Opinion ID: 2452988
Heading Depth: 4
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: P.P. was eligible for evaluation at school district expense under IDEA's child find requirement.

Text: The IDEA's child find duty requires that all children with disabilities be identified, located, and evaluated.... [41] When a school district receives a request that a child be evaluated for eligibility to receive special education services, and the district also receives parental consent to perform such an evaluation, the school district must conduct the necessary testingand, if the child is eligible, provide special education serviceswithin 45 school days. [42] Because an evaluation is necessary to determine whether a child is disabled within the meaning of the IDEA, disability cannot logically be considered a prerequisite for the rights implied by the IDEA's child find requirement. Indeed, the Ninth Circuit has held that child find is an independent duty, [43] under which a school district is legally obligated to procure its own report from a specialist. [44] We conclude that a school district's duty to evaluate children for eligibility under the IDEA is not dependent upon the ultimate determination that the child is disabled. This is consistent with the language of the IDEA, which requires states to fulfill the child find obligation in order to receive federal funding. [45] This duty to assess children for eligibility is independent from the separate and more general requirement that states must establish policies to assure that children with disabilities receive free appropriate public education. [46] The school district does not dispute that it was obligated to evaluate P.P. upon his parents' request and consent for evaluation. The district also concedes that P.P. had some right to recourse, in the form of a due process hearing or administrative appeal, in response to its delay. But the district argues that it is not obligated to reimburse J.P. and L.P. for the cost of the private eligibility assessment they arranged for their son.