The U.S. Supreme Court recently handed down an important special education ruling that had the potential to substantially change the ability of parents to bring discrimination claims against schools. Please see the outline below.
Case Name: A.J.T. v. Osseo Area Schools, Independent School District No. 279
Date Decided: June 12, 2025
Question: Are parents making claims under Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act (“Section 504”) and the Americans with Disabilities Act (“ADA”) held to a higher standard of proof than applies to other discrimination claims?
Ruling
No. In a unanimous ruling, the Court overturned an 8th Circuit Court of Appeals decision applying the lofty “bad faith or gross misjudgment” standard that has been applied to parent claims in some parts of the country, and found instead that parents do not have to prove an intent by the district to discriminate.
Background
A.J.T., a student with epilepsy, experiences seizures so severe in the morning that she cannot attend school until noon. Her parents repeatedly requested evening instruction from the local district to give her a school day length more comparable to her peers and the district refused.
Impact on Charter Schools
If the Supreme Court had upheld the lower court ruling in A.J.T. v. Osseo, it would have changed the law in most parts of the country, making it harder for parents to challenge school decisions impacting students with disabilities under Section 504 and ADA. But the court unanimously rejected that ruling.
In many states, including NJ, MA, RI and PA, charter schools function as districts under state law, and so this ruling applies directly to them. In states where the district or another entity is primarily responsible for special education, such as NY and CT, the impact of this ruling is indirect. The law stays the same in all of those states, none of which imposed the higher standard of proof.
Read the Opinion: A.J.T. v. Osseo Area Schools, Independent School District No. 279
For more information contact Paul O’Neill, Patricia Hennessy or your Barton Gilman attorney.
