Supreme Court Case “A.J.T. v. Osseo Area Schools” Ends in Major Win for Disability Community

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men and a woman protesting in front of the supreme court of the united states

by Erin Vallely

Historically, it is difficult for disabled individuals to prove they have been discriminated against and receive financial compensation as part of a lawsuit.  This is especially true for students with disabilities in the school system.  However, on June 12th, 2025, the United States Supreme Court made it easier for families to sue school districts who deny reasonable accommodations for students.  The case focused on Ava, a teenager with seizures, who faced discrimination at school after moving to Minnesota. 

United States Judicial System and Supreme Court 

The United States judicial branch of government is made up of the different levels of courts.  Courts have judges who are responsible for ensuring laws are applied fairly to everyone.  They also help solve arguments about laws when two people have different opinions about what the law means.  When someone files a lawsuit against someone else, they are arguing that the other person broke the law.  In the United States there are state courts, federal courts, and the Supreme Court.  State courts handle cases involving state laws and the state constitution.  Federal courts handle cases involving federal laws, treaties, and the Constitution.  The Supreme Court, the highest court in the country, has the final say on matters of federal law and the Constitution. 

The Supreme Court is made up of 9 judges who work together to decide the most complex cases related to the law.  They are appointed by the President of the United States, and approved by the United States Senate.  Once someone is chosen to be a judge on the Supreme Court, they stay in the job until they pass away, resign, or are removed for violating their oath.  Final Supreme Court decisions are decided based on a majority vote.  When 5 or more of the 9 judges agree with each other about how a case should be handled, that is the final decision.  After a decision has been made, the judges that were part of the majority write a statement, called a majority opinion, about why they made the decision they made.  The judges who disagreed also write a statement, called a minority opinion, to explain why they disagree with the majority. 

Case Background 

The Supreme Court case called A.J.T. v. Osseo Area Schools focused on Ava, a teenager with seizures, who faced discrimination at school after moving to Minnesota.  Ava’s seizures were most frequent in the morning which made attending school during that time of day unsafe.  As a reasonable accommodation, her parents argued that she should attend school in the afternoons and then work with a tutor at home in the late afternoon and evening to cover the topics she misses in the mornings.  Osseo Area School District did not provide this accommodation, and her parents argued this refusal was disability discrimination under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, the Americans with Disabilities Act and the Rehabilitation Act.   

After filing an Individuals with Disabilities Education Act complaint with the Minnesota Department of Education, a judge agreed that the Osseo Area Schools had denied Ava a Free Appropriate Public Education, which violates the law.  The judge said the school district had to adjust Ava’s Individualized Education Program (IEP) to include evening tutoring and required them to make up 495 hours of missed instruction hours from the previous two school years.  The school district then argued the judges decision was unfair and Ava’s family sued the school district by arguing they were violating the Americans with Disabilities Act and the Rehabilitation Act.  They wanted to permanently secure Ava’s rights to a full school day and receive monetary compensation for the entire duration of her mistreatment.   

While the Minnesota courts upheld the original judge’s decision that required the school district to provide evening tutoring, and agreed Ava and her family presented evidence that showed her school district had been “negligent or even deliberately indifferent”, they said the evidence did not meet the courts “bad-faith or gross misjudgment” standard.  The standard means someone has to show a school district purposefully denied a student their right to equal access to education.  The school district argued that Ava’s family did not provide enough evidence to prove the school had acted in “bad-faith or gross misjudgment”.  The standard was set in a previous court case called Monahan v. Nebraska in 1982.  This previously established standard, called a precedent, historically made it very difficult for families to win school-based disability discrimination cases. 

Ava’s lawyers disagreed with the Minnesota judges and asked the Supreme Court to listen to their argument.  The lawyers argued that the “bad-faith or gross misjudgment” standard was unfair because that standard is only applied to school-aged individuals, and not other disability discrimination cases.  The Americans with Disabilities Act and Rehabilitation Act both recognize that failing to provide “reasonable accommodations” to people with disabilities that would enable them to “participate equally” in a given service or program is disability discrimination.  No disability discrimination laws say that people must prove “bad-faith or gross misjudgment” in order to show discrimination has occurred.  Ava’s lawyers also showed evidence that the standard was historically only applied to cases against schools, and not other areas where disability discrimination occurs.   

Supreme Court Ruling and Opinion 

The judges focused on the question of whether or not the lower courts should apply different proof standards of disability discrimination to different types of cases.  After hearing Ava’s lawyers’ arguments and the school district lawyers’ arguments, all 9 Supreme Court judges agreed that Ava did not have to prove the school acted in “bad-faith or gross misjudgment” in order to successfully sue the school district.  All the judges agreed it was not fair to have different standards of proof for different types of disability discrimination cases.   

They agreed that the Americans with Disabilities Act and the Rehabilitation Act allows anyone experiencing disability discrimination to request monetary compensation as payment, including Ava for the discrimination she faced for years.  The judges said that there was no text in the Americans with Disabilities Act or the Rehabilitation Act that said school-based disability discrimination claims should be subject to a different, more demanding analysis, than other types of cases.  All 9 judges said both laws give everyone the same protections no matter who they are or where they experienced discrimination.  This means it will be much easier for all students and families to win lawsuits against school districts that would have otherwise been denied.  This decision makes it easier to protect students’ rights. 

Get Involved! 

Although education law is complex, it is important to educate yourself on your child’s rights, how court decisions might impact your situation, and the legal protections you have.  Here’s some resources that can help you get started. 

If you have questions about the information above, or need help advocating for your child in school, please contact ATI at 607-753-7363 or by email at info@aticortland.org. 

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