Parentally-Placed Private School Students and the IDEA: What do we need to do? Wendy Armstrong Principal Consultant, ESSU Colorado Department of Education October 20, 2011

Legal Authority Individuals with Disabilities Education Act: 20 U.S.C. § 1412(a)(3) and (10)(A) Federal regulations: 34 C.F.R. §§ through Colorado Exceptional Children’s Educational Act (ECEA): Rules 4.02(1)(a), 4.02(1)(a)(ii) and 5.01(7)

The General Rule: Parental placement of child with disabilities in private schools DOES NOT relieve administrative units (AUs) of their obligation to identify, locate and evaluate those student and to spend a “ proportional share ” of IDEA Part B funds to provide services to those children.

CHILD FIND AUs must identify, locate and evaluate ALL students with disabilities or suspected disabilities within their jurisdiction. Applies to students attending private schools and children whose parents choose home schooling (among others)

Q: Which private school students must an AU identify? A: ALL private school students located within the AU It’s about geography: AUs must locate, identify and evaluate students enrolled in private schools in the AU, including students who reside in another state but attend school within the AU. Responsibility is on AU of attendance (AU-A) In other words – the location of the private school determines which AU is responsible for child find.

Q: Which private school students must an AU identify? A: Students attending private elementary or secondary schools Includes religious schools Grades 1-6 – excludes preschool and kindergarten Private school = one that would satisfy compulsory attendance laws: 172 days per year and the school must provides “basic academic education,” which is a “sequential program of instruction” including reading, writing, math, history, civics, literature and science.

What does child find look like? 1.General efforts designed to reach parents and children in the community 2.Specific consultation with private school representatives and parents of parentally placed private school students who may be disabled

Child find for children in private schools: Each AU must have specific child find strategies in place for children in private schools It’s a year-round process

Child find for children in private schools: Includes: –Planning and developing in public awareness, community referral systems, community and building-based screening, diagnostic evaluations, service coordination and staff development –Interagency collaboration –Screening procedures for identifying the total population of children aged 3 to 21 who may need more in-depth evaluation to determine eligibility

Public notice requirement: Colorado law requires that “notice be published or announced in newspapers or other media with adequate circulation to notify parents throughout the administrative unit"

“Timely and meaningful consultation” AUs must engage in “timely and meaningful consultation” with representatives of parents and private schools as part of a “thorough and complete child find process.” -Discussions on key issues that affect the ability of eligible private school children to participate in federally funded special education services -Must occur on a regular basis (at least annually)

Consultation MUST include discussion of: The child find process, including how private school students can participate equitably How parents, teachers and private school officials will be informed of the child find process The determination of the proportionate share and how it was calculated How the consultation process will operate through the year How special education services will be provided, including types of services and service delivery mechanisms How services will be apportioned if funds are insufficient, and how and when such decisions will be made If the AU disagrees with private school officials regarding services to be provided, how the AU will provide written explanation of its decision Legal authority: 34 C.F.R

Make sure the process contains the necessary participants: Maintain a current list or database of nonprofit private schools in the area, including representatives and parents of parentally-placed students Sending private schools periodic notices Invite private school and parent representatives to open houses, informational meetings or other community activities to inform the public about special education services in the AU

Written affirmation After consulting with participating private schools, the AU must obtain a written affirmation signed by the private school representatives. If the private school reps do not provide the affirmation within a reasonable period of time, the AU must forward the documentation of the consultation process to CDE Legal authority: 34 C.F.R. §

THE EVALUATION PROCESS If the AU obtains information that a parentally-placed student may have a disability, it must provide the parents with PWN, procedural safeguards,and request consent to evaluate

Evaluation Timelines -60 days to conduct initial evaluation from date the AU receives written consent to evaluate -If the parents refuse consent or fail to respond, the AU may, but is not required to, pursue evaluation through mediation or due process (no violation of child find if it declines to pursue evaluation) -No obligation to evaluate if child enrolls in another AU or state-operated program after 60 day timelines starts to run

Reevaluation The AU of attendance (AU-A) is also responsible for any reevaluations that might be due of a parentally-placed private school student who is already identified as an eligible student with a disability

Students attending schools outside their AU of residence AU-A conducts child find, and invites the AU of residence (AU-R) to participate in the evaluation process AU-A conducts initial eligibility meetings and invites AU-R to participate BUT: Federal regulations require parental consent for release of information between AUs about parentally-placed students

CDE’s recommendation: AU-A should: Contemporaneously notify the parents of the requirement to invite the AU-R to participate and that participation will likely necessitate sharing of information with AU-R Request parental consent to share information with AU-R

Special considerations for evaluating students suspected of having SLD: Colorado’s SLD identification requirements include determining that student is not responding to scientific, research-based intervention. Sooooo……. How do you evaluate for SLD if private schools don’t or won’t (and cannot be compelled to) use a response-to- intervention (RtI) process?

