Each fall, eighth graders in Philadelphia public schools have a momentous decision to make: where to apply to high school. And each fall, a well-regarded process called LeGare supports students with disabilities who aspire to attend the city’s top schools. These learning needs include special education and English-language learning services.

Due to a consent decree won by Education Law Center three decades ago, students with individualized education programs or Section 504 accommodations plans, along with English learners, have expanded opportunities to win admission to the district’s array of selective high schools.

The case began when frustrated parents contacted ELC in the early 1990s after their children had missed out on serious consideration for admission to selective high schools of their choosing due to systemic inequities in the admissions process.

For our former client Lamar LeGare, a technical high school such as Bok or Dobbins might have been a good fit, but neither his aunt (as his guardian) nor his special-education team was consulted, and his application never even left his middle school.

Computers, math, and communications were favorite subjects for Michael Pearson-Lane, and he and his mother aimed for his admission to Carver, Franklin Learning Center, or Roxborough, which had a communications program that Michael liked. But Michael’s IEP team had dropped the ball, most likely because team members had little familiarity with the multi-step high school selection process.

The 1994 case, Lamar LeGare et al. v. School District of Philadelphia, resulted in a consent decree in 1995 establishing more equitable policies and procedures for students with disabilities seeking admission to Philadelphia’s specialized and magnet schools. Consent decrees are negotiated agreements enforced by the court. As a result of ELC’s advocacy, the agreement was extended to English learners a few years later.

Under the decree, the district is required to ensure that students with disabilities are not excluded from attending selective high schools if they can do so successfully when given reasonable accommodations.

To determine whether the student could succeed with accommodations, a review team from the home school evaluates each case. The team members are the principal, school counselor, and special education teacher, ESOL teacher (for English learners), or school nurse (for students with 504 plans). Rejected students also have the right to an impartial review of that decision.

The enduring legacy of the LeGare consent decree in the district’s current school selection process cannot be overstated, according to ELC senior attorney Margie Wakelin.

For example, after an analysis of the revamped school selection process in 2023, the district extended the Individualized Review (formerly known as the LeGare process) to all students applying for special-admission middle schools to ensure that discrimination does not occur during those pivotal years.

Wakelin noted that the district’s commitment to the core policies underlying the LeGare consent decree remains intact, “ensuring that more students with disabilities and English learners have access to these excellent schools.”

Still, she said, the district should continue its efforts to identify barriers that shut students out of these schools.

According to Wakelin, advocates including ELC have urged the district to conduct a meaningful analysis of current school selection data to address any “lasting barriers that impermissibly deny access to schools solely based on disability, language, or national origin.”