Brave and Free Santa Cruz v. Aragon

District Court, E.D. California·Decided August 12, 2025·No. 2:24-cv-02312·Unknown

Opinion

BRAVE AND FREE SANTA CRUZ, et No. 2:24-cv-02312-DAD-JDP al., Plaintiffs, ORDER GRANTING DEFENDANTS’ v. MOTIONS TO DISMISS WITH LEAVE TO TOMAS J. ARAGON, in his official capacity as Director of the California (Doc. Nos. 19, 27, 28, 29) Department of Public Health, et al., Defendants.

This matter is before the court on defendants’ motions to dismiss plaintiffs’ first amended complaint (“FAC”). (Doc. Nos. 19, 27, 28, 29.) The pending motions were taken under submission to be decided on the papers pursuant to Local Rule 230(g). (Doc. Nos. 24, 44, 47.) For the reasons explained below, the court will grant defendants’ motions to dismiss. A. Legal Background The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (“IDEA”) provides federal funding to states and requires that children with disabilities are provided, inter alia, a free appropriate public education, individualized education programs (“IEP”), and the least restrictive environment ///// such that children with disabilities are educated with children who are not disabled where possible. 20 U.S.C. § 1412(a). In 1983 the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California issued a permanent injunction requiring that the California Department of Education (“CDE”)’s State Superintendent of Public Instruction and all successors take certain steps to ensure compliance with the IDEA. Doe v. Maher, 793 F.2d 1470, 1501–02 (9th Cir. 1986), aff’d as modified sub. nom. Honig v. Doe, 484 U.S. 305 (1988). The 1983 permanent injunction issued in Doe was designed to address expulsions and other disciplinary actions taken against students with disabilities where the disciplinary action was based on behavior or misconduct which was a manifestation of or arose out of the student’s disability. Id. at 1501. That permanent injunction did not address vaccination requirements. Id. at 1501–02. In 2015, California eliminated the religious and personal belief exemptions to the mandatory immunizations required for California school children. Cal. Health & Safety Code § 120335(b). The Act eliminating the religious and personal belief exemptions to immunization requirements also included a subsection relating to IEP students. Id. at § 120335(h) (“This section does not prohibit a pupil who qualifies for an individualized education program, pursuant to federal law and § 56026 of the Education Code, from accessing any special education and related services required by his or her individualized education program.”). B. Procedural and Factual Background On August 26, 2024, plaintiffs Brave and Free Santa Cruz, Free Now Foundation, D.C., and B.P. filed this action against the following defendants: Tomas J. Aragon, in his official capacity as Director of the California Department of Public Health (“defendant CDPH”); Tony Thurmond, in his official capacity as California State Superintendent of Public Instruction for the CDE; Gavin Newsom, in his official capacity as Governor of the State of California; Gilroy Unified School District; and Anisha Munshi, Superintendent of Gilroy Unified School District. (Doc. No. 1.) On October 31, 2024, plaintiffs filed their FAC, alleging as follows. (Doc. No. 14.) ///// The membership of both plaintiff Brave and Free Santa Cruz and plaintiff Free Now Foundation includes “significant numbers of parents and grandparents of unvaccinated children with IEP[s] who attend California schools under the benefits of the IDEA and who wish their children and grandchildren to have the right to attend those schools, preschools, and daycare centers without regard to their immunization status.” (Id. at ¶¶ 36, 46.) Further, “those parents and grandparents of un-immunized children with IEPs are at risk of bearing the personal and financial costs of: (a) caring for any of those children who become injured as a result of any immunizations mandated for those children under California law, and/or (b) bearing the personal and financial burdens of home schooling the children excluded from public and private schools under Health and Safety Code 120335.” (Id. at ¶¶ 37, 47.) “[M]any” school districts have been advised by defendant CDPH to exclude unvaccinated students with disabilities from mainstream classes. (Id. at ¶ 111.) Based on the foregoing allegations, plaintiffs bring the following three claims in their FAC: (1) failure to comply with the 1983 and 19901 permanent injunctions issued by the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California in Gonzales ex rel. Doe v. Maher, No. 80-cv- 04270, asserted against defendant Tony Thurmond, in his official capacity as California State Superintendent of Public Instruction for the CDE; (2) failure to assure compliance of all schools receiving funds under the IDEA with the requirements of Part B of the IDEA, asserted against defendants Gavin Newsom, in his official capacity as Governor of the State of California, and Tony Thurmond, in his official capacity as California State Superintendent of Public Instruction for the CDE; and (3) threatened denial of a free appropriate public education without prior written ///// ///// /////

1 At the January 21, 2025 hearing on plaintiffs’ motion for preliminary injunction, plaintiffs explained that the docket in Gonzales ex rel. Doe v. Maher, No. 80-cv-04270 (N.D. Cal.) lists permanent injunctions issued by the district court in that case in 1983 and 1990, but the records of any 1990 permanent injunction have since been destroyed. Because the 1983 permanent injunction was appealed and affirmed in part, however, the contents of the 1983 permanent injunction are still available. See Doe, 793 F.2d at 1501–02. notice, asserted against defendants Gilroy Unified School District and CDPH. (Id. at ¶¶ 226– 59.)2 On December 3, 2024, plaintiffs filed a motion for preliminary injunction, which came before the court for hearing on January 21, 2025. (Doc. Nos. 25, 45.) The court denied plaintiffs’ motion on January 27, 2025. (Doc. No. 46.) On November 12, 2024, defendant Thurmond filed his pending motions to dismiss plaintiffs’ FAC. (Doc. No. 19.) On November 26, 2024, plaintiffs filed an opposition to that motion to dismiss with an accompanying request for judicial notice, and on December 4, 2024, defendant Thurmond filed a reply thereto. (Doc. Nos. 23, 26.) On January 3, 2025, defendant Thurmond filed a second request for judicial notice in connection with his motion to dismiss. (Doc. No. 40.) On December 12, 2024, defendants Aragon and Newsom each filed separate motions to dismiss plaintiffs’ FAC. (Doc. Nos. 27, 28.) Plaintiffs opposed both motions, (Doc. Nos. 33, 35), and on January 8, 2025, defendants Aragon and Newsom each filed reply briefs in support of their pending motions, (Doc. Nos. 42, 43). On December 13, 2024, defendants Gilroy Unified School District and Anisha Munshi filed their pending motion to dismiss plaintiffs’ FAC, and on December 17, 2024, plaintiffs filed a statement of non-opposition to that motion.3 (Doc. Nos. 29, 31.) ///// 2 In the action pending before this court, plaintiffs do not challenge the statute requiring immunizations.

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