SPLC

E.J. and her mother are plaintiffs in a 2024 Southern Poverty Law Center lawsuit, Jamison et al. v. Greenville Public School District, and the other children are at the center of an ongoing SPLC investigation into the state’s longstanding practice of denying students with disabilities — disproportionately children of color — of a free and appropriate public education (FAPE), which is mandated under the federal Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA). “While school systems in other states are fraught with the same inadequate screenings and evaluations and provision of services that begin for children as toddlers, Mississippi is unique in that it has the least resources for children with special needs, blatantly discriminates against them, and outright refuses to comply with federal special education mandates,” said Julian Miller, senior supervising attorney for the SPLC’s Democracy: Education and Youth litigation team. Miller is also the lead counsel for the lawsuit.

The lawsuit was filed in U.S. District Court in the Northern District of Mississippi, Greenville Division, against the Greenville Public School District in October 2024 and is pending. It alleges that the district wrongfully denied SPED services to E.J. for dyslexia, the nation’s most common learning disability. In what may become a related lawsuit, the SPLC is investigating the Mississippi Department of Education (MDE) Office of Special Education for failing to investigate and resolve state complaints alleging violations of the IDEA