Hooks v. Clark County School DistrictHooks v. Clark County School District
Jon Okazaki, Office of General Counsel, Las Vegas, Nevada, for the defendants-aрpellees.
Appeal from the United States District Court for the District of Nevada; David Warner Hagen, District Judge, Presiding. D.C. No. CV-98-00041-DWH/RJJ
Before: Alfred T. Goodwin, Melvin Brunetti, and Sidney R. Thomas, Circuit Judges.
GOODWIN, Circuit Judge:
William and Catherine Hooks appeal the dismissal of their action against Clark County School District and its Superintendent. Their case presents novel issues regarding (1) the interpretation of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act,
BACKGROUND
Christopher Hooks is a child who receives his education at hоme from his parents. In August 1996, Christopher was deemed to be medically eligible for speech therapy services. The Hooks family requested subsidized services, even though there has been no claim that home education is necessary to treat his disability, and even though Christopher was not enrolled in any school within the school district. The school district, in accordance with its policy, opted not to provide the services.
In Nevada, children taught at home can be excused from Nevada‘s compulsory attendance law by receiving an exemption under
The Hooks family has applied for and received the homeeducatiоn exemption since the 1994-95 school year. For the 1996-97 school year, the Hooks family requested that Christopher be exempted from Nevada‘s compulsory attendance law and also that he receive speech therapy services provided in Nevada‘s schools. As noted, the school district refused the services.
By letter in March 1997, the school district explained that the school district‘s Policy 5111(IV) provides that, in accordance with Nevada law, students who receive the homeeducation exemption “do not have access to instruction and/or ancillary services with the public schools.” Id. The school district suggested that the parents either (1) seek an exception from the Board of Trustees, or (2) enroll Christopher in the school district, where he would have an individualized education plan tailored to his needs. The Hooks family chose neither option.
Instead, in June 1997, the Hooks family filed a complaint with the Nevada Department of Education (the “NDOE“), which the NDOE rejected. The NDOE relied on a policy letter from the United States Office of Special Education Programs (“OSEP“), which declares that States have discretion to determine whether or not home education qualifies as a “private school or fаcility” that implicates IDEA requirements. See U.S. Dept. of Educ., OSEP, Policy Letter to Williams, 18 IDELR 742 (Jan. 22, 1992). Because exempted home education does not qualify as a “private school” under Nevada law,
In January 1998, the parents filed a federal action, alleging that the school district‘s policy violated the IDEA and the Fourteenth Amendment. The parents sought (1) declaratory relief that Christopher is entitled to receive sрeech therapy services, (2) reimbursement for the parents’ payments for private speech therapy services, and (3) attorneys’ fees. The district court granted summary judgment in favor of the school district, and the parents appealed. We affirm.
JURISDICTION & STANDARD OF REVIEW
We have jurisdiction to review the summary judgment pursuant to
I. Change in Nevada Law
After this action was commenced, the Nevada legislature amended state law to provide that “[t]he board of trustees of each school district shall provide programs of special education and related services for children who are exempt from compulsory attendance pursuant to the home-education exemption and receive instruction at home.” Nev. Act Chap. 606, Sec. 45 (1999) (effective July 1, 1999), codified at
Pursuant to this legislation, the school district concedes that it is now required to provide speeсh therapy to eligible home-educated children, and Christopher has been assessed and deemed eligible for speech therapy services. Thus, there is no need for us to consider whether the district court erred by refusing to enter a declaratory judgment. We remand that matter to the district court for its consideration in light of Nevada‘s new law.
However, neither the appeal nor the action is moot, beсause the new law does not resolve the reimbursement claim for the payments already made by the parents for Christopher‘s therapy, to which we now turn. Cf. Capistrano Unified School Dist. v. Wartenberg, 59 F.3d 884, 890 (9th Cir. 1995) (graduation of disabled student did not moot claims for reimbursement and attorneys’ fees).
