Opinion ID: 771862
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: The Knables' Right to Reimbursement

Text: 58 When a court determines that a school district has violated a child's rights under the IDEA, it is authorized to grant such relief as the court determines is appropriate. 20 U.S.C. §1415(e)(2). Under this provision, equitable decisions are relevant in fashioning relief, Burlington, 471 U.S. at 374, and courts enjoy broad discretion in so doing, id. at 369. Appropriate relief includes the reimbursement of costs associated with the private school placement of the child. See id.;see also Babb, 965 F.2d at 109 (holding that when school system violated IDEA's procedural requirements, reimbursement for costs of private placement was proper remedy). In order to receive reimbursement for private school placement, however, parents must demonstrate not only that the school district failed to provide a FAPE, but also that their own unilateral placement of the child in private school was proper. See Boss, 144 F.3d at 399 (citing Florence County, 510 U.S. at 7). 59 Inasmuch as the district court erroneously concluded that Bexley's proposed IEP was appropriate under the IDEA, it did not address the propriety of the Knables' placement of Justin at Grove School. In Florence County, the Supreme Court set forth the following standard for determining whether a unilateral placement is appropriate: 60 [W]hen a public school system has defaulted on its obligations under the Act, a private school placement is proper under the Act if education provided by the private school is reasonably calculated to enable the child to receive educational benefits. 61 510 U.S. at 11 (citations omitted). The record before us amply demonstrates that Grove School satisfies this standard. 62 Grove School is a residential program for adolescents located in Connecticut and certified by the Connecticut Department of Education, the Connecticut Department of Children and Families, and the American Association of Psychological Services for Children. Each student at Grove School receives a Comprehensive Service Plan developed by a team including a therapist, a psychiatrist, teacher-counselors, and various administrators. Class sizes are small and students participate in frequent individual and group therapy sessions. Not surprisingly, Justin made significant educational progress during his two years at Grove School. The record indicates that the frequency of Justin's inappropriate behavior significantly decreased during his first year at Grove and his grades improved dramatically. 63 Bexley contends that the Knables are not entitled to reimbursement because Grove School was not the least restrictive placement as required by the IDEA. See 20 U.S.C. §1412(5); 34 C.F.R. §300.550. We noted in Boss, however, that parents who have not been treated properly under the IDEA and who unilaterally withdraw their child from public school will commonly place their child in a private school that specializes in teaching children with disabilities. See 144 F.3d at 400 n.7. We would vitiate the right of parental placement recognized in Burlington and Florence County were we to find that such private school placements automatically violated the IDEA's mainstreaming requirement. See id. 64 Bexley further argues that reimbursement is inappropriate because it would impose substantial costs on the school district when compared to the cost of the program offered by Bexley. The Court in Florence County expressly rejected this argument, however, and held that onceparents prove that the school district failed to offer an appropriate program, parents are entitled to reimbursement for private school placement so long as the placement was reasonably calculated to provide educational benefits. See 510 U.S. at 11. The Court stated: 65 There is no doubt that Congress imposed a significant financial burden on States and school districts that participate in the IDEA. Yet public educational authorities who want to avoid reimbursing parents for the private education of a disabled child can do one of two things: give the child a free appropriate public education in a public setting, or place the child in an appropriate private setting of the State's choice. This is the IDEA's mandate, and school officials who conform to it need not worry about reimbursement claims. Id. at 15. 6 66 In concluding that the Knables are entitled to reimbursement for the reasonable costs associated with Justin's education at Grove School, we are mindful of the Court's mandate in Burlington that equitable considerations are relevant in fashioning relief under 20 U.S.C. §1415(e)(2). See 471 U.S. at 374. Thus, on remand, the district court must consider all relevant factors, including the appropriate and reasonable level of reimbursement that should be required. Florence County, 510 U.S. at 16. Total reimbursement of the costs of Justin's Grove School education will not be appropriate if the court determines such costs to be unreasonable. See id.; see also Gadsby v. Grasmick, 109 F.3d 940, 955 (4th Cir. 1997) (holding that under Florence County, the district court is free on remand to award reimbursement only for those costs that it deems are reasonable). In any event, it is the district court's role in the first instance to weigh the equities in this case to determine the appropriate level of reimbursement to be awarded. See Gadsby, 109 F.3d at 955.