Nevada County SELPA Local Plan Update

What is a SELPA? SELPA is a Special Education Local Plan Area. In 1977, all school districts and county school offices were mandated to form consortiums in geographical regions of sufficient size and scope to provide for all special education service needs of children residing within the region boundaries. A region might be a group of many small districts or a large single district, but each region must be of sufficient size and scope to provide the full continuum of services for children and youth residing within the region boundaries.

What is the function of a SELPA? Each SELPA ensures the provision of special education services to children residing within the region’s boundaries. In addition, each SELPA must develop a local plan describing how it will provide special education services and is responsible for monitoring all required areas of compliance and for submitting budgets and data reports to the California Department of Education (CDE).

What is the Local Plan? The Local Plan for a SELPA outlines policies and procedures describing how it will provide special education services, monitor compliance and allocate resources to support students. The Nevada County SELPA Local Plan was created almost 15 years ago when diverged from the Nevada/Placer SELPA for greater local control in how we serve students with disabilities.

Why does the Nevada County Local Plan need updating? Local Plans require CDE approval before implementation. The update to the Local Plan will allow for greater local control and flexibility in the creation of new policies and procedures that support students with disabilities. Additional information: The current local plan is over 120 pages long. The new Local Plan is less than 30 pages. The rest of those pages are local policies that do not require CDE approval. The Local Plan has been created to meet the state requirements while the locally held policies will be a separate document. On the question of How does this impact our School District/Charter School? By updating the plan, I, as the Superintendent, will have an increased ability to make changes to the local policies as laws change and best practices are updated through collaboration within the Council of Superintendents and will not be required to seek permission through the California Department of Education.

How was the Local Plan updated? Under the Direction of the Council of Superintendents, the SELPA created a Local Plan Committee comprising of Parents, General and Special Education Teachers, as well as school administrators from Districts/Charter schools throughout the area. The Committee completed several months reviewing and updating the draft Local Plan. The final draft of the Local Plan has been reviewed and approved by the: Community Advisory Council Special Education Administrator’s Committee Council of Superintendents Additional information: the CAC was formerly known as the Special Education Parent Advisory Council and it comprises of parents of students with disabilities throughout the SELPA.

What changes were made to the Local Plan? The Local Plan Committee ensured that the draft Local Plan met the State and Federal Assurances required by CDE. The Special Education Parent Advisory Council requested to change their name to the Community Advisory Council to align with other Local Plans. Updates to the Local Plan formatting Additional information: The Local Plan Committee reviewed several other SELPA Local Plans that have been recently approved by CDE, specifically Placer, Sutter, and Yuba City. Any changes that were made to the draft local plan were taken from one of the afore mentioned Local Plans. The last Local plan Committee spent a good portion of the time talking about whether the bulleted items should be ovals or squares- this can used as a sample of the discussion within the Local Plan Committee. Moving forward, The Council of Superintendents, Special Education Administrator Committee, and the Community Advisory Council have expressed interest in updating several local policies. These include, greater inclusion practices, oversight of the Non Public Schools, use of Low Incidence funds, and the Nevada County SELPA funding model. The Council of Superintendents will direct the SELPA on local policy prioritization.

Who approves the updated Local Plan? For approval of the developed or amended Local Plan, the SELPA must: Seek approval of the Local Plan from the SELPA governing body; Obtain signature on form SED-LP-1 from Nevada County Superintendent; Obtain signatures on form SED-LP-2 from the Community Advisory Committee chairperson; Submit the Local Plan to each participating LEA for governing board approval (form SED-LP-5); and Submit the Local Plan to CDE for final approval. Additional information: What happens if an LEA does not approve the updated Local Plan? See additional attachment on email.

What are the CDE requirements for Local Plan submission? Certification of Participation, Compatibility, and Compliance Assurances (SED-LP-1); Community Advisory Committee Assurances (SED-LP-2); and Board Minutes from each LEA approving the new and revised Local Plan (SED-LP-5). Additional information: Upon approval of the Local Plan by your Board, please send along a copy of the Board minutes indicating approval of said plan to Eli Gallup.

SED-LP-5 LEA Assurances (Page 1 of 7 pictured) Additional information: The form picture above is a screen shot of the included attachment. The form has been updated by CDE in 2016. The picture was taken with the old form in 2007. These LEA assurances are also within the Local Plan itself, starting on page 16. These assurances, included within the Local Plan have been reviewed and/or approved by the Local Plan Committee and the Council of Superintendents, Special Education Administrators’ Committee, and the Community Advisory Council.

SED-LP-5 LEA Assurances (Page 7 of 7 pictured) Additional Information: This form has been included in the email attachment. Please update this form with your District/Charter School name in the top line.