Opinion ID: 2598222
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Summary of Statutory and Regulatory Framework

Text: Before we describe the events that led to this appeal, it will help to summarize the legal framework in which those events occurred. This case centers on the department's compliance with the IDEA, a federal law dealing with special education of children. [1] The IDEA requires any state receiving federal funds for special education to adopt and enforce laws and regulations complying with the IDEA's requirements. [2] Alaska receives IDEA funding and must therefore comply with its requirements. The IDEA also creates various procedures designed to allow parents and other interested parties ways to ensure state compliance with the Act's requirements. Two of those procedures are particularly relevant here: complaints for due process hearings and administrative complaints.
The IDEA provides that any parent who believes that a school has misidentified, misevaluated, improperly placed, or otherwise denied a free and appropriate public education to a qualifying child has a right to file a complaint for an impartial due process hearing. [3] These hearings are designed to focus on disputes concerning discrete decisions involving specific children and the children's parents; they are formal adjudicatory proceedings in which parents and children have the rights to counsel, to present evidence, and to call, confront, and compel the attendance of witnesses. [4] Due process hearings are also required to be expedited: once a parent asks for a hearing, a hearing officer has only forty-five days in which to issue a final, written decision. [5] The IDEA gives states the option of specifying whether due process hearings are the responsibility of local school systems or the state system. [6] Alaska has chosen to require complaints for due process hearings to be made to the local district from which the complaint arises. [7]
The IDEA separately entitles any interested persons or groups to initiate investigations of compliance with the IDEA by submitting an informal complaint to the state educational agencyin Alaska, the Department of Education. [8] When it receives a complaint for an administrative hearing, the department must carry out an independent on-site investigation, give the complainant an opportunity to supply additional information about the allegations contained in the complaint, determine whether a violation of the IDEA has occurred and, within sixty days of accepting the complaint, issue a written decision supported by factual findings and conclusions of law, as well as an explanation of its reasons. [9] The department's final decision must also include . . . [p]rocedures for effective implementation of the [agency's] final decision, including, if needed, technical assistance activities, negotiations, and corrective actions to achieve compliance. [10]