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.”

The Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic Association’s deference to the Trump administration’s discriminatory executive order targeting transgender and gender-expansive student-athletes is unlawful. The executive order does not carry the force of law or supersede state or federal law.

Contacts: Tara Murtha, [email protected], Paul Socolar, [email protected]

PENNSYLVANIA // March 6, 2025: Today, Women’s Law Project and Education Law Center sent an open letter toDr. Robert A. Lombardi, executive director of the Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic Association, Inc. (PIAA), and the PIAA board of directors, stating that the association’s revised policies and statements regarding transgender student athletes’ participation in middle and high school athletics violate both state and federal law.

The ACLU of Pennsylvania, Fairness Pennsylvania, GLSEN, Planned Parenthood Association of Pennsylvania, and Public Education Advocates of Lancaster County also signed the letter, which you can read here.

On February 19, 2025, the PIAA board of directors voted to remove the “Transgender Policy” from its policy and procedures manual and to amend the “Mixed Gender Participation” provisions of its by-laws that address when a student’s sex is questioned, adding a requirement that member schools “consult with their school solicitors relative to compliance” with Presidential Executive Order 14201.

Following the board’s actions, PIAA assistant executive director Lyndsay Barna released a statement that the board’s “position is the Executive Order is binding to all PIAA Member Schools that accept federal funding.”

“The PIAA’s recent policy changes are both unnecessary and unlawful,” says Staff Attorney Elizabeth Lester-Abdalla, who authored the letter. “These actions evoke confusion and fear. I want to assure transgender and gender-expansive students, their families, and the people who love them that they are still legally protected under state and federal law. Transgender Pennsylvanians have legal rights that fearmongering rhetoric alone cannot take away, and we will work to defend them.”

Courts have overwhelmingly found that Title IX and the Fourteenth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution provide clear protections from discrimination based on gender identity across all areas of education, including sports. Further, the Pennsylvania Human Relations Act makes it clear that transgender individuals have the right not to be discriminated against based on their gender identity. PIAA and public school districts are also bound by the Pennsylvania Constitution, which prohibits discrimination because of sex.

“As our letter makes clear, the president’s executive order does not have the force of law or supersede state or federal law,” says Education Law Center Senior Attorney Kristina Moon. “PIAA should be aligning its policies with the law and protecting trans students against discrimination – not scapegoating students who just want to be able to attend school, be themselves, and participate fully in school activities like everybody else.”

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Founded in 1974, Women’s Law Project is a public interest legal organization focused on advancing and defending reproductive freedom, LGBTQ+ equality, and gender justice.

The Education Law Center’s mission is to ensure access to a quality public education for all children in Pennsylvania.