Opinion ID: 176944
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: DPHO's authority to hear claims against NMPED.

Text: NMPED argues that the district court erred in concluding that the DPHO had authority to hear the parents' claims against NMPED. The district court reasoned that, because the applicable IDEA regulations specify that the parents or a public agency may initiate a hearing and because SEAs like NMPED fall within the definition of public agency, 34 C.F.R. § 300.22 (2004) (defining public agency), § 300.507(a) (due process hearings address disputes between public agencies and parents) the parents should have been allowed to include NMPED in the hearings because it had potential liability under the IDEA. 614 F.Supp.2d at 1204-05. The IDEA regulations define not only who is subject to administrative hearings but also the subject matter addressed at those hearings. This short list of permissible subjects suggests that the DPHO and AAO properly excluded NMPED from the hearings. Cf. Fallis v. Ambach, 710 F.2d 49, 55-56 (2d Cir.1983) (holding that § 1415 does not contain procedures to address an unlimited scope of activities, like state-level funding decisions, but is focused on the proper classification of children). A parent or public agency may initiate a hearing to address matters regarding the education of a particular child, i.e.,  any matter relating to the identification, evaluation, or educational placement of the child, or the provision of a free appropriate public education to such child. 20 U.S.C. § 1415(b)(3), (6) (2000) (emphasis added); 34 C.F.R. §§ 300.503(a); 300.507(a)(1) (2004); NMAC 6.31.2.13(I)(3) (2004). As noted, the district court concluded that because NMPED had potential liability under the IDEA, the parents' claims belonged before the administrative officers. 614 F.Supp.2d at 1204-05. But, when the dispute arose that gave rise to the due process hearing, Tularosa had been directly responsible for M.C.'s educationNMPED had not. M.C.'s IEP team consisted of members of Tularosa and other educators, not representatives of the state. In fact, the parents, when writing NMPED of their grievances with Tularosa, specifically noted that they were keeping their complaint at a local level. Likewise, the statutory and regulatory terms that define any matter include subjects related to the direct, ongoing education of a particular child. The individual terms identification, evaluation, or educational placement of the child, or the provision of a free appropriate public education to such child are related to the adequacy of a child's education program as defined by his IEP which is developed by local educators, the child's parents, or other relevant specialists. See 20 U.S.C. § 1414(d)(1)(B)(iv) (2000) (the IEP team includes a representative of the LEA); (d)(4)(A), (d)(5) (the LEA is tasked with ensuring that the IEP team periodically reviews a child's IEP); N.M. Stat. Ann. § 22-13-5 (School districts shall provide special education and related services appropriate to meet the needs of all children requiring special education and related services.); see also Thompson R2-J Sch. Dist. v. Luke P., 540 F.3d 1143, 1148-49, 1151 (10th Cir.2008) (Congress mandated that the States provide [IEPs] for all eligible disabled students, but then left the content of those programs entirely to local educators and parents, requiring only that they include `a statement of measurable annual goals, including academic and functional goals, designed to meet the child's needs that result from the child's disability to enable the child to be involved in and make progress in the general education curriculum' and meet the child's `other educational needs.'); Bd. of Educ. of Cmty. High Sch. Dist. No. 218 v. Ill. State Bd. of Educ., 103 F.3d 545, 548 (7th Cir.1996) (Under IDEA case law developed by other circuits, the meaning of `educational placement' falls somewhere between the physical school attended by a child and the abstract goals of a child's IEP.); Erickson v. Albuquerque Pub. Sch., 199 F.3d 1116, 1121-22 (10th Cir.1999) (citing with approval the Seventh Circuit's definition in Bd. of Educ. of Cmty. High Sch. Dist. No. 218 ); Sen. Rep. No. 94-455, at 48 (1975) (Conf.Rep.) (explaining that notice shall be provided to the parents when the LEA or a state agency, if it is providing direct services, proposes to change the student's identification, evaluation or educational placement or to initiate a change in the FAPE provided to him); but see 20 U.S.C. § 1414(a)(1)(A) (explaining that an SEA, other state agency, or LEA shall conduct a full and individual initial evaluation ... before the initial provision of special education and related services to a child with a disability). NMPED declined to participate in the DPHO's proceedings because it was not directly involved in the development of M.C.'s IEP. We agree with NMPED that it, as the SEA not involved in the actual provision of M.C.'s IEP, was properly exempted from the administrative process. Absent a determination that it was providing direct services to M.C., NMPED was not responsible for the matters covered by due process hearings. [5] Cf. Wyner v. Manhattan Beach Unified Sch. Dist., 223 F.3d 1026, 1029-30 (9th Cir.2000) (explaining that the hearing officer had no jurisdiction to consider the enforcement of a prior order because due-process hearings cover only subjects related to a child's IEP or FAPE and do not cover the enforcement of orders). While we address below whether NMPED should have been providing direct educational services to M.C. sometime during the IDEA administrative process, what matters for purposes of the DPHO's jurisdiction is whether NMPED actually was providing direct services. Just prior to the beginning of the administrative proceedings, Tularosa had developed an IEP for M.C. and had convened a meeting to attempt to address some of the parents' concerns. Since the NMPED was not involved in these activities, the DPHO and AAO properly excluded it from proceedings meant to address subjects related to direct education of a child. We note that this conclusion is somewhat unsatisfying, given that, as we describe below, it is the SEA itself that decides whether it should be providing direct services. That said, but, given the policy implications of requiring the SEA to intervene in all disputes when the parents claim the LEA is not providing their child a FAPE, we hold that the SEA need not have been part of the administrative process here and reverse the district court on this issue.