An Open Letter to K–12 Leaders: Protecting Students and Districts in a New Legal Era

Key Takeaways

• A.J.T. v. Osseo (2025) lowered the legal bar for Section 504/ADA claims in K–12—districts can face court orders or damages without proof of “bad faith.”
• ‍Perez v. Sturgis (2023) allows families to seek ADA/504 money damages without first exhausting IDEA remedies.
• The biggest risk factor is incomplete documentation of accommodations—proof of accurate and consistent implementation is now essential.
• Districts that don’t have strong systems in place risk court action, OCR investigations, and state testing irregularities.
• TestHound helps districts centralize, automate, and document accommodations, reducing compliance risk while protecting students and staff.

Two recent Supreme Court rulings have reshaped how schools must approach accommodations under Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act and the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). For many district leaders, these changes may not yet be fully on your radar—but their impact on assessment and compliance practices is profound.

What Changed: Two Landmark Cases

In A.J.T. v. Osseo (June 2025), the Supreme Court unanimously rejected the long-standing requirement that K–12 families prove “bad faith” or “gross misjudgment” when bringing 504/ADA claims. Instead, schools are now held to the same ordinary standards applied in other disability discrimination cases. This means:

• Injunctions (court orders) can be issued even without proving intent—forcing districts to alter schedules, room assignments, staffing, or technology on short notice.
• ‍Compensatory damages may be awarded when schools show “deliberate indifference,” often a result of incomplete or inconsistent documentation.
• While punitive and emotional distress damages are barred, attorney’s fees and corrective action costs remain a significant risk.

In Perez v. Sturgis (2023), the Court also ruled that students do not have to exhaust the IDEA process before filing ADA or 504 suits for money damages. This opens the courthouse doors much wider for families, especially when they can point to gaps in testing accommodations.

Together, these rulings raise the stakes for every district: if accommodations are not accurately tracked, implemented, and documented, schools may face both legal liability and state accountability fallout.

“Since Tennessee changed its statewide platform to TN Pulse, many districts are experiencing struggles, like getting appropriate and accurate data flowing for IEPs, 504s, ILPs and accommodations. With TestHound, now we are able to easily see data across the district and identify campus teams that might be struggling with acceptable and appropriate accommodations assigned to students.”

Jami Skevington, District Section 504 Coordinator, Clarksville Montgomery County School System

What This Means for Districts

The reality is clear: accommodations are no longer just a matter of best practice—they are a matter of legal compliance and student equity.

Without strong processes in place, districts risk:

• Court-ordered remedies that disrupt operations.
• ‍OCR investigations leading to policy rewrites, staff retraining, and ongoing federal monitoring.
• ‍State assessment irregularities, including invalidated scores, accountability hits, and disciplinary consequences for staff.

“Because TestHound integrates with our Special Education and English Language Learner programs, we can make sure every student gets the test accommodations they require.”

Britani Stanley, Test Coordinator, Okeechobee County School District

None of you entered education to spend your days managing compliance risk.  

But when processes break down—when student supports are missing, mismatched, or undocumented—it is students who suffer most, and districts that carry the consequences.

How TestHound Supports Educators and Students

At Education Advanced, we believe the best way to support students is to support the educators who serve them. That’s why we built TestHound, a system designed by educators, for educators, to simplify the high-stakes work of testing accommodations.

TestHound helps districts:

• Pull all accommodation data into one place, so nothing slips through the cracks.
• Automatically assign students to the right rooms and sessions based on their needs.
• Create clear, auditable reports that prove accommodations were delivered as written.
• ‍Track test materials with barcode scanning, reducing the risk of irregularities.

With these tools, districts can demonstrate diligence, protect staff, and—most importantly—ensure students receive the accommodations they are entitled to.

“TestHound has changed our culture. It's ensuring we get students exactly what they need.”

Dr. Crystal Aker, Coordinator of Assessment, Accountability, and Research, Springfield City School District

Moving Forward Together

These rulings are a reminder that we must balance compliance with compassion. The good news is, with the right systems in place, districts can protect themselves while doing what they’ve always wanted to do—give every student a fair chance to succeed.

My commitment to you is that Education Advanced will continue to walk alongside you, bringing clarity, care, and solutions that truly work in the real world. Because when educators are supported, students thrive.

If your district is looking for ways to strengthen accommodation processes and reduce compliance risk, our team—made up of former educators who understand these challenges firsthand—is ready to help.

Click here to schedule a conversation with one of our experts.

Key Definitions

Section 504 (Rehabilitation Act of 1973) – A federal law that prohibits disability discrimination in schools and ensures students with disabilities receive accommodations to access education equally.

ADA (Americans with Disabilities Act) – A civil rights law that prohibits discrimination based on disability across public life, including K–12 education.

FAPE (Free Appropriate Public Education) – The right of students with disabilities to an education that meets their unique needs at no cost to families, guaranteed under both IDEA and Section 504.

Deliberate Indifference – A legal standard where a school knew (or should have known) about a student’s need for accommodations but failed to act appropriately. Often tied to documentation or implementation gaps.

OCR (Office for Civil Rights) – A division of the U.S. Department of Education that enforces federal civil rights laws in schools, including Section 504.

If your school is interested in new ways to improve the learning experience for children, you may also be interested in automating tasks and streamlining processes so that your teachers have more time to teach. Education Advanced offers a large suite of tools that may be able to help:

• Evaluation: A staff evaluation solution for documenting every step of the staff evaluation process, including walk-throughs, self-evaluations, supporting evidence, reporting, and performance analytics.
• Pathways: A graduation tracking tool that enables administrators and counselors to create, track, and analyze graduation pathways, ensuring secondary students stay on track to graduate.
• TestHound: Our test accommodation software helps schools coordinate thousands of students across all state and local K-12 assessments while considering various accommodations, such as for reading disabilities, physical disabilities, and translations.