Does the Section 504 lawsuit put my child’s 504 plan at risk?

A lawsuit filed by a group of 17 states, Texas v. Kennedy (formerly Texas v. Becerra), calls for the end of the civil rights law that covers 504 plans. That law is Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973. 

Section 504 protects students with disabilities from discrimination. It also requires schools to give them equal access to learning and school buildings.

The law they’re talking about is Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973. Section 504 protects students with disabilities from discrimination. It also requires schools to give them equal access to learning and school buildings.

The suit asks the court to declare Section 504 unconstitutional. Right now, there’s no way to know what the outcome of the case will be, or how it might affect supports for individual students. 

504 plans give students with disabilities the accommodations, tools, and services they need to be able to access the same education as their peers. The lawsuit has led many parents to wonder what might happen to their child’s education if the law goes away.

This lawsuit is not part of what’s happening with the U.S. Department of Education. They’re separate situations involving different laws and types of programs. But both could directly affect how the federal government supports and protects students with disabilities.

Here are some answers to help you keep up with the news.

On April 21, the judge in the 504 lawsuit responded to the states’ second status report, agreeing to extend the pause in the case. The states are required to file their next status report by July 21.

On April 11, the 17 states that brought the 504 lawsuit Texas v. Becerra filed a status report with the court. In it, they said they have “no intention” of asking the court to declare the civil rights law that covers 504 plans unconstitutional, despite what it still says in the suit. The report states:

Plaintiffs further clarify that they have no intention to seek any relief from this Court on Count 3 (Section 504 is Unconstitutional) of their Complaint, including that in their Demand for Relief at d–e, ECF No. 1. And nothing in Plaintiffs’ Complaint seeks to restrain the disbursement of federal funds from the Department on the basis that Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act is unconstitutional, or to otherwise prevent the Federal Government from allocating spending or applying the provisions of the Rehabilitation Act to any recipients of such funds.

A 504 plan is an individual program of school supports for students with disabilities. Each plan is tailored to meet a student’s specific needs. It includes all of the accommodations, assistive technology and tools, and services the school must provide to that student. The purpose is to remove barriers to learning and provide access to the school environment as a whole.

While 504s are formal programs, there’s no standard template for them. Some schools don’t actually put them into writing.

504 plans are different from IEP plans. They’re not part of special education. They provide supports, not specialized instruction. But both of these programs are designed to give students a free appropriate public education (FAPE) so they can learn alongside their peers. 

Section 504 is part of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, the country’s first civil rights law for people with disabilities. It protects people with disabilities from discrimination in places that get federal funding. This includes in schools.

President Nixon signed the Act into law in 1973. But it wasn’t implemented for four years. The law lacked regulations and enforcement timelines until 1977, when people with disabilities famously protested, including a sit-in that lasted nearly a month.

In September, Texas filed a lawsuit against the government after the Biden administration added gender dysphoria as a protected disability under Section 504. Sixteen other states joined the suit.

Much of the lawsuit focuses on that issue. But the lawsuit doesn’t ask to have the addition of gender dysphoria removed. It asks the court to declare Section 504 unconstitutional and to block the government from enforcing it.

These are the other states that filed the suit along with Texas:

• Alaska

• Alabama

• Arkansas

• Florida

• Georgia

• Indiana

• Iowa

• Kansas

• Louisiana

• Missouri

• Montana

• Nebraska

• South Carolina

• South Dakota

• Utah

• West Virginia

Nobody knows how individual programs might be affected. As the lawsuit reads, the states want the court to declare Section 504 unconstitutional. If that happens, the law behind 504 plans would be gone. So would the protections that come from it.

That doesn’t mean your child’s supports will disappear, though. (Or that your child won’t have any protections.) Schools develop individual programs for support, and how they do it already varies.

This story is developing. We’ll update it as new details emerge.