## Facts

- Sonya C., a deaf minor, lived in Arizona with Francisco and Elva Olivas while her parents (Mexican citizens) lived in Mexico.
- Local school officials recommended placement at the Arizona School for the Deaf and Blind (ASDB) to meet Sonya’s disability-related educational needs.
- ASDB and local officials advised the Olivases to obtain a guardianship so an adult in Arizona could make welfare and education decisions and to support enrollment.
- The Olivases obtained a court-ordered guardianship; ASDB’s practice treated a minor’s legal residence as the guardian’s residence.
- ASDB admitted Sonya tuition-free as an Arizona resident, consistent with providing a free appropriate public education under the Education of the Handicapped Act (EHA).
- After state efforts to address perceived “tuition-avoidance” guardianships, ASDB reexamined Sonya’s status, deemed her nonresident, and sought prospective tuition and reimbursement of past tuition and residential costs.

## Issues

1. Whether the district court had jurisdiction under 20 U.S.C. § 1415(e)(2) and whether Sonya remained a proper party after reaching the age of majority, including where defendants attacked the guardianship’s validity.
2. Whether the administrative decision denying residency status should be reversed and Sonya deemed an Arizona resident entitled to tuition-free education at ASDB under the EHA and related state rules.
3. Whether ASDB and state defendants could impose out-of-state tuition and seek reimbursement for prior years of tuition-free attendance.

## Decision

- The court held it had subject-matter jurisdiction under 20 U.S.C. § 1415(e)(2) and that Sonya remained the real party in interest despite reaching majority.
- The court rejected treating alleged defects in the guardianship as a threshold jurisdictional bar, concluding the guardianship’s validity was part of the merits review of the administrative record.
- The court found the Olivases had standing because a nonresidency ruling exposed them to substantial potential liability for past tuition and residential costs.
- On the merits, the court reversed the state administrative appeals decision and held Sonya was an Arizona resident from 1984 forward, entitled to tuition-free education at ASDB.
- The ruling foreclosed the attempt to charge tuition and recover past costs on the theory that Sonya was a nonresident.

## Legal Principles

- Under 20 U.S.C. § 1415(e)(2), an aggrieved party may seek judicial review in federal district court; the court reviews the administrative record, may hear additional evidence on request, and grants appropriate relief based on a preponderance of the evidence.
- A student’s reaching the age of majority does not, by itself, extinguish the student’s right to judicial review of an adverse special-education administrative decision when the disputed status continues to affect educational access or financial obligations.
- Challenges to a guardianship that bear on the administrative determination may be treated as merits questions within the scope of review rather than as automatic jurisdictional defects.
- For purposes of access to tuition-free public special education, residency may be determined by state practices treating a minor’s residence as that of a lawful guardian, particularly where educational authorities relied on that guardianship for years.
- An educational agency’s retroactive reclassification of residency to impose tuition may be rejected where the record shows the guardianship served welfare and educational decision-making needs and was obtained at the direction of school officials without warning of tuition exposure.

## Conclusion

The district court exercised jurisdiction under the EHA’s judicial-review provision, held Sonya and her guardians were proper parties, and reversed the state agency’s nonresidency determination, concluding Sonya was an Arizona resident entitled to tuition-free education at ASDB and rejecting efforts to impose and recoup out-of-state tuition.


Sonya C. by & through Olivas v. Ariz. Sch. for the Deaf & Blind, 743 F. Supp. 700 (D. Ariz. 1990)