9th Cir.;
14-16382

The court of appeals affirmed a district court judgment. The court held that a state department of education did not violate the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) by failing to specify which local public school the student would be attending during the upcoming school year.

At an individualized education program (IEP) meeting in May 2012, the Hawaii Department of Education refused the request of ninth grader Rachel H.'s parents to pay all or part of the cost of continuing her enrollment in a private school. The department advised Rachel's parents that she would be educated during the upcoming school year at a public school campus. At the time of the meeting, all parties understood that the “public school campus” offered by the department was Kalani High School. However, neither Rachel's IEP nor the prior written notice of the proposed changes formally identified the anticipated school where Rachel's tenth grade IEP would be implemented. That summer, Rachel's father informed the department that the family was moving to Kailua, approximately 20 to 30 miles from Kalani High School. Consequently, according to Rachel's father, “Kalani [would] under no circumstances be Rachel's local public high school” given the distance from the school to their new home. He again demanded to enroll Rachel in private school at public expense. The department rejected this demand, responding that the May IEP was not specific to Kalani High School. The department requested the family's new address in Kailua. Rachel's father ignored this and subsequent requests. Rachel's father did not provide the department with the family's new address until January 0213, at which time he also he filed a due process hearing request on behalf of Rachel, arguing that the department had denied Rachel a free appropriate public education (FAPE) by not identifying the anticipated school where Rachel's IEP would be implemented.