Supreme Court sides with disabled Maple Grove teen, opening door to more school district lawsuits

A Maple Grove family’s yearslong fight to win accommodations for their disabled daughter can move ahead, thanks to a ruling by the U.S. Supreme Court on Thursday.

The unanimous ruling on behalf of Ava Tharpe, who has a rare form of epilepsy that makes her most prone to seizures in the morning, essentially sends the family’s discrimination case back to the lower court.

The Supreme Court ruled that families alleging discrimination do not have to prove public school officials acted in bad faith when failing to make necessary accommodations.

The decision written by Chief Justice John Roberts clears the way for the Tharpes and other families who had been barred from suing schools to now take school districts to court.

Ava’s father, Aaron Tharpe, said in an interview Thursday that he and his wife, Gina, were “ecstatic” with the ruling, but not just for their daughter, who attends Osseo Area Schools.

“That’s been one of the primary motivating factors behind this challenge is to try to help other families who are in similar situations, fighting for accommodations for their kids and school districts refusing to provide those accommodations,” he said.

“It’s a compelling victory for all students and families with kids with disabilities.”

Osseo Area Schools spokeswoman Kay Villella said in a statement that the district is “committed to the principles and the ideals expressed by the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act.”

She added: “In the days and months ahead, Osseo Area Schools will continue to diligently focus on educating all of its students and providing needed services for every scholar’s learning needs.”

The district had argued before the court that lowering the legal standard could expose the country’s understaffed public schools to more lawsuits if their efforts fall short, even if officials are working in good faith.

The ruling could carry “huge” economic repercussions for school districts, said Peter Larsen, an associate professor at Mitchell Hamline School of Law in St. Paul. He said it is great for families but could be incredibly costly for local school districts.

While special education law has long envisioned that the federal government pay about 40% of the cost of special education services, Larsen said, the reality is it pays about 15%.

“The burden now falls to these school districts to provide more services. But it’s a question of where the money comes from,” he said.

“It’s a win for children to get what they should be entitled to, but it could be bad news for schools. We need more robust federal funding.”

In 2015, the Tharpes and their then-10-year-old daughter moved to Minnesota from Kentucky for Aaron’s work. After exploring several suburban school districts, Aaron Tharpe said the family enrolled Ava in Osseo Area Schools after officials there said they would meet her educational needs.

Ava is now 19 and will be a senior this fall at Maple Grove Senior High School. She has a rare form of epilepsy called Lennox-Gastaut syndrome and has seizures throughout the day, although they’re much more frequent in the morning. In Kentucky, school officials agreed to give her a school day from noon to 6 p.m.

Although Osseo school officials originally said they would follow the same later-in-the-day plan, Aaron Tharpe said, they did not. Years of meetings, conferences, complaints, litigation and appeals followed.

Meanwhile, the family said, their daughter fell further behind.

They sued the school district under the Americans with Disabilities Act and Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act seeking to secure her right to a full school day and compensatory damages.

A federal judge sided, in part, with the school district. And in March 2024, the U.S. Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the decision, citing a 1982 court ruling that set a precedent requiring families to prove school officials intentionally discriminated against their children.

The Tharpes appealed to the Supreme Court.

Only courts in the Eighth Circuit — and four other of the nation’s 12 court circuits — required that higher standard. Now, families alleging discrimination by schools won’t have to prove officials’ “bad faith.”

The Tharpes’ attorney, Roman Martinez, praised Thursday’s ruling.

“We are grateful to the Supreme Court for its decision holding that these children should enjoy the same rights and protections as all other Americans with disabilities,” he said in a statement.

“This outcome gets the law exactly right, and it will help protect the reasonable accommodations needed to ensure equal opportunity for all.”

This story contains material from the Associated Press.