Opinion ID: 198958
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: IDEA and the Exhaustion Requirement

Text: 8 IDEA is a comprehensive education statute which seeks to ensure that children with disabilities receive a free appropriate public education . . . designed to meet their unique needs. 20 U.S.C. §§ 1400(d)(1)(A). IDEA requires state or local agencies receiving federal funds under subchapter II of IDEA to establish and maintain procedures . . . to ensure that children with disabilities and their parents are guaranteed procedural safeguards with respect to the provision of free appropriate public education by such agencies. Id. §§ 1415(a); see also Honig v. Doe, 484 U.S. 305, 310-12 (1988). If parents or guardians believe that the state or local agencies are not performing properly, they may present a complaint with respect to 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. Id. §§ 1415(b)(6). A parent who files a complaint has the right to an impartial due process hearing conducted by either the state or local educational agency. Id. §§ 1415(f)(1). 1 9 If the complainant remains dissatisfied after a due process hearing, he or she may file a civil action in state or federal court. See id. §§ 1415(i)(2)(A). Before filing suit, however, IDEA mandates that plaintiffs exhaust administrative remedies through the due process hearing. This requirement applies even when the suit is brought pursuant to a different statute so long as the party is seeking relief that is available under subchapter II of IDEA. Section 1415(l) states: 10 Nothing in this chapter shall be construed to restrict or limit the rights, procedures, and remedies available under the Constitution, the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990, title V of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, or other Federal laws protecting the rights of children with disabilities, except that before the filing of a civil action under such laws seeking relief that is also available under this subchapter, the procedures under subsections (f) and (g) of this section shall be exhausted to the same extent as would be required had the action been brought under this subchapter. 11 The purpose of exhaustion is to enable[] the agency to develop a factual record, to apply its expertise to the problem, to exercise its discretion, and to correct its own mistakes, and is credited with promoting accuracy, efficiency, agency autonomy, and judicial economy. Christopher W. v. Portsmouth Sch. Comm., 877 F.2d 1089, 1094 (1st Cir. 1989). 12 The scope of the due process hearing is broad, encompassing complaints with respect to 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. Id. §§ 1415(b)(6). The plaintiffs alleged discrimination by the School Department against Wayne Rose, Jr., because it failed to ensure appropriate accommodation of his asthma condition at both Coventry High School and Exeter-West Greenwich High School, conditioned Wayne Jr.'s placement at Exeter-West Greenwich High School on consent to a psychological evaluation, retaliated against Wayne Jr. in response to the Roses' efforts to enforce his educational rights, and generally failed to implement his Plan. These complaints relate unmistakably to the evaluation and educational placement of Wayne Rose, Jr., in the Coventry school system and to the provision of a free appropriate education there. Absent some exception, these claims are subject to the IDEA exhaustion requirement.