The School District of Philadelphia has eliminated a policy that required students with disabilities or English Learners to give up their right to apply to a magnet school where they met all criteria if they also requested an individualized review for a school where they did not. The change, effective for the 2027-28 application cycle, settles a threat of litigation under the Americans with Disabilities Act and alters a procedure that had been in place for more than three decades.
The old policy was rooted in the LeGare v. School District of Philadelphia class action suit filed by the Education Law Center in 1994, which resulted in a consent decree in 1995. The decree set rules for including students with disabilities in specialized and magnet high school programs, including a modified application review and case-by-case testing waivers. A School Reform Commission resolution later extended the process to English Language Learners. The resulting process, known as the LeGare process, allowed students with Individualized Education Programs, 504 plans, or who were English Learners to request an individualized review for a magnet school where they met two of three admission criteria. But if the review panel found the child eligible, the child was required to waive their right to enter lotteries for any school where they met all three criteria, according to the Philadelphia Inquirer.
New policy removes the waiver
Under the new policy, students with disabilities or English Learners can apply to magnet schools for which they meet criteria and also apply to schools for which they meet only two of three criteria. They are no longer penalized for requesting an individualized review and do not need to waive their applications to schools where they meet all criteria, the Inquirer reported. The School District of Philadelphia's school selection website states that for 2027-28, students who meet the criteria will receive an individualized review regardless of whether they meet eligibility for any criteria-based school to which they applied. The district describes the process as an expansion of what was previously called the Impartial Review or LeGare Review, and notes it is an appeal process that does not guarantee eligibility.
The policy change was prompted by a Philadelphia family whose child with disabilities was not admitted to a school for which the child met academic criteria. The family notified the district of intent to sue under the Americans with Disabilities Act, represented by the Public Interest Law Center. The district entered settlement negotiations and agreed to change the policy, the Inquirer reported.
Settlement terms preserve district flexibility
The settlement agreement does not prevent the district from modifying its school selection process or eligibility criteria, according to the Inquirer. It requires that, to the extent the district continues to allow students to apply to more than one school, it must provide a mechanism for eligible students to both apply to a school where they meet the criteria and seek a review for a school where they do not.
Historical representation disparities
Data from the 2017-18 school year, cited by the Education Law Center in testimony to the school board, showed that students with disabilities and English Learners were severely underrepresented in the district's selective schools. At Masterman, 0.2 percent of students were English Learners and 0.9 percent had special education needs. At Central High, 0.04 percent were English Learners and 0.6 percent had special education needs. At the time, 11 percent of district students were English Learners and 14 percent were students with disabilities.
Evidence on the LeGare process
A third-party evaluation of the district's school selection changes commissioned by the district found that the offer rate for applicants through the LeGare or Individualized Review increased from 26.3 percent in the 2022-23 school year to 30.7 percent in 2023-24, after the district expanded the LeGare Review to an Individualized Review for criteria-based middle and high school programs. The evaluation was conducted for two consecutive years during the rollout of incremental changes to the selection process, according to the district's November 2024 report.
After Philadelphia shifted to a centralized lottery system in 2021, the percentage of students with IEPs at Central High School rose from 0.5 percent before the lottery to 1.3 percent for the 2022-23 school year, according to Chalkbeat, citing Education Law Center senior attorney Margie Wakelin. The Education Law Center, however, expressed skepticism that the LeGare process was working for students with disabilities and English Learners, and urged the district to conduct a meaningful analysis of school selection data to address lasting barriers.
The new policy takes effect for the application window that opens September 8, 2026 and ends October 30, 2026. The district also reduced the grade requirements for criteria-based schools to consider only English Language Arts, Math, and Science, dropping Social Studies from the calculation.