Opinion ID: 762759
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Placement at Landmark

Text: 28 The District Court held that Ridgewood was not required to pay M.E.'s tuition at Landmark for the 1996-1997 school year because his IEP had provided him a free appropriate public education. But even if M.E.'s IEP were inappropriate, the District Court said there was no evidence in the record suggesting that it is not appropriate to provide educational services for [M.E.] in a public setting. M.E. contends the District Court's approach requires a student seeking private placement to show not only that private placement is appropriate but also that all public placements are inappropriate. This approach, he argues, places an impossible burden on the student. We are not convinced that M.E. correctly interpreted the District Court's holding. Nonetheless, we do not believe that IDEA requires the student to prove that all public placements are inappropriate. 29 To determine when a disabled student is entitled to a private placement, we look to Florence County School District Four v. Carter, 510 U.S. 7, 114 S.Ct. 361, 126 L.Ed.2d 284 (1993), in which the Supreme Court held that a student may be entitled to reimbursement if a federal court concludes both that the public placement violated IDEA and that the private school placement was proper under [IDEA]. Id. at 15, 114 S.Ct. 361. Under Florence County, a court may award a disabled student the cost of his private placement if (1) the court determines the student's IEP is inappropriate and (2) the student demonstrates that the private placement he seeks is proper. See Walczak v. Florida Union Free Sch. Dist., 142 F.3d 119, 129 (2d Cir.1998). 7 A private placement may be proper if it is appropriate and provided in the least restrictive educational environment. See Oberti v. Board of Educ., 995 F.2d 1204, 1213 (3d Cir.1993). To meet the Florence County standard, a disabled student is not required to demonstrate that he cannot be educated in a public setting. Under IDEA, the relevant question is not whether a student could in theory receive an appropriate education in a public setting but whether he will receive such an education. We note the ALJ concluded that Landmark would remain appropriate until Ridgewood offered an appropriate IEP. 30 Ridgewood contends that the least restrictive educational environment requirement bars M.E. from attending Landmark because Landmark's residential program is more restrictive than Ridgewood's. Under this approach, M.E. could receive an inappropriate education in Ridgewood's schools but be denied a private placement because it is more restrictive than placement in a Ridgewood public school. But IDEA requires that disabled students be educated in the least restrictive appropriate educational environment. 8 See Oberti v. Board of Educ., 995 F.2d 1204, 1213 (3d Cir.1993) (stating that IDEA requires an education to be appropriate and provided in the least restrictive educational environment); Kruelle v. New Castle Cty. Sch. Dist., 642 F.2d 687, 695 (3d Cir.1981) (stating that inappropriate educational environments are not relevant for least restrictive environment analysis); see also Cleveland Heights-University Heights City Sch. Dist. v. Boss, 144 F.3d 391, 400 (6th Cir.1998) (holding that private school's failure to satisfy least restrictive environment requirement does not bar parents' claim for reimbursement); Board of Educ. of Murphysboro v. Illinois Bd. of Educ., 41 F.3d 1162, 1168 (7th Cir.1994) (stating that the least restrictive environment requirement was not developed to promote integration with non-disabled peers at the expense of other IDEA educational requirements and does not apply unless education is appropriate). 31 We are unable to determine if the District Court applied this standard in concluding M.E. was not entitled to placement at Landmark and therefore will remand this issue to the District Court for reconsideration.