § 1415(e)(3) "current educational placement". (The court decided that it would be premature for it to determine Daniel Slocum's "current educational placement" at the time of the earlier 3 April 1996 IEP, because that "would essentially be deciding the merits of the school board's" challenge to the Review Panel decision.) And, it ordered the Department of Education, not the School Board, to pay the cost of Daniel Slocum's education and related services during this "current educational placement". On 25 September, the district court denied the State defendants' motion for rehearing.
The State has appealed both orders. The district court denied the State defendants' motion for a stay pending appeal, and ordered...
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