Third Circuit Confirms Scope of IDEA's Exhaustion Requirement

By AYZ Education Law Group

June 4, 2021

A recent Third Circuit decision reconfirms the requirement that certain litigants against public school entities must first exhaust the administrative process under the IDEA. Thomas Ahearn, as parents and natural guardians of Louis Ahern, et al v. East Stroudsburg Area School District, et al, 2021 WL 840917 (3d Cir. 2021).

In Ahearn, the plaintiffs took issue with the school district’s implementation of their child’s staff action for emergency (SAFE) plan. Following their state court lawsuit that was properly removed into Federal court, the amended complaint raised a Fourteenth Amendment claim under Section 1983 and a disability discrimination claim under Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act.

The parties agreed that exhaustion of IDEA’s administrative remedies did not occur. Plaintiffs asserted multiple arguments as to why exhaustion should not be required, including that the monetary damages they sought were not available under the IDEA.

The Third Circuit rejected Plaintiff’s arguments. Reconfirming the standards set out in Batchelor v. Rose Tree Media School District and Fry v. Napoleon Cmty. School, the Court confirmed that exhaustion of the IDEA’s administrative process is required in non-IDEA actions where the gravamen of the action is whether a plaintiff seeks relief for a denial of IDEA’s core guarantee of a free and appropriate public education.

Shortly after the Third Circuit’s decision, the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania also reconfirmed the applicability of IDEA’s exhaustion requirement. See J.L., et al v. Lower Merion School District, 2021 WL 949456 (E.D. Pa. 2021) “Because Plaintiffs seek at least some relief for their Section 504 and ADA claims that is available to them under the IDEA, they were required to exhaust those claims.”

These decisions are welcome news for public school entities in Pennsylvania. By solidifying the applicability of IDEA’s exhaustion requirement to related non-IDEA claims, school are better equipped to defend against claims prematurely filed in court.

Should you have any questions about this decision, or any other issue impacting schools, please do not hesitate to contact William J. Zee or any of the attorneys in the Appel, Yost & Zee Education group.