Opinion ID: 2590262
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 5

Heading: the state's duty under the idea

Text: The inmates assert that the trial court erred in dismissing their claims under the IDEA, 20 U.S.C. §§ 1400-1436. The inmates argue that the State has a duty under the IDEA to provide special education to disabled persons under age 22 who are incarcerated in Washington State prisons and that this duty existed under the IDEA both before and after the 1997 amendments to the act. We disagree and hold that the IDEA does not require the State to provide special education services to persons over age 18 who are incarcerated in adult prisons. The IDEA was enacted to address the special educational needs of disabled children. The act's purpose is 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.... 20 U.S.C. § 1400(c). One goal of the IDEA is to provide comparable education to disabled students as that provided to nondisabled students. States that comply with the IDEA are entitled to federal funding to assist in the provision of a free appropriate public education to disabled children residing within the state. 20 U.S.C. § 1412. In 1997, Congress amended the IDEA to expressly require states receiving funds under the act to provide a free appropriate public education (FAPE) to children with disabilities who are expelled or suspended from school. IDEA Amendments for 1997, Pub.L. No. 105-17, § 612, 111 Stat. 37, 60. Contrary to the inmates' assertions, the pre-1997 amendments version of the IDEA did not require the State to provide special education to persons who have been incarcerated in adult correctional facilities for conduct wholly unrelated to their disability. See Commonwealth of Virginia Department of Educ. v. Riley, 106 F.3d 559, 561 (4th Cir. 1997) (IDEA did not apply to disabled children expelled or suspended from school); accord Doe v. Oak Park & River Forest High Sch. Dist., 115 F.3d 1273, 1277-79 (7th Cir. 1997). The Riley court concluded that Congress must make the state's duty clear when it conditions the receipt of federal funds upon a federal mandate. Riley, 106 F.3d at 561. The Riley court found that neither the text of section 1412(1), the legislative history, nor the purpose of the IDEA even suggests that Congress intended the IDEA apply to disabled children expelled from school. Riley, 106 F.3d at 561. The same is true regarding disabled children who are incarcerated in adult prisons. Based on Congress's failure to even suggest in the IDEA's text, legislative history or purpose that the IDEA applies to children incarcerated in adult facilities, we hold that the pre-1997 amendment version of the IDEA did not require the State to provide special educational services to members of the inmate class. Having determined that the pre-1997 amendment version of the IDEA did not apply to members of the inmate class, we examine the IDEA after the 1997 amendments. In addition to explicitly including disabled children who are expelled or suspended from school, the 1997 amendments contain an exception to a state's duty to provide special educational services to disabled children. Under the exception, a state's duty to provide a FAPE to children with disabilities does not apply to (1) children aged 3 through 5 and 18 through 21 in a state where its application would be inconsistent with state law or practice; and (2) children aged 18 through 21 where state law does not require that special education related services under 20 U.S.C. § 1412(a)(1)(B) be provided to children with disabilities who, prior to their incarceration in an adult prison, (a) were not actually identified as being a child with a disability under § 1401(3) or (b) did not have an individualized education program under § 1412(a)(1)(B). 34 C.F.R. § 300.122 (citing 20 U.S.C. § 1412(a)(1)(B)). The State argues that 20 U.S.C. § 1412(a)(1)(B)(i) relieves them of any statutory duty under the IDEA to provide special educational services to disabled children between the ages of 18 and 21 because such would be inconsistent with state law, specifically, RCW 28A.193.030(3). While the State is unable to point to cases interpreting the above exceptions to the IDEA, the State points to several cases interpreting the same language contained in a prior version of the IDEA. These cases interpreted the same language now contained in § (a)(1)(B)(i) to mean that a state is not required to provide special education to persons over 18 if the state does not provide basic educational services to nondisabled students over age 18. See Yankton Sch. Dist. v. Schramm, 93 F.3d 1369, 1376-77 (8th Cir.1996) (interpreting former 20 U.S.C. § 1412(2)(B)); Timms v. Metropolitan Sch. Dist., 722 F.2d 1310, 1313-14 (7th Cir.1983) (interpreting same). The inmates argue that state law, specifically RCW 28A.155, requires the State to provide special education to all children in Washington under age 22. However, as we have already held, RCW 28A.155 does not apply to students incarcerated in adult correctional facilities. Rather, chapter 28A.193 RCW is the relevant statute for juveniles incarcerated in adult facilities. Under the plain language of chapter 28A.193 RCW, the State is required to provide education only to juveniles incarcerated in adult facilities until age 18. See RCW 28A.193.030(4); RCW 72.09.460(2). Therefore, under the amended IDEA, the State is required to provide special education only to juveniles under age 18 as well. See Yankton Sch. Dist., 93 F.3d at 1376-77; Timms, 722 F.2d at 1313-14. Here, the clear language of the educational provider contracts requires that the provider of educational services at the DOC facilities [p]rovide special education, consistent with Chapter 392-172 WAC. CP at 1697; see also Ex. 2, at 2 (agreement between DOC and special education services), Mot. to Supplement the R., Tunstall v. Bergeson, No. 67448-5 (Wash. Supreme Ct. Sept. 13, 1999). Consequently, the State is currently in full compliance with its duty under the IDEA to provide special education to disabled inmates who are under age 18. Therefore, we hold that the trial court properly dismissed the inmates' IDEA claims.