Parents, Private Schools and Procedural Safeguards Advocacy for Parentally Placed Private School Students: The Forest and the Trees Martha Goodman Maryland Special Needs Advocacy Project Macks Center for Jewish Education Baltimore, Maryland 1

Who am I? For eight years, I have served as the coordinator of MDSNAP, which provides free educational advocacy services to families in the greater Baltimore area, including hundreds of private school students I am part of the statewide Educational Advocacy Coalition, am the Maryland Disability Law Center representative to the Parent Community Advisory Board for the Baltimore City School Commissioners, and participate in two school- system based workgroups on special education issues. I am the loyal opposition, and the caped crusader I have attended hundreds of IEP meetings, filed many successful state complaints, and have effectively participated in many mediation sessions. I am Meira’s mother, and have advocated for her in both public and parochial settings So, I am a parent and a professional advocate… 2 Parents, Private Schools and Procedural Safeguards

Who is a Pipsqueak? In this presentation, “persons considered to be SIGNIFICANT, especially because they are small or young” P ARENTALLY P LACED P RIVATE S CHOOL S TUDENTS W ITH D ISABILITIES A RE CALLED P IPSQUEAKS N OT “a person considered to be insignificant, especially because they are small or young…” (OED) 3

Parents, Private Schools and Procedural Safeguards The Forest: Advocating for the Community 4

Child Find Consultation Data collection Determination of services Service Plans Proportionate share No individual right to service Complaint procedures Parents, Private Schools and Procedural Safeguards IDEA 2004 – Equitable Participation 5

Parents, Private Schools and Procedural Safeguards Consultation – I Child Find Comparable process/timelines, can be conducted by 3rd party Proportionate share of funds Timely and Meaningful Consultation process How will private school students participate and how will parents, teachers and private school officials be informed of the process 6

Parents, Private Schools and Procedural Safeguards Consultation – II Provision of Special Education and Related Services Who is served Types of services – direct, indirect, or a combination Must be “secular, neutral, and non-ideological” Where will services be rendered – may be on site, consistent with law Transportation Qualifications of providers must be the same, can be school system employees, or third party contractors How to allocate limited resources Written explanation (but final decisions rest with LEA) Written affirmation required 7

Parents, Private Schools and Procedural Safeguards Child Find Process “Each LEA must locate, identify, and evaluate all children with disabilities who are enrolled by their parents in private, including religious, elementary and secondary schools located in the school district served by the LEA...” “Must be designed to ensure— 1) the equitable participation of parentally-placed private school children; and 2) an accurate count of those children” Section

Parents, Private Schools and Procedural Safeguards International Ice Cream Association Study Vanilla 29% Chocolate8.9% Butter Pecan5.3% Cookies and Cream3.6% Rocky Road 1.5% 9

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Parents, Private Schools and Procedural Safeguards Some Child Find Statistics Nationally, the rate of student eligibility under IDEA is about 10% Yet, among private school students, the rate is only 1-2 %!!!! Examples: Baltimore City, 67 out of roughly 14,000 (2012) Only two dozen or so in Chicago, where a complaint was filed Texas: 985 out of an unknown number! Over 444,000 public school students have IEPs. 11

Parents, Private Schools and Procedural Safeguards Yes, there is self-selection, but… About 2% of all students taking the SATs apply for accommodations, and about 85% are approved (Accommodations Angst, New York Times, 11/4/2010) Private school enrollment rates vary widely across states 4%-18% 12

Parents, Private Schools and Procedural Safeguards Why Care? 13

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Sample Calculations: The Power of a Single Pipsqueak 1 Pipsqueak, 99 Public School $100,000 IDEA funds $100,000/100 x 1 Pipsqueak = $1000 (and $99,000 for Public School) 2 Pipsqueaks, 99 Public School $100,000 IDEA funds $100,000/101 x 2 Pipsqueaks = $1980 (and $98,020 for Public School) 15 Parents, Private Schools and Procedural Safeguards

Mid-Atlantic Catholic School Consortium IDEA Study About 25% of principals felt the explanation of the funding formula as given at consultation was clear About 50% did not understand how the students were counted About 75% did not know the level of required spending Conclusion Private school community often can’t advocate for its students, due to lack of knowledge 16

Data Collection/Recordkeeping The LEA must provide to the SEA the counts for Number of students referred Number of students evaluated Number of students found eligible Number of students receiving service Parents, Private Schools and Procedural Safeguards 17

