DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION, STATE OF HAWAII, Plaintiff v. KATHERINE D., a minor, By & Through her natural parents & legal guardians, KEVIN & ROBERTA D., Defendants-Counter claimants-Appellees DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION, STATE OF HAWAII & DONNIS THOMPSON, in her capacity as Superintendent Education, Counter claimants-Defendants-Appellants No. 82-4096 United States Court of Appeals, Ninth Circuit Decided November 7, 1983 As Amended February 24, 1984

Appeal from the United States District Court for the District of Hawaii Affirmed in part and reversed in part

Facts: Katherine D., a student who suffers from cystic fibrosis and tracheomalacia, requires periodic medication, suctioning of her lungs and reinsertion of her tracheostomy tube. For 1980-81 school year, department of education determined that services could not be provided at a public school and proposed a homebound program consisting of speech therapy and parent counseling. Her parents rejected this option, and placed her in a private child care center, where she had attended since 1979. For the 1981-82 school year, the district proposed placement in a public school with emergency health services, if needed, through school staff. Parents accepted this idea, but when several staff filed a grievance questioning whether such services were within their duty to provide, the parents withdrew Katherine and placed her in a private setting again.

The district court affirmed the HO’s findings for the 1980-81 school year, and held that the department had not offered appropriate education for either 1980-81 or 1981-82 years. It ordered the department to reimburse private school costs for both years and granted parents’ request for attorney’s fees.

Issue: Katherine requires related services in order to participate in her education. The issue is who is responsible for paying for those services to be provided.

Holding: The court of appeals affirms the judgment of the district court in part and reverses in part.

Reasoning: EHA contains no requirement that handicapped student be provided the best possible education; education agency is required to make only those efforts to accommodate student's needs that are within reason, given budgetary constraints limiting resources that realistically can be committed to special education programs. Education agency's proposed placement of handicapped student requiring intermittent tracheostomy in regular school program (1981-82 school year), with training of school staff to respond to her medical needs, constituted offer of free appropriate public education in absence of sufficient evidence that related services would not have been carried out competently and in good faith.

Education agency's proposed placement of handicapped student requiring intermittent tracheostomy in a homebound program (1980-81 school year) did not constitute the LRE. Katherine is capable of participating in a classroom with her non-disabled peers.

The court of appeals found that the 1980-81 proposal did not provide her with a FAPE in the LRE according to the IDEA. Therefore, the court finds holds the district court decision and the school is obligated to pay for private placement for that year.

The court of appeals found that for the 1981-82 school year, the department did offer a FAPE in the LRE according to IDEA, and does not require the school to pay for private placement during that school year.