Federal judge sides with Aledo ISD in disability rights case
A Parker County family is appealing a ruling by a Fort Worth federal judge allowing school officials in Aledo to require an IQ test before admitting their daughter into special education services.
Courtney and Spencer Morey sued the Aledo Independent School District last year, arguing that the district was violating the Americans with Disabilities Act by denying special education services to their 4-year-old daughter, Annie, who has Down syndrome.
At issue was the question of whether Annie would be required to go through an IQ test before enrolling. School district leaders have insisted that she must go through a full battery of assessments, possibly including an IQ test. But the Moreys contend that Annie is too young for an IQ test to be appropriate. They also worry that district leaders would use the results to put their daughter in a self-contained special education classroom where she wouldn’t have the same opportunities she’d have in a general education classroom.
In the autumn of 2023, the Moreys requested a due process hearing with the Texas Education Agency. Due process hearings take place outside the court system, but the rulings that result from them carry the same weight as a court order. The hearing officer in that case ruled in Aledo ISD’s favor, saying the Moreys hadn’t shown adequate evidence that an IQ test would be inappropriate for Annie.
In a ruling issued June 5, U.S. District Judge Terry Means agreed, writing that the district is required to assess Annie “in all areas of suspected disability” if the Moreys want to enroll her in special education services. Means also wrote that the Moreys didn’t present adequate evidence that Aledo ISD had violated the ADA.
In a statement, Aledo ISD leaders said the ruling “shows that AISD could not both follow federal and state laws that protect students with disabilities and also meet the wish of the parents for the district to only conduct a partial evaluation of their young child prior to enrollment.”
“The district understands that there will sometimes be disagreement, but we will always endeavor to follow the laws that are designed to protect our Bearcats and to work with parents to support the needs of each and every student we are blessed to serve,” district officials said.
Courtney Morey said the ruling was disappointing. In particular, she took issue with Means’ assertion that the state “is simply not obligated to design and implement a perfect education for every child.” The quote was a part of a larger passage Means cited from a 2006 decision in a disability rights case involving the Alvin Independent School District.
“We never asked for a perfect education for Annie,” Courtney Morey said. “We asked for… a free and appropriate public education, which is federal law.”
The family has filed an appeal in the U.S. Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals. A court date hasn’t been set.
