Legal Issues: Policy Recommendations for Implementing Section 504

 

This final article in the series about Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act provides policy recommendations for implementation.

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Charles J. Russo, JD, EdD
Allan G. Osborne, Jr., EdD

 Published March 2026

Following our columns on eligibility, defenses, and cost under Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 (Section 504), this installment wraps up with policy recommendations as school business officials (SBOs), their school boards, and teams work to meet the needs of qualified students.

Initial Steps 

As an initial matter, SBOs and their teams should: 

  • Keep clearly written, up-to-date policies in place identifying the rights and needs of students covered by Section 504, along with other federal and state statutes and regulations, plus litigation interpreting the law.  

  • Devise policy writing and revising teams, including, but not necessarily limited to, the SBO; the board attorney; the director of special education; a board member; 

administrators, teachers, counselors, and psychologists from the building and district levels; a professional staff member; parents of children with disabilities; and a faculty member from a local college or university knowledgeable about Section 504 and disability law. 

Student Identification and Placement 

When dealing with the identification and placement of students under Section 504, SBOs and their teams should: 

  • Review all notices sent to parents annually to make sure they are up-to-date and comply with federal and state laws, regulations, and litigation in terms of both content and in languages they can understand.  

  • Prepare checklists to help ensure that staff members respond to parental requests in a timely and appropriate manner. 

  • Notify parents regularly of their rights when seeking consent to evaluate their children to determine whether they qualify for services under Section 504. It is good practice to include a notice of rights with all written communications to parents. 

  • Protect parental rights to have input into the evaluation and delivery of services to their children through frequent written communication with them, even if this necessitates home visits. 

  • Listen to, discuss, and give due consideration to all parental concerns and suggestions about the educational needs of their children. 

  • Furnish parents with interpreters for meetings if their primary mode of communication is not English. 

  • Make individualized determinations as to whether students with disabilities are otherwise qualified for the benefits they are seeking under Section 504. 

  • Complete individualized inquiries about whether requested accommodations can be reasonably provided. 

  • Ensure that parents and students receive all of the rights Section 504 protects. 

  • Take steps to make sure that students covered by Section 504 are treated equally in the assessments and delivery of services.

Recognizing the complexity of this area of law, when questions arise about Section 504, SBOs and their teams seek the advice of attorneys specializing in education law and the rights of the disabled.

Other Issues 

Policies should  

  • Mandate regular professional development sessions for SBOs, their teams, professional staff, and school board members to help them better understand how Section 504 protects the educational rights of students. Such ongoing instruction can help SBOs and their teams to develop policies designed to maximize the use of the funds they set aside to best serve students with disabilities and their parents under Section 504. 

  • Offer regular information sessions for parents, qualified students who are old enough to benefit from such presentations, and community members to help keep them aware of the rights of children covered by Section 504. 

  • Direct staff to develop and distribute handout materials for parents, qualified students, and community members explaining how federal and state disability laws, regulations, and litigation operate, including detailed information on Section 504 eligibility criteria. 

  • Require staff to include all relevant material about Section 504 in materials posted on district websites and sent home to parents. 

  • Ensure that compliance officers regularly monitor or audit educational programming to make sure it meets Section 504’s dictates, plus applicable federal and state law, regulations, and litigation. 

  • Be reviewed annually to ensure that they are up-to-date with federal and state guidelines, plus best practices for school safety. 

Conclusion 

Federal statutes such as Section 504 and the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) guaranteeing students with disabilities access to public education have afforded these children unprecedented access to public schools. At the same time, implementing these statutes has not been without controversy as parents have filed thousands of suits, literally, the vast majority under the IDEA rather than Section 504, against their boards since the 1970s, making this one of the most explosive and expensive areas of school law.  

By reviewing the parameters of Section 504 with all school personnel regularly, SBOs, their boards, and their teams should be able to avoid costly mistakes leading to unnecessary litigation that diverts funds away from their primary concern of educating all of the students in their districts.  

Recognizing the complexity of this area of law, when questions arise about Section 504, SBOs and their teams seek the advice of attorneys specializing in education law and the rights of the disabled.

About the Author:

Charles J. Russo, JD, EdD

Charles J. Russo, JD, EdD, a member of the ASBO Education Webinar Taskforce, is Joseph Panzer Chair of Education, co-director of its PhD program in educational leadership, research professor of law in the School of Law at the University of Dayton, Ohio, a visiting professor on the faculty of law at Notre Dame University of Australia, Sydney Campus, and a senior research fellow at O.P. Jindal Global University, Sonipat, India.  

Email: crusso1@udayton.edu  

Allan G. Osborne, Jr., EdD

Allan G. Osborne, Jr., EdD, is the retired Principal of Snug Harbor Community School, Quincy, Massachusetts.

Email allan_osborne@verizon.net

  

   

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