II. Statutory and Regulatory Scheme
The IDEA and accompanying regulations provide for special services for three categories of children: (1) students in public schools; (2) children placed in private sсhools by a public agency; and (3) children placed unilaterally in private schools by their parents. See
The Hooks family argues that Christopher is a child of the third category, i.e., a child placed unilaterally in private school by his parents, and thus that he qualifies for services. The regulations in effect at the time of Christopher‘s request provide that where “parents choose to place the child in a private school or facility,”
The question we confront is whether Christopher qualifies as a “private school child,” i.e., a child placed in a “private school or facility.” Neither the IDEA nor the regulations defines or explains what constitutes a “private school.”
III. State Discretion Under the IDEA to Define “School”
The school district contends, and the district court held, that state law controls the definition of “private school” under the IDEA, and that therefore Christopher does not qualify, because exempted home education does not qualify as a “private school” in Nevada. “Private schools,” under pre-1999 Nevada law, “means private elementary and secondary educational institutions. The term does not include a home in which instruction is provided to a child excused from compulsory attendance pursuant to NRS 392.070.”
The Hooks family does not dispute the school district‘s interpretation of Nevada law, and we do not address that issue of state law interpretation. Rather, thе appellants contend that Nevada‘s definition, and by extension the school district‘s policy, violates the IDEA. The appellants invite us to craft our own definition of “private school or facility ” and impose it upon the States from the federal level. We decline this invitation.
Instead, we hold that the IDEA leaves discretion to the States to determine that home education that is exempted from the State‘s compulsory attendance requirement does not constitute an IDEA-qualifying “private school or facility.” In holding that this matter is left to the States, we affirm the district court.
We start with the words of the statutory and regulatory provisions. The common meaning of those words--their plain language--does not require that exempted home education qualify as a “private school or facility.” A “school” can be commonly definеd as an “institution for the instruction of children.” Webster‘s II, New Riverside University Dictionary 1045 (1994) (emphasis added); and an “institution ” can be commonly defined as an “established organization or foundation, esp[ecially] one dedicated to public service.” Id. at 633; cf. Black‘s Law Dictionary 800, 1344 (6th ed. 1990) (similarly defining “[i]nstitution” and “[s]chool“). Moreover, a “facility” can be commonly defined as “[s]omething created to serve a particular function,” such as “a new mental health facility.” Webster‘s II, New Riverside University Dictionary 460 (1994) (emphasis in original); cf. Black‘s Law Dictionary 591 (6th ed. 1990) (similarly defining “[f]acility“).
These common definitions comport almost precisely with Nevada‘s definition of a private school as a private “institution,” which excludes an exempted private home.
Second, we look to the interpretation embraced by the policy letter issued by OSEP, which is charged with implementing and enforcing the IDEA. See
“When a Congress that re-enacts a statute voices its approval of an administrative or other interpretation thereof, Congress is treated as having adopted that interpretation.” United States v. Sheffield Bd. of Comm‘rs, 435 U.S. 110, 134 (1978); see also Ward v. Commissioner, 784 F.2d 1424, 1430 (9th Cir. 1986) (describing “legislative reenactment doctrine“). Here, Congress went further than merely silently reenacting the IDEA or tacitly consenting to OSEP‘s deference to the States; Congress expressly embraсed such deference to the States.
Contrary to the contentions of the appellants, leaving such discretion to the States does not clash with Congressional intent. The appellants rely on Congressional findings contained within the IDEA, providing that “state and local educational agencies have a responsibility to provide education for all children with disabilities.”
Nevada‘s 1999 legislation providing for speech therapy for home-educated students is but additional evidence that federal courts need not strain to capture this subject from the States. On this issue, we affirm the district court.
IV. Section 1983 Claims
The Hooks family also brings suit under
To withstand Fourteenth Amendment scrutiny, a regulation must bear only a rational relation to a legitimate governmental purpose, unless the regulation implicates a fundamental right or an inherently suspect classification. See City of New Orleans v. Dukes, 427 U.S. 297, 303 (1976) (per curiam) (regarding equal protection); Richardson v. City and County of Honolulu, 124 F.3d 1150, 1162 (9th Cir. 1997), cert. denied, 525 U.S. 871, 119 S.Ct. 168 (1998) (regarding due process). Children educated at home do not comprise a suspect class, so we address in turn whether the regulatory scheme infringes on a fundamental right or lacks a rational basis. See J.B. v. Washington County, 127 F.3d 919, 931 (10th Cir. 1997) (holding that home-educated children do not comprise a suspect class); cf. KDM v. Reedsport School Dist., 196 F.3d 1046, 1051 (9th Cir. 1999) (“parochial school students are not a suspect class“).
