E.R.K. v. State of Hawaii Dep't of Educ., No. 12-16063 (9th Cir. 2013)
Annotate this CaseThis case concerned Hawaii's "Act 163," Haw. Rev. Stat. 302A-1134(c), which barred students from attending public school after the last day of the school year in which they turned 20. At issue was whether state-funded high school diploma programs for adults who never graduated from high school were a form of "public education" under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), 20 U.S.C. 1412(a)(1)(B)(I). The Community Schools for Adults offers "free public education" to students who did not require IDEA services. The Department offers, at taxpayer expense, the opportunity for nondisabled 20- and 21-year-olds to complete their secondary educations and earn high school diplomas. Providing IDEA services to disabled children of those ages would therefore be consistent with "State law or practice... respecting the provision of public education," so the state must do so. Accordingly, the court reversed the district court's judgment for the State on the IDEA claim, holding that Act 163 violated federal law. The court affirmed the district court's judgment on plaintiffs' remaining claims.
Court Description: Individuals with Disabilities Education Act. Affirming in part and reversing in part the district court’s judgment after a bench trial in a class action, the panel held that a Hawaii statute violated federal law by establishing an age limit on public education. The Hawaii statute, dubbed “Act 163,” barred both general-education students and students who received special- education services under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act from attending public school after the last day of the school year in which they turned 20. The plaintiffs alleged that the state violated the IDEA, the Americans with Disabilities Act, and the Rehabilitation Act by denying public education to special-needs students aged 20 to 21 while offering it, in the form of a network of adult-education schools called Community Schools for Adults, to students without special needs. The Community Schools for Adults were exempt from the strictures of Act 163. The panel held that Act 163 violated the IDEA, which restricts the power of states to establish age limits on special- education eligibility in certain circumstances. In an exception to these restrictions, 20 U.S.C. § 1412(a)(1)(B)(I) provides that a state’s duty to provide special education does not extend to children aged 18 through 21 “to the extent that [the duty’s] application to those children would be inconsistent with State law or practice . . . respecting the provision of public education to children in those age ranges.” Referring to the IDEA’s legislative history, the panel held that § 1412(a)(1)(B)(I) meant that Hawaii could not deny special education to disabled students aged 18 through 21 if it in fact provided “free public education” to nondisabled students in that range of ages. The panel concluded that the diploma programs offered by the Community Schools for Adults constituted free public education because they were provided at public expense, under public supervision and direction, and without charge, and they involved secondary education. Accordingly, the panel reversed the district court’s judgment for the State of Hawaii Department of Education on the IDEA claim. The panel affirmed the district court’s judgment for the Department of Education on the plaintiffs’ disability discrimination claims under the Americans with Disabilities Act and the Rehabilitation Act, holding that the plaintiffs did not establish the existence of reasonable accommodations that would make the Community Schools for Adults generally accessible to disabled students. The panel remanded the case to the district court.
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