Suing School Districts for Damages Just Got Easier: The Parent-Side Special Education Playbook

This session provides a practical framework for enforcing IDEA rights for students and families before federal litigation. Attendees will learn how to identify the dispute, select the appropriate enforcement channel (state complaint, mediation, or due process), and consider timelines and relief. The session also covers building the administrative record, framing claims, and avoiding common procedural errors, with attention to how early strategy and Perez v. Sturgis may affect later litigation.

This session examines disability discrimination claims against school districts under Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act and Title II of the ADA, including the elements of a claim, the distinction between damages and injunctive relief, and the role of IDEA exhaustion under Perez v. Sturgis. The session will address the limits on damages under Cummings and Barnes and then turn to A.J.T. v. Osseo Area Sch., 605 U.S. 335 (2025), the unanimous Supreme Court decision rejecting the heightened “bad faith or gross misjudgment” standard for school-based ADA and Section 504 claims. Attendees will examine how A.J.T. brings these claims in line with the standards applied in other disability discrimination contexts, including deliberate indifference as the prevailing framework for compensatory damages, and will review post-A.J.T. case law, the evidence needed to establish deliberate indifference, and the significance of the Gebser framework. The session will also consider the Thomas/Kavanaugh concurrence and potential future developments affecting the standard and available remedies.