OAH Case No. 2025090092, Parents on behalf of Student v. Coastal Academy Charter School (Decision issued March 26, 2026)

Vanaman German attorneys David German and Sophia Bliziotis secured a decision in favor of a high school student with an intellectual disability on every issue heard. The student had been educated alongside his general education peers since kindergarten. In ninth grade, the charter school proposed removing him from general education biology and placing him in a separate functional academics class for all core subjects.

The Administrative Law Judge found that the school denied the student a free appropriate public education in several ways:

• It failed to offer the least restrictive environment. Applying the Ninth Circuit’s decision in D.R. v. Redondo Beach Unified School District, the ALJ held that academic benefit is measured by progress on IEP goals, not grade-level performance. The student met or made strong progress on his goals and earned high marks on his modified biology coursework. The ALJ found that the school’s difficulty modifying the curriculum reflected staff inexperience, not any limitation of the student, and could not justify removing him.
• It predetermined the placement. The evidence showed the school had decided on the separate placement before the IEP meeting and was unwilling to consider the parents’ input.
• It jeopardized his alternate pathway to a diploma. Under California Education Code section 51225.31, eligible students can earn a regular high school diploma through state standards-aligned coursework. The ALJ held that a single class rotating among four core subjects did not provide the coursework the student needed to meet those requirements.

The ALJ ordered the school to provide its administrators and special education staff with training on its legal obligation to educate students with disabilities alongside their peers and on best practices for including students with extensive support needs.

Why it matters: This decision is one of the first to address what schools must provide students pursuing California’s alternate pathway to a diploma. It also confirms that students with significant cognitive disabilities can benefit from general education classes with a modified curriculum, and that a school’s own lack of experience is not a valid reason to remove them.

Read the full decision