By: Angela Reading, Law Clerk
Editor: Sanmathi (Sanu) Dev, Esq.
On May 18, 2022, the New Jersey Appellate Division issued a published decision in the case of C.E. v. Elizabeth Public School District, in which the Court held that settlement agreements resolving Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (“IDEA”) disputes that have been docketed in the Office of Administrative Law (“OAL”) and final decisions incorporating or pertaining to those settlement agreements are subject to disclosure under New Jersey’s Open Public Records Act (“OPRA”).
Prior to this decision, boards of education typically deemed all special education settlement agreements as confidential student records exempt from disclosure under OPRA. In fact, on July 17, 2019, the New Jersey Supreme Court in L.R. v. Camden City Public School District held that settlement agreements with parents of special education students are not subject to release, absent a court order, even if that document has been stripped of personally identifiable information.
In this decision, the Appellate Division distinguished L.R. and held it did not apply because the L.R. case did not involve settlements before the OAL, and the IDEA was not at issue. Instead, the Appellate Division determined that IDEA regulations governed.
The Appellate Division held that despite special education agreements being student records, when defendants, such as a public school district, settle matters involving IDEA claims in the OAL, these documents become judicial filings and are subject to a “presumption” of public access. The court explained that N.J.A.C. 6A:14-2.7 designates the OAL to hear special education complaints under the IDEA. Those settlement decisions are then incorporated into a final decision approving the settlement. Thus, under federal IDEA law, 34 C.F.R. § 300.513(d)(2), these decisions, which are judicial filings, must be available to the public after removing any student-identifying information.
In practice, this precedential Appellate Division decision establishes that to comply with OPRA, a board of education must redact a student’s personally identifiable information before disclosing a special education settlement agreement incorporated into a decision at the OAL. However, agreements resolving special education disputes before the matter is transmitted to OAL, such as mediation agreements or resolution agreements, remain student records exempt from OPRA disclosures under the holding in L.R. v. Camden City Public School District.
