INDIVIDUALS WITH DISABILITIES EDUCATION ACT-EXHAUSTION OF ADMINISTRATIVE REMEDIES

Perez v. Sturgis Pub. Sch., 143 S. Ct. 859 (March 21, 2023) (Gorsuch, J.), distinguished by Li v. Revere Loc. Sch. Dist., 2023 U.S. App. LEXIS 11284, 2023 FED App. 218N (6th Cir.), 2023 FED App. 0218N, 2023 WL 3302062. The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), 84 Stat. 175, as amended, 20 U. S. C. §1400 et seq., seeks to ensure children with disabilities receive a free and appropriate public education. Toward that end, the law sets forth a number of administrative procedures for children, their parents, teachers, and school districts to follow when disputes arise. The question we face in this case concerns the extent to which children with disabilities must exhaust these administrative procedures under IDEA before seeking relief under other federal antidiscrimination statutes, such as the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 (ADA), 104 Stat. 327, 42 U. S. C. §12101 et seq. Whether a suit admittedly premised on the past denial of a free and appropriate education may nonetheless proceed without exhausting IDEA’s administrative processes if the remedy a plaintiff seeks is not one IDEA provides. In both cases, the question is whether a plaintiff must exhaust administrative processes under IDEA that cannot supply what he seeks. And here, as in Fry, we answer in the negative. The judgment of the Court of Appeals is reversed, and the case is remanded for further proceedings consistent with this opinion.