CDE recommends: When systemic data are not available for a child suspected of having an SLD, the AU should still try to determine what instruction or intervention has been provided and what evidence of the child’s learning is available. -Information from parents and teachers about curricula used and child’s progress with various teaching strategies -Classroom-based assessments or observations -Any other information to determine whether low achievement is due to disability or the lack of appropriate instruction

Another alternative: Offer to provide limited interventions (e.g., at a neighboring school) during the evaluation period and track the child’s progress as part of the evaluation process

If the child is identified as an eligible student with a disability, what does the AU do? EITHER: Offer to serve the child in public school, OR Count the child as a parentally-placed private school student and provide the child with equitable services

REMEMBER Child find (location, evaluation, identification) applies to ALL parentally-placed private school students, but only students attending NON-PROFIT private schools are eligible to receive equitable services.

How do you know if a private school is non-profit or for-profit?? ASK! –“Are you a non-profit school?” –“Are you incorporated? In which state?” Look up the school on the relevant secretary of state website (Colorado’s is: nctions.do) nctions.do

What equitable services must the AU provide? Decision left to the AU, after timely and meaningful consultation No particular kinds of services required Parentally-placed private school students have no individual entitlement to receive some or all of the special education and related services they would receive if enrolled in public school

What equitable services must the AU provide? Must be provided by AU, its employees or through contract Personnel must meet same standards for personnel providing services in public school, except no “highly qualified special education teacher requirement” for private school teachers May be on-site at private school or other location Need not be direct services to child – indirect services such as consultative services, equipment, materials or training for private school personnel is OK Secular, neutral and non-ideological

What equitable services must the AU provide? Each parentally-placed private school student with a disability who has been designated by the AU-A to receive special education services must have a services plan describing the specific special education and related services the AU will provide to the child. Private school representative must participate in development of services plan. The services plan should be reviewed and updated periodically (at least annually)

Equitable Services – calculating the proportionate share Each AU must spend a proportionate share of IDEA Part B funds on services for parentally-placed private school students. The formula: Divide Part B funds by total number of eligible children with disabilities, then multiply per- pupil figure by number of private school students with disabilities in AU

EXAMPLE: Number of eligible children with disabilities in AU: In public school:100 In private school: Federal Part B Flow-Through $$ received by AU: $52,500 $52,000 ÷ 105 = $500 x 5 (private school students) $2,500 for proportional share

Important!! The obligation to conduct child find is independent of the obligation to provide equitable services. The costs of child find activities (including evaluations) may not be considered in determining whether the AU has spend an appropriate amount on providing services to parentally-placed private school students.

Following the Money… If an AU has private schools in its boundaries, it must include a Project F as part of its Part B application Project F reports and tracks expenditures related to providing equitable services to parentally-placed private school students

What must be tracked and reported: ALL expenses related to providing equitable services to parentally-placed private school students: –Equipment and curriculum materials for providing special education equitable services (above and beyond general education expenditures) –Time and effort/salaries for personnel providing equitable services

What if the AU has proportionate share funds left over at the end of the year? If an AU does not expend all of the proportionate share of its Part B subgrant by the end of the fiscal year, it must carry over those funds and obligate them for special education and related services for eligible parentally-placed private school students for one additional year. If there are still funds remaining at the end of the carry-over period, and the AU is in compliance with its child find and consultation obligations relating to parentally-placed private school students, then the unexpended funds may be used to pay for other allowable Part B expenses.

Additional resources: OSEP’s Q & A on Serving Children with Disabilities Placed by their Parents in Private Schools, c,QaCorner,1, c,QaCorner,1, Office of Non-Public Education, Provisions Related to Children with Disabilities Enrolled by their Parents in Private Schools, teschools/index.html teschools/index.html

Colorado Department of Education