Court Opinion

ID: 9491674
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-05 14:20:32.569937+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:54:52.980263
License: Public Domain

ROTH, Circuit Judge,
concurring in part and dissenting in part:
Although I concur with the majority’s conclusion that the District Court’s decision here is immediately appealable, I respectfully dissent from their conclusion in Part III that the Collinsgrus do not have joint rights with their son under the IDEA which they may pursue pro se in the federal courts. I believe that these rights arise from the special nature of the relationship between parents and their children and from the role of parents in directing their children’s education rights and opportunities. They are the rights of both the parents and the children, and they are overlapping and inseparable. In enforcing their own rights under the Act, parents are also acting on behalf of their child. This is so because parents are responsible for their children’s education. See Meyer v. Nebraska, 262 U.S. 390, 400, 43 S.Ct. 625, 67 L.Ed. 1042 (1923) (“[I]t is the natural duty of the parent to give his children education suitable to their station in life____”). Parents are entitled to make fundamental decisions regarding that education. See, e.g., Pierce v. Society of Sisters, 268 U.S. 510, 45 S.Ct. 571, 69 L.Ed. 1070 (1925) (enjoining enforcement of Compulsory Education Act preventing parents from choosing to send their children to private schools); Meyer, 262 U.S. at 400-03, 43 S.Ct. 625 (holding that parents are entitled to control the education of their children and that the state may not arbitrarily proscribe certain areas of instruction). For this reason, I find the Collinsgrus to be real parties in interest in this case, who are entitled to pursue that indivisible concern which is both their own and their child’s educational goals.
Moreover, this result would be consistent with the primary purpose of the IDEA — to assure an appropriate public education to children with disabilities. The focus of the IDEA rests upon ensuring appropriate educational opportunities for children with disabilities. But to accomplish this, the Act recognizes the integral role of parents in effectuating its educational goals. This recognition is evinced in the language and structure of the Act and in the procedural safeguards that are included to ensure active parental involvement at all stages of the development and implementation of a child’s individual education program.
A key factor in the successful implementation of the goals of the IDEA are the procedural safeguards that states and localities are required to accord to “children with disabilities and their parents or guardians” in order to assure “the provision of a free appropriate public education.” 20 U.S.C. § 1415(a). The Act requires educational agencies to provide “an opportunity for parents or guardian of a handicapped child to examine all relevant records with respect to the identification, evaluation, and educational placement of the child, and the provision of a free appropriate public education to such child, and to obtain an independent evaluation of the child.” 20 U.S.C. § 1415(b)(1)(A). The educational agency must also provide “written prior notice to the parents or guardian of the child whenever such agency or unit — (i) proposes to initiate or change, or (ii) refuses to initiate or change, the identification, evaluation or educational placement of the child or the provision of a free appropriate public education to the child.” 20 U.S.C. § 1415(b)(1)(C). In addition the educational agency must provide parents with “an opportunity to present complaints with respect to any matter relating to the identification, evaluation, or educational placement of the child, or the provision of a free appropriate public education to such child.” 20 U.S.C. § 1415(b)(1)(E).
These protections demonstrate that Congress envisioned that parents would play an active and informed role in the evaluation and education of their children. The Senate Committee report recommending passage of the IDEA’S precursor statute explicitly states that,
[b]y changing the language [of the provision relating to individualized educational programs] to emphasize the process of parent and child involvement ... the Committee intends to clarify that such individu*238al planning conferences are a way to provide parent involvement and protection to assure that appropriate services are provided to a handicapped child.
Education for All Handicapped Children Act of 1975, S.Rep. No. 94-168, at 11-12 (1975), reprinted in, 1975 U.S.C.C.A.N. 1425, 1435. In interpreting the IDEA, the Supreme Court has also cautioned that “[t]he primary responsibility for formulating the education to be accorded a handicapped child ... was left by the Act to state and local educational agencies in cooperation with the parents or guardian of the child.” Board of Education v. Rowley, 458 U.S. 176, 204, 207, 102 S.Ct. 3034, 73 L.Ed.2d 690 (1982). Courts should avoid, imposing their views regarding preferred educational methods. Rather, “Congress sought to protect individual children by providing for parental involvement in the development of state plans and policies and in the formulation of the child’s individual educational program.” Id. at 208, 102 S.Ct. 3034.
The Act also provides substantial due process protections in the form of administrative proceedings and an appeals procedure in the event that parents have complaints regarding the educational services provided to their children. “The parents or guardian shall have an opportunity for an impartial due process hearing” before the local educational agency, 20 U.S.C. § 1415(b)(2), and for an impartial review on appeal to a state educational agency. 20 U.S.C. § 1415(c). At these hearings all parties, specifically parents, are accorded:
(1) the right to be accompanied and advised by counsel and by individuals with special knowledge or training with respect to the problems of handicapped children,
(2) the right to present evidence and confront, cross-examine, and compel the attendance of witnesses,
(3) the right to a written or electronic verbatim record of such hearing, and
(4) the right to written findings of fact____
20 U.S.C. § 1415(d). Thus, during administrative proceedings under the IDEA, the Act explicitly envisions that parents will act as advocates for their child’s right to an appropriate education. Congress has also taken steps to ensure the effectiveness of parents as advocates during administrative proceedings by authorizing the establishment of training centers to assist parents in understanding them rights and their children’s’ rights under the Act and to help parents to participate effectively in administrative due process hearings. 20 U.S.C. § 1415(e)(2)(B)(I).
