Opinion ID: 437224
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: succeeding years--jurisdiction and proof

Text: 76 In a pretrial order, the district court ruled that under its authority to grant appropriate relief, 20 U.S.C. Sec. 1415(e)(2), it would hear evidence and rule upon the appropriate educational placement for the years 1980-81 and 1981-82 for which there was no IEP and therefore no state agency decision. Subsequently, Rowley rejected a school system's claim that a court review proceeding is moot when the challenged IEP has lapsed and IEPs for subsequent years have not been developed. The Court stated: 77 Judicial review invariably takes more than nine months to complete, not to mention the time consumed during the preceding state administrative hearings. The District Court thus correctly ruled that it retained jurisdiction to grant relief because the alleged deficiencies in the IEP were capable of repetition as to the parties before it yet evading review. 78 Rowley 458 U.S. at 186-87 n. 9, 102 S.Ct. at 3040-41 n. 9 (citations omitted). Thus Rowley makes it clear that the status of the 1979-80 IEP is not now moot, and the court may proceed to adjudicate its correctness and the question of who must bear the ultimate expense of John's placement in 1979-80. 79 It is much more difficult to determine the court's powers with respect to allocating the cost of John's schooling in 1980-81, 1981-82 and any subsequent years up to the date of the court's final decree. 25 The Town did not prepare IEPs for these years, and no appeal was lodged with the state agency. Accordingly, there were no reviewable findings and decision, 20 U.S.C. Sec. 1415(e)(2), before the district court for those years. 80 With inexplicit statutory guidance, the district court ruled that for the year 1979-80, the Town had the burden of proving by a preponderance of the evidence that the plan it formulated was appropriate for John and that the defendants Doe had the burden of proving the appropriateness of the relief they sought for years after 1979-80. 26 This allocation of the burden of proof is questioned on appeal. 81 Section 1415(e)(2) contains no provision which specifically assigns the burden of proof to a particular party in the appeal of an agency decision. As a general principle, however, in such appeals the burden of proof is on the party who seeks to overturn the findings and decision of the agency. Mazaleski v. Treusdell, 562 F.2d 701, 717 n. 38 (D.C.Cir.1977). But see Grymes v. Madden, 672 F.2d 321, 322 (3d Cir.1982) (EAHCA appeal). This allocation of proof is justified because it structurally assists courts in according the administrative agency's expertise the respect it is owed, an approach Rowley implicitly encourages. Here, the state agency ruled the Town's IEP was inadequate only for 1979-80; it made no findings or decision regarding the appropriateness of the IEP for subsequent years. Thus, neither party can be assigned the burden for later years on the basis of its posture on an appeal from a state agency decision. 82 The Town claims that it attempted to discharge its responsibilities for a ten-month review, Mass.Admin.Code tit. 603, Sec. 330, but that the Does refused to make John available. It submits that such a review might have convinced the Town special education administrators that they were in error and that the Carroll School was the appropriate placement. By implication, the Town suggests that it then could have prepared revised IEPs, which it would prove appropriate in district court. 83 The federal Act omits any reference to whether IEPs are to be revised during the pendency of review. We, therefore, must fashion a rule to facilitate implementation of the Act. We think that pending review of an earlier IEP, local educational agencies should continue to review and revise IEPs in accordance with applicable law, at least in the absence of a stipulation between the parties providing for how the outcome of the suit will affect later years. Without an IEP as a starting point, the court is faced with a mere hypothesis of what the Town would have proposed and effectuated during the subsequent years, an hypothesis which at the time of trial would have the unfair benefit of hindsight. Such a rear view proposal could not comply with the statutory requirements for drafting IEPs, could not have been submitted in a timely fashion to the parents, and cannot constitute evidence at trial. IEPs for subsequent years could be appealed to the state agency; and appeals from the state agency's findings and decisions on the subsequent IEPs could be consolidated with the original appeal to the district court. The continuation of the IEP process during the pendency of litigation may assist in promoting settlements. Also, subsequent IEPs that have not been appealed to the state agency may still provide useful evidence for the district court in fashioning appropriate relief, see infra. 84 Here, despite the Town's claim that it attempted to review and revise John's IEP in accord with his progress at the Carroll School, it failed to comply with the legal requirements for triggering such a review. The Town had the responsibility of providing the parents with appropriate notice of its intention to review John's educational placement under the provisions of 34 C.F.R. Sec. 300.504, of scheduling and conducting the review meeting per 34 C.F.R. Sec. 300.343 and Mass.Adm.Code tit. 603, Secs. 330.0-333.3, and of determining at that meeting whether a reevaluation of John himself was desirable. The Town mistakes, therefore, the difference between the mandatory review of the child's IEP and progress, id. Sec. 333.0, and the permissive reevaluation of the child, id. Secs. 333.2(d) and 333.3. These are separate responsibilities. In the ten-month review, the parents and, where appropriate, the child, may attend and participate in the IEP review meeting. When a reevaluation of the child is sought, the regulation expressly states that parental consent must be obtained prior to reevaluation. Id. The regulations plainly prescribe that IEP review shall occur regardless of whether parents participate or whether a reevaluation of the child occurs. The Town's IEP responsibilities were therefore not excused by the parents' refusal to make John available, 27 and accordingly no advantage should accrue to the Town by dint of its failure to prepare IEPs during the subsequent years of this litigation. 85 Despite the absence of any reviewable findings and decision by the state agency for subsequent years, the district court has authority with respect to those years under its power to grant appropriate relief incident to its determination concerning the contested IEP for the initial year, 1979-80. If on remand the district court finds in accordance with the BSEA holding that the Town's 1979-80 IEP was improper and that the Carroll School was then the correct placement, we believe it could order the Town also to pay for John's attendance at the Carroll School in 1980-81 and in later years up through the end of the school year in which the court's ruling is made--unless the court finds that other factual circumstances not now apparent warrant a different result. In the alternative, if the district court should again uphold the Town's 1979-80 IEP, then the district court could order the Town to cease paying for the Carroll School at an appropriate time. 28 86 When the district court turns to formulating appropriate relief for the subsequent years, the losing party in the dispute over the 1979-80 IEP will have the burden of producing evidence and persuading the court of changed circumstances that render the district court's determination as to the initial year inappropriate for guiding its order of relief for subsequent years. 29 The court will hear evidence regarding the subsequent years' appropriate placement from both parties prior to ordering appropriate relief, per Sec. 1415(e)(2).