Court Opinion

ID: 9648360
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-23 14:16:08.575+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:11:59.090737
License: Public Domain

DISSENTING OPINION BY
Judge SMITH-RIBNER.
I respectfully dissent from the majority’s decision to affirm the order of the Department of Education Hearing Officer, Bureau of Special Education, which directed the Lower Merion School District to provide occupational therapy services to Student Doe pursuant to Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, 29 U.S.C. § 794 (Section 504). The majority disagrees with the School District’s decision, based on a Section 504 evaluation, that the Student was ineligible for services under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), 20 U.S.C. § 1401-1487, but instead was eligible for accommodations and direct occupational therapy to be provided at the Student’s home school in the District under a Section 504 “Service Agreement,” see 22 Pa.Code Chapter 15, which the Parents rejected.
The Hearing Officer and the majority rely on Veschi v. Northwestern Lehigh School Dist. 772 A.2d 469 (Pa.Cmwlth. 2001), which interpreted the IDEA but not Section 504. In any event, Veschi is no longer good law since 22 Pa.Code § 14.41(e), cited and followed in Veschi, was repealed in 2001 and new regulations *934were adopted following revisions to federal regulations after IDEA amendments.
The District offered the Parents the Service Agreement that included accommodations and services involving one 30-minute session per week of direct occupational therapy to be delivered at the Student’s home school in the School District, along with teacher follow-up consultation. The Parents rejected the agreement because they had enrolled the Student in a full-time kindergarten program in an independent private school outside of the School District for 2004-2005. They nonetheless requested the School District to provide the occupational services at the School District, which offers half-day kindergarten. The Parents dually enrolled the Student in the School District so that he could receive the direct occupational therapy, but the School District refused because the child must be enrolled in a public school in the School District to receive Section 504 services.
The majority has recognized that differences exist between Section 504 and the IDEA requirements and, more importantly, that Section 504 does not specifically provide for services to private school students in the same manner in which they are provided under the IDEA. Notwithstanding this recognition, the majority adopts the Hearing Officer’s conclusions based upon his application of the IDEA analysis in Veschi, where this Court addressed whether an IDEA-eligible student attending private school was entitled to special education and related services from the public school district in which the child resided. In holding that the private school student was entitled to services the Court held as follows:
While the parents of a child with disabilities unilaterally enrolled in a private school must bear the financial burden of tuition where the education agency has offered a free, appropriate education at public expense, that fact does not relieve the public education agency, under either federal or state law, from providing ‘special education and related services’ to voluntarily placed private school students. Moreover, such aid, when provided, must be comparable to that received by exceptional children in public schools. The services offered must reflect a genuine opportunity to participate and the public education agency, by limiting the Veschis’ school choice, fails to provide that ‘genuine opportunity.’ When exceptional private school children have a right to ‘comparable’ or ‘equitable’ services, school choice decisions should be made on factors other than the fear of total deprivation of those services. That said, we hold that Vincent may remain at St. Joseph’s while simultaneously receiving special education services from the District. The order of the Special Education Due Process Appeals Review Panel is ... reversed.
Id., 772 A.2d at 475. The Court reached its decision in Veschi based upon an analysis of the IDEA, and it noted the provision in 22 Pa.Code § 14.41(e) that the student must receive “equal opportunity to participate” in the public school district’s specialized educational assistance program. As noted above, Section 14.41(e) has been repealed; thus the underlying basis for Ves-chi is no longer valid.
Section 504 provides in relevant part:
No otherwise qualified individual with a disability in the United States, as defined in section 705(20) of this title, shall, solely by reason of her or his disability, be excluded from the participation in, be denied the benefits of, or be subjected to discrimination under any program or activity receiving Federal financial assistance or under any program or activity *935conducted by any Executive agency or by the United States Postal Service.