At the conclusion of all administrative proceedings, the Act provides the right to bring a civil action in either federal or state court to “[a]ny party aggrieved by the findings and decision” made during the administrative proceedings. 20 U.S.C. § 1415(e). Although the language of the Act clearly delineates an active role for parents during administrative proceedings under the IDEA, the Act is silent with regard to the nature of the role of parents during federal court proceedings under the Act. Thus, it is not clear from the language of the Act whether parents are “aggrieved parties” able to bring a court action on their own behalf, or whether the right to an appeal belongs to their child or belongs to both parents and child.
The parents here have asserted their own claim under the IDEA which is still pending in the District Court. The District Court, however, denied the parents’ request that the court clarify which of the claims before it were claims of the parents. The stated reason for that denial was that the parents sought an advisory opinion.
Nevertheless, despite the absence of explicit language in the IDEA conclusively determining the role of parents in IDEA appeals, the purpose and language of the IDEA presuppose the active involvement of parents in enforcing the educational rights of their children. Through the IDEA, Congress gave to all children with disabilities the substantive right to an appropriate education. Children, however, whether disabled or not, are not able to evaluate the education they are receiving or to request changes in the resources and opportunities made available to them. The IDEA reflects the practical recognition that parents are the persons who are vested with the authority and the obligation to oversee their child’s education and *239to enforce their child’s rights under the Act. The Act also invests parents with the procedural rights and protections necessary to ensure that they receive access to the information and resources necessary to enforce the substantive protections and guarantees of the IDEA.
The Act explicitly defines the rights of parents during administrative proceedings. See 20 U.S.C. § 1415. Although the Act does not contain the same explicit definition of the rights of parents during appeals brought in federal court, there is evidence that Congress did not intend parental involvement under the IDEA to be confined to the administrative process. Nor does it make sense, in the absence of clear Congressional intent, to deny parents, who are parties with full procedural protections during administrative proceedings under the Act, the right to challenge the outcome of these proceedings.
Evidence of congressional intent regarding the role of parents during federal court proceedings under the IDEA may be gleaned from the amendment of the Act to include a fee-shifting provision, authorizing the award of attorneys’ fees to plaintiffs who prevail in appeals from administrative proceedings. Under the Act, attorneys’ fees will be awarded “to the parents or guardian of a child or youth with a disability who is the prevailing party.” 20 U.S.C. § 1415(e)(4)(B). Attorneys’ fees will not be awarded if the parents reject a settlement agreement offering more favorable relief than is ultimately obtained in the judicial proceedings. 20 U.S.C. § 1415(e)(4)(D)(iii). In contrast, “an award of attorneys’ fees and related costs may be made to a parent or guardian who is the prevailing party and who was substantially justified in rejecting the settlement offer.” 20 U.S.C. § 1415(e)(4)(E) (emphasis added).
The legislative history of the fee-shifting provisions states that, “Congress’ original intent was that due process procedures, including the right to litigation if that became necessary be available to all parents.” Handicapped Children’s Protection Act of 1986, S. Rep. 99-112, at 2, reprinted at, 1986 U.S.C.C.A.N. 1798, 1799. The Senate Committee Report explicitly states that the fee-shifting provision should not limit the payment of attorneys’ fees to nonprofit, publicly-funded organizations who provide legal assistance to parents. Rather, the Committee members endorsed the principle that “the parents or legal representative of handicapped children must be able to access the full range of available remedies in order to protect their handicapped children’s educational rights.” Id. at 17, reprinted at, 1986 U.S.C.C.A.N. at 1806. In this ease, the Col-linsgrus argue that the fee-shifting provisions are insufficient to protect their interests under the Act. They have not been able to find any attorney to represent them in the IDEA action. Their only remaining avenue to protect their son’s educational rights under the Act is to proceed pro se with their challenge to the administrative denial of special education benefits.
The right of children to receive an appropriate education may well be meaningless without parents to guide the evaluation of their needs and to monitor the implementation of their individualized education program. The procedural safeguards afforded to parents under the IDEA, including the right to receive attorneys’ fees, codify the role of parents as the guardians of their children’s education. In light of the special relationship between parents and their children and the special role of parents in enforcing their children’s rights under the IDEA, the right of parents to control the education of their child and the right of children to receive an appropriate education are highly interwoven and interdependent. Accordingly, I conclude that parents who wish to challenge the outcome of administrative proceedings under the IDEA are aggrieved parties with the right to bring an appeal under the Act. Thus, the rights created by the IDEA are effectively shared by children and their parents. As parties to IDEA proceedings, pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1654, parents should be able to proceed pro se in IDEA appeals brought in federal court to enforce their own rights and those of their children.
Moreover, the rights at stake in an IDEA proceeding are markedly different from those raised by a tort claim. A child’s com*240mon law claim for damages does not invoke the fundamental rights and interests of a parent in the same manner as a claim for educational benefits under the IDEA. Indeed, many of the benefits of an appropriate education will be lost if they are not timely pursued. Cf. Osei-Afriyie, 937 F.2d at 882 (noting that under Pennsylvania law, the civil claims of minors are tolled until they reach the age of 18). Because parents bear the ultimate responsibility for guaranteeing their child’s right to an education, they should be afforded all available opportunities to enforce and protect that right.
I would therefore recognize the right of parents to proceed pro se in an IDEA case on their child’s behalf, as well as on their own behalf.