NASET Q & A Corner
Questions and Answers on
Questions and Answers on Serving Children with Disabilities Placed by Their Parents in Private Schools
The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act contains specific requirements regarding State and local responsibilities for equitable services for parentally placed private school children with disabilities. The U.S. Department of Education (Department), Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services (OSERS) has issued a Questions and Answers (Q&A) document to provide State educational agencies (SEAs), local educational agencies (LEAs), parents, private school officials, advocacy organizations, and other interested parties with information regarding these requirements. This issue of NASET’s Q & A Corner with address questions and answers on serving children with disabilities placed by their parents in private schools.
Part B of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA Part B) at Section 612(a)(10)(A) and its implementing regulations at 34 C.F.R. §§ 300.130 through 300.144 contain specific requirements regarding State and local responsibilities for equitable services for parentally placed private school children with disabilities. The U.S. Department of Education (Department), Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services (OSERS) issues this Questions and Answers (Q&A) document to provide State educational agencies (SEAs), local educational agencies (LEAs), parents, private school officials, advocacy organizations, and other interested parties with information regarding these requirements.
Children with disabilities attending private schools will generally fall into one of three categories: (1) those placed by their parents, who are not enrolled in the LEA, and for whom the provision of a free appropriate public education (FAPE) is not at issue; (2) those placed by their parents and who are, or previously were, enrolled in the LEA and the provision of FAPE is at issue; and (3) those placed by the LEA as the means of ensuring that FAPE is made available. As used in this document, the phrase “FAPE is not at issue” means there is no disagreement between the parent and LEA about the availability of a program to provide FAPE to the child, and the parent has placed the child in a private school and is not seeking financial reimbursement for the private school placement.
This Q&A document is intended to provide guidance regarding the IDEA requirements applicable to the first category of students—children with disabilities placed by their parents in private schools, who are not enrolled in the LEA, and for whom the provision of FAPE is not at issue.
As explained in this Q&A document, children with disabilities placed in private schools by their parents where FAPE is not at issue do not have an individual entitlement to the special education and related services they would receive if they were enrolled in a public school or placed in a private school by the LEA as a means of ensuring FAPE is made available. Depending on State law, private schools may not be required to meet State personnel or curriculum standards. Further, children with disabilities placed by their parents in private schools do not have the right to all of the protections under IDEA. For example, IDEA’s due process procedures do not apply to issues regarding the provision of services to any particular parentally-placed private school child with a disability. Parents of such children may only use IDEA’s due process procedures to resolve matters concerning an LEA’s obligation to meet the child find requirements.
While IDEA provides no individual entitlement to children with disabilities whose parents have placed them in a private school when FAPE is not at issue, the law does require that an LEA spend a proportionate amount of its IDEA Part B funds to provide equitable services to this group of children, which could include direct and/or indirect services.6 In making these decisions, IDEA requires that the LEA engage in timely and meaningful consultation to determine which children with disabilities from this group will be designated to receive special education and related services.7 Therefore, it is possible that some of these parentally-placed private school children with disabilities will not receive any special education and related services.
This Q&A document updates and supersedes the Department’s guidance, titled Questions and Answers on Serving Children with Disabilities Placed by Their Parents in Private Schools issued in April 2011 and includes additional questions and answers that address topics that have arisen as the field continues to implement the applicable provisions of IDEA and its implementing regulations. Some of the new questions reflect recent policy letters, while others address common questions that OSERS has received from stakeholders.
Read the full Q & A document at:
https://sites.ed.gov/idea/files/qa-parentally-placed-private-schools-12-2020.pdf