A. Due Process
Addressing the first of these issues, we hold that the regulatory scheme does not unconstitutionally infringe on the parents’ liberty interest in directing Christopher‘s education. Subject to “reasonable government regulation, ” Runyon v. McCrary, 427 U.S. 160, 178 (1976) (citations omitted), the Due Process Clause of the
We locate no infringement here. The school district‘s policy does not prohibit the Hooks family‘s desired educational option--indeed, Christopher currently and legally receives his education at home. The school district‘s policy, in accordance with pre-1999 Nevada law, merely requires that certain benefits attached to school attendance be in fаct attached to “school” attendance.
A recent case in the Tenth Circuit concerned a similar issue. In Swanson v. Guthrie Independent School Dist. 1-L, 135 F.3d 694, 699-700 (10th Cir. 1998), our sister Circuit held that a school district‘s refusal to allow a home-educated child to attend classes part-time did not infringe on the parents’ right to direct their child‘s education. The Swanson court held that parents had no constitutional right “to send their children to public school on a part-time basis, аnd to pick and choose which courses their children will take from the public school.” Id. at 700. As in Swanson, the Hooks family does not have the right to “pick and choose” the services offered by the school district.
Parents in Nevada who teach their children at home pursuant to the
Under the circumstances of this case, attaching receipt of IDEA services to institutional school attendance, and fulfillment of the according regulatory requirements, constitutes “reasonable government regulation” that does not offend our Constitution. Runyon, 427 U.S. at 178. Put differently, even if the parents have a constitutional right to educate Christopher at home, they do not have a constitutional right to state-funded speech therapy services.
B. Equal Protection
When neither a fundamental right nor a suspect classification is implicated, a classification “must be upheld against equal protection challenge if there is any reasonably conceivable state of facts that could provide a rational basis” for it. Heller v. Doe, 509 U.S. 312, 320 (1993) (citations omitted). The drafters need not aсtually articulate this basis. See id. (citations omitted).
The appellants challenge two separate governmental directives: (1) the school district‘s policy denying services to home-educated children, and (2) the IDEA‘s delegation to States of the power to make such a denial. Both offer rational bases and thereby survive equal protection challenge.
Nevada and its school districts have a lеgitimate interest in promoting educational environments that fulfill those qualifications that the State deems important. Limiting IDEA services to qualified “private schools” reasonably advances that interest by steering scarce educational resources toward those qualified educational environments.1 Cf. Murphy v. Arkansas, 852 F.2d at 1044 (holding that Arkansas‘s regulation of home education, but not private schools, was rationally related to State‘s interest in insuring that its citizens were being properly educated). Moreover and relatedly, school districts also have a legitimate interest in maximizing the utility of scarce funds. This interest is likewise reasonably advanced by limiting services to those environments that are regulated, monitored, and which might offer beneficial economies of scale.
The Supreme Court has recognized that education is an area “where States have historically been sovereign,” United States v. Lopez, 514 U.S. 549, 564 (1995), and the IDEA advances a legitimate purpose by preserving some of that sovereignty. Neither the Constitution nor the IDEA abrogates the IDEA‘s preservation of a portion of the “deeply rooted tradition of state and local control over education.” Bennett v. New Jersey, 470 U.S. 632, 634 (1985). In rejecting the appellants’ constitutional challenges, we affirm the district court.
CONCLUSION
We hold that, pursuant to the IDEA, States have discretion to determine whether home education constitutes an IDEA qualifying educational environment. We also hold that the school district‘s policy of limiting IDEA funds to institutional schools does not unconstitutionally offend equal protection principles or infringe on the рarents’ liberty interest in guiding their child‘s education. We remand to district court so that it may dispose of this case in accord with this opinion and with new Nevada law.
Accordingly, we AFFIRM in part and REMAND.