Opinion ID: 765168
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Statutory Scheme and Factual Background

Text: 3 The IDEA provides federal money to assist state and local agencies in educating handicapped children, and conditions such funding upon a State's compliance with extensive goals and procedures. Board of Education v. Rowley, 458 U.S. 176, 179 (1982). In response to two federal district court decisions ruling that handicapped children should be afforded greater access to public education, Congress in 1974 undertook to provide federal funding in order to ensure full educational opportunities to all handicapped children. Rowley, 458 U.S. at 180 (internal quotation marks and citation omitted); see also id. at 192 (providing history of the Act). The stated purpose of the Act is 4 to assure that all children with disabilities have available to them... a free appropriate public education which emphasizes special education and related services designed to meet their unique needs, to assure that the rights of children with disabilities and their parents or guardians are protected, to assist States and localities to provide for the education of all children with disabilities, and to assess and assure the effectiveness of efforts to educate children with disabilities. 5 20 U.S.C. § 1400(c). To that end, the IDEA confers upon disabled students the right to a public education and conditions federal financial assistance upon a recipient state's compliance with the substantive and procedural goals of the Act. See Honig v. Doe, 484 U.S. 305, 310 (1988). The chief mechanism for instituting the congressional purpose is the free appropriate public education (FAPE). A FAPE must be tailored to a child's unique needs and be implemented in an environment suitable for the child. See 20 U.S.C. §§ 1400(c), 1412(1), (2)(B), (3), and (5)(B) (1998). This requirement is satisfied where a state provides personalized instruction with sufficient support services to permit the child to benefit educationally from that instruction. Rowley, 458 U.S. at 203 (providing definition of sufficient services). 6 The IDEA also confers upon [a]ny party aggrieved by the findings and decision [resulting from certain procedures available under § 1415(b) of the act].. . the right to bring a civil action... in a district court of the United States without regard to the amount in controversy. 20 U.S.C. § 1415(e)(2). The LRSD initiated suit pursuant to § 1415(e)(2) and the Mauneys cross-claimed, alleging that appellants violated their son James' procedural rights under the IDEA by failing to follow the procedural requirements of the IDEA... resulting in a denial of free appropriate public education for James. (Order at 2). In addition, the Mauneys claim that appellants denied James' procedural rights by a) failing to provide trained personnel to meet the needs of children with James' disability; b) failing to enable [the Mauneys] to compel witnesses necessary to their case; and c) by failing to provide the appropriate continuum of placements necessary to meet the needs of a student with James' disabilities. (Order at 2). On the record before it, the district court granted appellants' motion for summary judgment as to claims a) and c), stating that the Mauneys failed to provide evidence suggesting that Arkansas and its Department of Education have failed to comply with statutory guidelines. As to the issue of compelling witnesses, the district court denied appellants' motion for summary judgment. 7 The IDEA grants parties to a hearing the right, inter alia, to compel the attendance of witnesses. See 20 U.S.C. § 1415(d)(2) (1998). Appellants did not provide any evidence suggesting that they are in compliance with that provision. Instead, they insist they are immune from suit under the Eleventh Amendment.