Opinion ID: 619940
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Whether Section 56028's Definition of Parent Applies to Section 48200

Text: The parties agree that California Education Code section 48200 establishes the general rule under California law that the school district responsible for the education of a child between the ages of six and 18 is the district in which the child's parent or legal guardian resides. See Katz v. Los Gatos-Saratoga Joint Union High Sch. Dist., 117 Cal.App.4th 47, 11 Cal.Rptr.3d 546, 553 (2004) (Section 48200 embodies the general rule that parental residence dictates a pupil's proper school district.). The parties disagree, however, about how California law defined parent for purposes of section 48200 while Orange County was fronting the costs for A.S.'s placement in Cinnamon Hills. In 2006, when Orange County began fronting those costs, no provision of the California Education Code specified that it provided the definition of parent for section 48200, either for students as a whole or for special education students in particular. In January 2009, the California legislature amended section 56028 of the California Education Code to provide that, [i]f a judicial decree or order identifies a specific person or persons under [Education Code section 56028(a)(1)-(4) of Part 30 (`Special Education Programs')] to act as the `parent' of a child or to make educational decisions on behalf of a child, then that person or persons shall be determined to be the `parent' for purposes of ... Article 1 (commencing with Section 48200) of Chapter 2 of Part 27. Cal. Educ.Code. § 56028(b)(2). Thus, beginning in 2009, the definition of parent in section 56028 indisputably applies to section 48200, at least under some circumstances. For purposes of this appeal, the parties agree that, as of January 2009, the agency responsible for funding A.S.'s out-of-state placement was the school district in which A.S.'s parent resided, see Cal. Educ.Code § 48200, as parent was defined under section 56028. [4] The parties dispute, however, whether section 56028 supplied a definition of parent for section 48200 before January 2009. If section 56028 does not specify the governmental entity responsible for a special education student's education, we must identify, under California law, the proper alternative method for determining the responsible entity. We have found no controlling authority addressing this issue, and what authority exists is in conflict. In Orange County Department of Education v. Student, Nos. 2008120021 & 2009020130 (Cal. Office of Admin. Hearings May 22, 2009), the OAH ruled that section 56028 does provide the definition of parent for section 48200 with respect to students enrolled in special education programs. See id. ¶ 14 (Section 56028, which is found in the section of the code regarding special education, sets forth definitions of `parent' that must be read in conjunction with section 48200 when there is a question regarding which agency is responsible for providing special education to a particular child.); see also id. ¶¶ 22-23. The OAH has taken this position in a number of related proceedings, and CDE urges its adoption here. [5] On the other hand, a federal district court in California has issued multiple decisions that have rejected, at least in part, the proposition that section 56028 supplies the definition of parent for purposes of section 48200. In Newport-Mesa Unified School District v. R.R., No. 09-cv-980 (C.D.Cal. May 3, 2010), the district court concluded that the current (2009) version of section 56028 applies to section 48200, but found no basis to conclude that section 56028's definition of parent applied to section 48200 before 2009. The court noted that CDE does not directly explain in its briefing the basis for its position that section 56028, prior to the 2009 amendment, supplied the definition of `parent' for section 48200, adding that the OAH's decisions also fail to explain why section 56028's unique definition is applicable to section 48200. Id. at 12-13. The court found the OAH's decisions unconvincing: The Court is persuaded for two reasons that, before the 2009 amendment, section 56028's definition of parent was not applicable to determinations of residency under section 48200. First, section 56028 is within the definition section of the part of the California Education Code dealing specifically with special education programs. See Cal. Educ.Code §§ 56020-56035. To apply a special education provision to the determination of residency is inconsistent with the instruction in Union School District [ v. Smith, 15 F.3d 1519, 1525 (9th Cir. 1994),] to use ordinary means of determining residency for special education students. Moreover, it seems illogical to apply a definition promulgated under a specific and distinct part of the California Education Code to other unrelated sections. Second, finding that section 56028 already applied to section 48200 prior to the 2009 amendment conflicts with the Legislative Counsel's Digest of the amendment. The 2009 amendment to section 56028 explicitly expanded the applicability of section 56028's definition of parent beyond the special education provisions to various other statutes, including section 48200. Compare Cal. Educ.Code § 56028(b)(2) (2009) with Cal. Educ.Code § 56028(b)(2) (2007). The Legislative Counsel's Digest explained that the amendment to subsection (b)(2) would broaden the purposes for which the definition of `parent' extends if a judicial decree or order identifies the person who is defined as a parent. 2008 Cal. Legis. Serv. Ch. 223 (A.B.2057) (West). This indicates that the change to subsection (b)(2) was not a mere clarification of the definition's pre-existing applicability, but rather a broadening of its applicability beyond the special education provisions of the California Education Code. Id. at 13-14. The district court reached a similar conclusion in B.P. v. Orange County Department of Education, No. 09-cv-971, at 12-13 (C.D.Cal. May 3, 2010). Appeals from those decisions are currently pending in this court.