As the School District observed, under J.D. v. Pawlet School District, 224 F.3d 60, 70 (2d Cir.2000), Section 504 requires the recipients of federal funds to offer ‘reasonable’ accommodations to those individuals with disabilities to ensure their meaningful access to the recipient’s federally funded program, which differs from the purposes of the IDEA to ensure that all children suffering disabilities have available to them a free and appropriate public education emphasizing special education and related services designed to meet their unique needs and to prepare them for employment and independent living. 20 U.S.C. § 1400(d)(1)(A). Moreover, children eligible for Section 504 services are not entitled to all of the protections afforded to children eligible under the IDEA. Molly L. v. Lower Merion School District, 194 F.Supp.2d 422 (E.D.Pa.2002). Also see, e.g., 34 C.F.R. § 300.454(a)(1) and 20 U.S.C. § 1412(a)(10)(a). Further, nothing in Section 504 imposes an obligation on recipients of federal funds to provide services to private school students not attending courses or classes in the public schools.
The State Board of Education promulgated regulations governing rights of students eligible for services under Section 504 in 22 Pa.Code Chapter 15 and promulgated regulations governing rights of students under the IDEA in 22 Pa.Code Chapter 14. Regulations governing the IDEA provide: “Exceptional students and eligible young children who attend nonpublic schools shall be afforded equal opportunity to participate in special education services and programs and early intervention services and programs.” 22 Pa.Code § 14.41(e). As stated, Veschi relied upon the “equal opportunity to participate” requirement under Section 14.41(e), which was repealed and was no longer in effect at the time of the Hearing Officer’s decision in this case. In addition, the State Board adopted new regulations in June 2001, after revisions to federal regulations based on amendments to the IDEA, which replaced the “equal opportunity to participate” requirement with a funding formula based upon the amount of funds expended by the local educational agency for provision of services to children with disabilities enrolled in private school. See 22 Pa.Code § 14.102(a)(2)(xix), incorporating by reference federal regulations at 34 C.F.R. 300.450-300.462.
As for the majority’s contention that the Parents’ dual enrollment of the Student does not require that he actually attend classes in the School District, I note the provision of Section 502 of the Public School Code of 1949, 24 P.S. § 5-502, that no student “shall be refused, admission to the courses ” in these additional schools or departments by reason of the fact that his elementary or academic education is being or has been received in a school other than a public school. The Student has not sought admission to “courses ” of the School District; his Parents have sought dual enrollment for the sole purpose of obtaining occupational therapy services from the School District. Hence, for purposes of Section 504, the Hearing Officer erred in ruling that the Student was properly dual enrolled in his private school and in the School District and therefore entitled to receive Section 504 services. Pursuant to J.D. v. Pawlet School District, Section 504 requires the School District as a recipient of federal funds to provide services if they are necessary to permit an eligible individual meaningful access to the School District’s programs. The services requested by the Parents here are not intended as a means to permit meaningful access by the Student to School District programs.
*936Additionally, the majority and the Hearing Officer discounted the' Pennsylvania Department of Education’s interpretation of the requirements of Chapter 15 set forth in its guidelines in pertinent part as follows:
If the protected handicapped student is attending only the nonpublic school, the school district of residence bears no responsibility to provide aids, services or accommodations within the nonpublic school. Chapter 15 is aimed at ensuring equal opportunity to participate in and benefit from the public school district program. If the student is attending only the nonpublic school, a public school district’s provisions of a Chapter 15 service, such as catheterization or wheelchair accessibility, would not foster equal opportunity to participate in the public school district’s program.
If a nonpublic school student is receiving some educational services from the public school district, however, the school district’s Chapter 15 obligations apply to the extent that equal opportunity must be provided with respect to that portion of the student’s educational program.
Pennsylvania Department of Education, Basic Education Circular “Services to Nonpublic School Students” 22 Pa.Code Chapter 15 (Issued: July 1, 2001). I agree with the School District that this Court may not ignore the interpretation of the Education Department, which should be afforded some deference by the Court particularly in this case of first impression. I further agree that the Hearing Officer improperly disregarded the Department’s interpretation and that he erroneously relied instead on the holding in Veschi, which is now of dubious value.
Because the Student here was voluntarily enrolled in a private school by his Parents, he does not have the same rights to special education and related services required to be provided under Section 504 to children attending public schools within the School District. Inasmuch as the Hearing Officer relied on Veschi to conclude that the Student was permitted to be dual enrolled in the School District, although not attending any courses or classes there, and to receive Section 504 services, the Hearing Officer has committed an error of law. Accordingly,-1 would reverse the Hearing Officer’s decision and uphold the decision of the School District to deny Section 504 services to the Student because he is now enrolled in a private school.