Bellflower USD Must Hold IEP Meetings Even When Student Attends Private School

A 16-year-old student with disabilities was privately placed in a parochial school while her parents repeatedly requested IEP meetings from their home district, Bellflower Unified. The district refused for nearly two years, insisting Student must first re-enroll in a district school. The ALJ found this position legally wrong and ordered over $9,000 in tuition reimbursement, ongoing reimbursement of future tuition, and four independent educational evaluations at district expense.

What Happened

Student was a 16-year-old girl who had attended Bellflower Unified schools since preschool and qualified for special education services throughout that time. In September 2014, her parents withdrew her from the district and placed her in a private parochial school in a neighboring district, primarily due to concerns about Student's safety and the district's response to harassment she experienced. Student's parents continued to live within Bellflower Unified's boundaries. The district had last formally assessed Student in 2012, and her most recent IEP was dated June 2014.

Beginning in April 2015, Parents made four separate written requests asking Bellflower Unified to hold an IEP team meeting and offer Student a free appropriate public education (FAPE). Each time, the district refused — insisting that Student must first re-enroll in a district school before it would schedule any meeting or conduct any assessment. The district did not hold an IEP team meeting until February 2017, nearly two years after Parents' first request, and only after the California Department of Education ordered it to do so following a complaint. Even at that February 2017 meeting, the district presented an assessment plan but then told Parents it still would not assess Student unless she re-enrolled. Student remained at the private school, where she had progressed from a fourth-grade performance level in 2014 to passing all ninth-grade classes by 2017.

What the District Did Wrong

The ALJ found that Bellflower Unified's core legal position — that it had no obligation to hold an IEP meeting or offer FAPE until Student physically re-enrolled in a district school — was simply wrong under the law. Residency in the district, not enrollment, is what triggers a district's IDEA obligations. Because Student's family continued to live within Bellflower Unified's boundaries, the district was required to respond to Parents' requests for an IEP meeting within 30 days and to make a formal offer of FAPE. The district's failure to do so for nearly two years was a serious procedural violation that denied Student a FAPE.

The district also failed to conduct Student's triennial assessment, which should have occurred in 2015. Without updated assessment data, the IEP team could not develop accurate present levels of performance, set appropriate goals, or offer meaningful services. This failure directly harmed Parents' ability to participate in the IEP process in a meaningful way — they were left making decisions based on a three-year-old IEP with no current information about their daughter's needs. The ALJ noted that if the district had assessed Student and held a proper IEP meeting, Parents would have had a real choice: accept the district's FAPE offer or keep Student at the private school. Instead, that choice was taken away from them entirely.

What Was Ordered

District must reimburse Parents $9,137 for tuition, mandatory fees, and test retake costs at the private parochial school for the 2015-2016 and 2016-2017 school years.
District must reimburse Parents for daily mileage (9.58 miles round trip) for each day Student actually attended the private school during those two school years, calculated at the IRS standard mileage rate of $0.535 per mile.
District must continue reimbursing ongoing tuition and daily mileage through the 2017-2018 school year, or until it holds a proper IEP team meeting and makes a formal FAPE offer — whichever comes first.
District must immediately fund independent educational evaluations (IEEs) for Student in four areas: psychoeducation, speech and language, occupational therapy, and behavior.
Student's requests for reimbursement of extended school year costs, an assistive technology evaluation, and a central auditory processing evaluation were denied — the evidence did not support those specific needs.

Why This Matters for Parents

Your district cannot require your child to re-enroll before holding an IEP meeting. If your family lives within a district's boundaries, that district is legally responsible for offering your child a FAPE — even if your child attends a private school somewhere else. Residency is what matters, not enrollment.
Put your IEP meeting requests in writing, and keep copies. Parents in this case made four written requests over two years. That paper trail was critical to proving the district violated its obligations. Every request and every district response became evidence.
A district that refuses to assess your child also undermines your right to participate in the IEP process. The law requires assessments not just to check a box, but so that you and the IEP team have current, accurate information. Without it, you cannot meaningfully evaluate what the district is offering — and the ALJ recognized that as a FAPE violation in itself.
If the district denies you FAPE and you privately place your child, you may be entitled to reimbursement — even for an unapproved private school. The private parochial school here was not a state-approved special education placement, but Student made real academic progress there. That progress, combined with the district's failure to offer FAPE, justified full tuition reimbursement for two school years and ongoing reimbursement until the district corrected its violations.

What Happened

What the District Did Wrong

What Was Ordered

District must reimburse Parents $9,137 for tuition, mandatory fees, and test retake costs at the private parochial school for the 2015-2016 and 2016-2017 school years.
District must reimburse Parents for daily mileage (9.58 miles round trip) for each day Student actually attended the private school during those two school years, calculated at the IRS standard mileage rate of $0.535 per mile.
District must continue reimbursing ongoing tuition and daily mileage through the 2017-2018 school year, or until it holds a proper IEP team meeting and makes a formal FAPE offer — whichever comes first.
District must immediately fund independent educational evaluations (IEEs) for Student in four areas: psychoeducation, speech and language, occupational therapy, and behavior.
Student's requests for reimbursement of extended school year costs, an assistive technology evaluation, and a central auditory processing evaluation were denied — the evidence did not support those specific needs.

Why This Matters for Parents

Your district cannot require your child to re-enroll before holding an IEP meeting. If your family lives within a district's boundaries, that district is legally responsible for offering your child a FAPE — even if your child attends a private school somewhere else. Residency is what matters, not enrollment.
Put your IEP meeting requests in writing, and keep copies. Parents in this case made four written requests over two years. That paper trail was critical to proving the district violated its obligations. Every request and every district response became evidence.
A district that refuses to assess your child also undermines your right to participate in the IEP process. The law requires assessments not just to check a box, but so that you and the IEP team have current, accurate information. Without it, you cannot meaningfully evaluate what the district is offering — and the ALJ recognized that as a FAPE violation in itself.
If the district denies you FAPE and you privately place your child, you may be entitled to reimbursement — even for an unapproved private school. The private parochial school here was not a state-approved special education placement, but Student made real academic progress there. That progress, combined with the district's failure to offer FAPE, justified full tuition reimbursement for two school years and ongoing reimbursement until the district corrected its violations.