District Must Make Single, Specific Placement Offer — Not a Menu of Options

What Happened

Student was a 16-year-old ninth grader with autism and intellectual disability who lived within the boundaries of William S. Hart Union High School District. She had previously attended Five Acres, a nonpublic therapeutic school, after experiencing serious trauma and emotional crisis at a public school placement. A 2018 assessment by the Diagnostic Center of Southern California found she functioned at approximately a seven-year-old level and needed a functional skills curriculum, community-based instruction, and significant support for safety and daily living. When Five Acres announced it was closing, the district needed to find Student a new school for the 2018-2019 year.

Over the spring and summer of 2018, Parents toured multiple nonpublic schools the district suggested — including Bridgeport, Casa Pacifica, Village Glen, and Westmoreland — but found problems with each. Parents ultimately identified Trinity Classical Academy's Imago Dei School, a local private religious program, as the best fit for Student's needs. They gave the district written notice of their intent to enroll Student there and request reimbursement. The district refused to fund a religious school and held IEP meetings in August and October 2018, but each time offered Parents a choice between two schools rather than a single committed placement. Student enrolled at Trinity in August 2018 and remained there throughout the school year while Parents paid tuition out of pocket.

What the District Did Wrong

The ALJ found that the district's August 22, 2018 and October 24, 2018 IEPs failed to make a clear, written offer of a free appropriate public education. Under the law, a district must identify a single, specific placement that parents can formally accept or reject — it cannot hand parents a list of options and ask them to choose. The district consistently offered Bridgeport and Casa Pacifica as two different alternatives, without ever committing to one. Worse, the October IEP document was internally inconsistent: one page named only Bridgeport, while another page offered "Bridgeport or Casa Pacifica." Neither offer confirmed that either school actually had space for Student or would accept her enrollment, making the offers essentially meaningless.

The ALJ rejected the district's argument that offering multiple options was legally sufficient. Presenting parents with several programs puts an unfair burden on them to eliminate inappropriate placements themselves — that is the district's job. The district also argued it could not be ordered to reimburse tuition at a religious school for constitutional reasons, but the ALJ disagreed, citing Ninth Circuit precedent holding that reimbursement for an appropriate private religious school placement is permissible when a district has denied FAPE. The May 15, 2018 IEP, however, was found not to be a violation — at that time, Student still had a valid placement at Five Acres through the end of the extended school year, and the district was not yet required to name a specific school for the following year.

What Was Ordered

1. The district must reimburse Parents $24,550 for ten months of tuition and fees at Trinity Classical Academy's Imago Dei School (August 23, 2018 through June 2019), payable within 45 days.
2. The district must reimburse Parents for the cost of Trinity's 2019 summer/extended school year session, upon Parents providing proof of Student's attendance and payment within 45 days of the decision.
3. The district must reimburse Parents $2,550 for private individual counseling services through Dynamic Interventions (September 2018 through June 2019), payable within 45 days.
4. A request for mileage reimbursement was denied because no evidence was submitted to support it.

Why This Matters for Parents

1. A district must name one specific school — not give you a list to pick from. The law requires a formal written offer of a single placement that you can clearly accept or reject. If the district's IEP says "Bridgeport or Casa Pacifica," that is not a legally valid offer, and you have the right to challenge it.

2. Placement offers must be real, not hypothetical. If a district offers a school without confirming that school has an opening and will accept your child, the offer may be considered "illusory" — meaning it doesn't actually guarantee your child a seat anywhere. Always ask in the IEP meeting: has this school been contacted? Is there space for my child?

3. You can be reimbursed for a private religious school if the district denies FAPE and the placement is appropriate. Districts sometimes claim they cannot fund religious school placements. This case confirms that reimbursement for a religious school is legally available when the district has failed its obligations and the private placement meets your child's needs.

4. Give written notice before enrolling privately. Parents here provided written notice on June 26, 2018 — nearly two months before Student started at Trinity. Providing this notice in writing strengthens your legal position and gives the district a chance to respond with a proper offer. If they still don't make a clear offer, your reimbursement claim is on much stronger ground.

5. You do not have to accept an individual services plan as a substitute for placement. The district argued Parents should have accepted speech and counseling through a district-provided plan. The ALJ rejected this, confirming that parents are not legally required to piece together services on their own when the district has failed to offer a complete, appropriate placement.