No. 21-3048 ___________________________

J.P., By Next Friend Alisha Ogden

Plaintiff - Appellant

v.

Belton School District No. 124

Defendant - Appellee Missouri State Board of Education, and Department of Elementary and Secondary Education; Office of Special Education

Defendants

------------------------------ Council of Parent Attorneys and Advocates, Inc.; Disability Rights Arkansas, Inc.; Disability Rights Education & Defense Fund; Disability Rights Iowa; Disability Rights South Dakota; Minnesota Disability Law Center; National Disability Rights Network

Amici on Behalf of Appellant(s) ____________

Appeal from United States District Court for the Western District of Missouri - Kansas City ____________

Submitted: April 14, 2022 Filed: July 26, 2022 ____________ Before LOKEN, KELLY, and KOBES, Circuit Judges. ____________ KELLY, Circuit Judge.

The parties to this matter—Alisha Ogden, on behalf of her son J.P., and the Belton School District—disagree about the appropriate school placement for J.P. pursuant to the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), 20 U.S.C. § 1400 et seq. Ogden appeals the decision of the district court 1 granting judgment on the administrative record to the District.2 We affirm.

I.

The IDEA protects the right of children with disabilities to receive a free appropriate public education (FAPE). By statute, an individual education plan (IEP) must be developed for the child with disabilities that sets measurable annual goals for the child’s academic and functional progress and identifies the aids and services needed to attain those goals. See 20 U.S.C. § 1414(d)(1)(A). “To meet its substantive obligation under the IDEA [to provide a FAPE], a school must offer an IEP reasonably calculated to enable a child to make progress appropriate in light of the child’s circumstances.” Endrew F. ex rel. Joseph F. v. Douglas Cnty. Sch. Dist. RE-1, 137 S. Ct. 988, 999 (2017). Where a child is not able to achieve at grade level, “his educational program must be appropriately ambitious in light of his circumstances.” Id. at 1000. A student making “‘merely more than de minimis’ progress from year to year can hardly be said to have been offered an education at all.” Id. at 1001.

1 The Honorable Nanette K. Laughrey, United States District Judge for the Western District of Missouri. 2 The operative complaint also contained a separate claim for retaliation. The district court granted the District’s motion for summary judgment on that count, and Ogden does not appeal that aspect of the district court’s decision.

-2- The IDEA also protects the child’s right to receive a FAPE in the least restrictive environment (LRE). The IDEA requires that,

To the maximum extent appropriate, children with disabilities, including children in public or private institutions or other care facilities, are educated with children who are not disabled, and special classes, separate schooling, or other removal of children with disabilities from the regular educational environment occurs only when the nature or severity of the disability of a child is such that education in regular classes with the use of supplementary aids and services cannot be achieved satisfactorily. 20 U.S.C. § 1