On June 12, the United States Supreme Court issued a decision regarding the standard for educational claims brought under Title II of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act (Section 504).
In A.J.T. v. Osseo Area Schools, A.J.T. suffers from a rare form of epilepsy that severely limits her physical and cognitive functioning, such that she cannot attend school before noon. Her previous school district accommodated A.J.T.’s condition by permitting her to avoid morning activities and to receive instruction in the evening at home. When A.J.T. transferred to a new school district, the district denied her parents’ requests to include evening instruction in her individualized education program (IEP).
A.J.T.’s parents first sued the district under the Individuals with Disabilities in Education Act, and the administrative law judge ordered the district to provide several hundred hours of compensatory education and to amend the IEP to include home instruction in the evening each school day, which the District Court affirmed.
Based on the same facts, the parents filed a separate lawsuit in District Court, where they sought, among other things, monetary damages for the district’s alleged violations of the ADA and Section 504, which are federal statutes that prohibit discrimination on the basis of a person’s disability.
The District Court dismissed the parents’ claims, and the Eighth Circuit affirmed. In affirming, the Eighth Circuit stated that a school district’s failure to provide a reasonable accommodation was not enough to show a case of discrimination and, instead, a plaintiff must prove conduct by school officials rising to the level of bad faith or gross misjudgment (which the parents did not do here).
The United States Supreme Court agreed to review this issue and, in a unanimous decision, held that children bringing ADA and Section 504 claims related to their education are not required to make a heightened showing of “bad faith or gross misjudgment,” but instead are subject to the same standards that apply in other disability discrimination contexts. Although the Third Circuit, which includes New Jersey, does not apply the heightened standard of proof at issue in A.J.T. v. Osseo Area Schools, other circuits throughout the country will need to comply with this new standard.
For additional information about this matter, please contact the NJSBA Legal Department at (609) 278-5279, or your board attorney for specific legal advice.
