⚖ Oral Arguments, with Context

The Fifth Circuit hears a dispute over access to a New Orleans public charter school. O E, a child with profound intellectual and physical disabilities, applied to the Willow School. His parents asked it to waive the reading and math assessment, saying his disability made the required score unattainable. Willow offered testing accommodations, including extra time and a quiet room, but would not waive the assessment. He took it, did not reach the eligibility threshold, and was not eligible for admission. His family sued under the Americans with Disabilities Act and the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, the federal special-education law. The district court dismissed the federal claims at the pleading stage and denied a preliminary injunction against the testing rule. O E now appeals. The dispute is about this particular school's duties, not whether children with disabilities have a right to public education. The parties agree he is receiving special-education services at another public school, but disagree about whether that answers his claim against Willow. O E will argue that equal access requires a waiver when other testing accommodations cannot overcome the disability. He will also argue that Willow's status as its own local educational agency creates obligations before enrollment. Willow will answer that academic readiness is an essential part of its selective program, and that federal law does not require it to eliminate that requirement. It will argue that its special-education obligations attach when a student is placed there, with the parish school board responsible otherwise. Listen for two separate questions: whether a school must change an admissions rule under disability-discrimination law, and which agency owes the child special-education services. Those questions overlap, but they are not interchangeable, and the judges' hypotheticals are not rulings.

O. E. v. Advocates for Arts-Based Education (No. 26-30174) — U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, argued November 4, 2026.