Parents, Private Schools and Procedural Safeguards Barriers to an Accurate Count Inherent conflict – the pie does not get larger – each additional Pipsqueak takes money out of the public school coffers Lack of knowledge Lack of participation Location of services may dissuade families Limited range of services, other restrictions Reevaluations not being conducted 18

What should Administrators do? Be proactive! Don’t wait for the LEA to contact you Document the needs of private school students Make appropriate referrals Attend consultation meetings, or send representatives Document all your requests and concerns Make your teachers available for IEP meetings Parents, Private Schools and Procedural Safeguards 19

Complaints A private school official has the right to submit a complaint to the SEA that the LEA did not Engage in meaningful and timely consultation; or Give due consideration to the views of private school officials If the official is dissatisfied with the decision of the SEA, the official may submit a complaint to the U.S. Secretary of Education Parents, Private Schools and Procedural Safeguards 20

Parents, Private Schools and Procedural Safeguards The Trees: Advocating for Individual Students 21

Who is a Pipsqueak? Parentally-placed private school children with disabilities means children with disabilities enrolled by their parents in private, including religious, schools or facilities that meet the definition of elementary school….or secondary school… State determines whether homeschoolers are considered parentally placed private school students If the preschool is part of an elementary school (as defined by the state), a preschooler may be considered parentally placed, even though she is below mandatory school age Parents, Private Schools and Procedural Safeguards 22

Parents, Private Schools and Procedural Safeguards What’s the difference? 23 Service PlanIEP No individual right to service – not a contract Enforceable contract Provides limited services – policies of the LEA FAPE: Must address all areas of need Limited type, frequency, duration, and/or intensity Must be “reasonably calculated” to make progress

Parents, Private Schools and Procedural Safeguards Jurisdiction The LEA where the private school is located – not the LEA of the parent’s residence – is responsible for ensuring equitable participation If a family is interested in receiving an offer of FAPE, they must contact the LEA in which they reside. 24

IEP meetings for Pipsqueaks LEAs must ensure participation of representatives of the private school (in person, by phone, or written communication) However, No personally identifiable information may be shared without the written consent of the parent Similarly, no personally identifiable information about the child may be released between officials in the LEA where the private school is located and the officials in the LEA of the parent’s residence without the written consent of the parent Parents, Private Schools and Procedural Safeguards 25

Parents, Private Schools and Procedural Safeguards THE NORMAL LAW OF ERROR STANDS OUT IN THE EXPERIENCE OF MANKIND AS ONE OF THE BROADEST GENERALIZATIONS OF NATURAL PHILOSOPHY ¨ IT SERVES AS THE GUIDING INSTRUMENT IN RESEARCHES IN THE PHYSICAL AND SOCIAL SCIENCES AND IN MEDICINE, AGRICULTURE, AND ENGINEERING ¨ IT IS AN INDISPENSABLE TOOL FOR THE ANALYSIS AND THE INTERPRETATION OF THE BASIC DATA OBTAINED BY OBSERVATION AND EXPERIMENT W. Youden 26

Eligibility Same standards for all students, however, standards vary from school district to school district. Adverse educational impact Educational versus academic Medical versus educational RTI – Clear ruling that RTI is not to be a barrier or delay to evaluation- Office of Civil Rights Q&A and subject of a state complaint in Illinois Parents, Private Schools and Procedural Safeguards 27

Outside Assessments Must be considered, but not necessarily “accepted” Regarding determination of a learning disability, commonly the evaluation needed to be done by two different professionals – one for the cognitive assessment, the other for the educational While it is “backwards”, sometimes bringing data to the table smoothes the process One more thing: Pipsqueaks can request an IEE Parents, Private Schools and Procedural Safeguards 28

State Complaints & Due Process For Pipsqueaks, due process is limited to Child Find issues Any organization or individual may file a state complaint Provision of services Service plan Recordkeeping Expenditures Consultation Equitable Services Location of services and transportation Use of personnel Property, equipment an supplies Parents, Private Schools and Procedural Safeguards 29

Remember… The IEP team may not fully understand that it is their absolute responsibility to carry out Child Find activities for private school students in their district Be knowledgeable, considerate, and prepared. Just as in public school, you may be in a long-term relationship with this team; start building a partnership. Parents are the first and best advocates, but don’t go alone! Parents, Private Schools and Procedural Safeguards 30

For More Information Office of Non-Public Education (ONPE) Office of Special Education Programs (OSEP) Parents, Private Schools and Procedural Safeguards 31