Newsletter: Spring 2012
Public Financing for Private Special Education
Students who are eligible to receive services under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) are entitled to a Free, Appropriate, Public Education – usually referred to by the acronym FAPE. How FAPE applies to students enrolled in private schools depends on how and why a child is enrolled such a school.
Let’s look at several scenarios to better understand what parents can expect – and what they can do to obtain services for their child – when a child attends a private school.
District Placement
The easiest situation for families is when a student is placed in a private school by the public school district. This generally occurs when a district determines that a student’s learning needs cannot be met in the public schools. The committee that develops the student’s IEP (Individual Education Program) will make a determination that the student should be placed in a non-public school and will work with the family to find a place in an approved private setting that can meet the student’s needs. The public school district can only recommend schools that are approved to educate students with a specific category of disability – for example, students with specific learning disabilities, or students with speech and language impairments. Furthermore, the district is limited to those schools that have been approved by the State Department of Education, and whose curriculum, including things like testing, courses, and schedule, is in line with specific state standards. If a school is not on the list of approved schools, it cannot be recommended by the public school district. Parents should be aware that whether a school is on the “approved” list has little to do with its quality, just whether it has taken the steps to meet specific state certification. You can check out these lists for New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut, and find them for other states by searching your State Department of Education website.
When students are placed in an approved private school by their district they receive the full range of services provided in their IEP and there is no cost to the family. Tuition is paid by the public school district which, in turn, receives some of the funding for this from the State.
Parent Placement
The situation is different when it is the parent who chooses the private school, even for a child with an IEP. This can occur when the public school or approved private school settings recommended by the district are not satisfactory and/or when a parent wants to have their child attend a specialized school that is not on the State approved list. In these circumstances the school district has no financial responsibility for tuition unless the parent commences a proceeding – called an impartial hearing – before a State appointed Hearing Officer. Although this process is now part of the IDEA, the proceeding is referred to as a Carter hearing after the United States Supreme Court decision which first established this right. If the parents succeed in proving three things in their hearing, the Hearing Officer will order the school district to reimburse the family for tuition for the non-approved private school. The three requirements are: that the educational setting offered by the public school district is not appropriate for the student; that the school selected by the parents does offer an appropriate education (usually because its mission is to serve students with learning or similar challenges); and, finally, that the parents have cooperated with the district in considering public educational settings and approved private schools and otherwise behaved fairly. This last step is in place, in part, because there is no State contribution when local districts are required to reimburse parents for private school tuition under this process.
With tuition at many private special education schools running close to $50,000 per year and more, the possibility of reimbursement a year or so after the fact is often not enough to enable families to afford non-approved private schools. Some schools will permit families to enroll their students without paying tuition and agree to accept tuition from the public school district when it is approved. In New York this is called Connors funding, after a New York case which discussed this kind of payment.
Parochial Schools
Families who want the benefits of a religious education need not give up all rights to special education services. The law is clear that public districts cannot fund tuition in religious schools, but students who have IEPs through their public school districts still have some rights to special education and related services even if they attend a parochial school. There are a couple of major limitations to these services. First, they cannot be intertwined in any way with religious education, so must be provided separately from the regular, religious curriculum. Furthermore, the funding for such services is extremely limited, so that students will generally receive less extensive services than their peers in public school or approved private schools.
Keep in mind that for all of these sources of public funding, the student in question must have an IEP, so that families will have to deal with the public school system. Even for families who decide to place their student in a private, special education school and to forgo seeking reimbursement from their district, it may be worthwhile to go through the IEP process to have the public district arrange for bus service to the private school.
-Susan Yellin, Esq.
Photo: Greg Sloan/Flickr Creative Commons
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Let’s look at several scenarios to better understand what parents can expect – and what they can do to obtain services for their child – when a child attends a private school.
District Placement
The easiest situation for families is when a student is placed in a private school by the public school district. This generally occurs when a district determines that a student’s learning needs cannot be met in the public schools. The committee that develops the student’s IEP (Individual Education Program) will make a determination that the student should be placed in a non-public school and will work with the family to find a place in an approved private setting that can meet the student’s needs. The public school district can only recommend schools that are approved to educate students with a specific category of disability – for example, students with specific learning disabilities, or students with speech and language impairments. Furthermore, the district is limited to those schools that have been approved by the State Department of Education, and whose curriculum, including things like testing, courses, and schedule, is in line with specific state standards. If a school is not on the list of approved schools, it cannot be recommended by the public school district. Parents should be aware that whether a school is on the “approved” list has little to do with its quality, just whether it has taken the steps to meet specific state certification. You can check out these lists for New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut, and find them for other states by searching your State Department of Education website.
When students are placed in an approved private school by their district they receive the full range of services provided in their IEP and there is no cost to the family. Tuition is paid by the public school district which, in turn, receives some of the funding for this from the State.
Parent Placement
The situation is different when it is the parent who chooses the private school, even for a child with an IEP. This can occur when the public school or approved private school settings recommended by the district are not satisfactory and/or when a parent wants to have their child attend a specialized school that is not on the State approved list. In these circumstances the school district has no financial responsibility for tuition unless the parent commences a proceeding – called an impartial hearing – before a State appointed Hearing Officer. Although this process is now part of the IDEA, the proceeding is referred to as a Carter hearing after the United States Supreme Court decision which first established this right. If the parents succeed in proving three things in their hearing, the Hearing Officer will order the school district to reimburse the family for tuition for the non-approved private school. The three requirements are: that the educational setting offered by the public school district is not appropriate for the student; that the school selected by the parents does offer an appropriate education (usually because its mission is to serve students with learning or similar challenges); and, finally, that the parents have cooperated with the district in considering public educational settings and approved private schools and otherwise behaved fairly. This last step is in place, in part, because there is no State contribution when local districts are required to reimburse parents for private school tuition under this process.
With tuition at many private special education schools running close to $50,000 per year and more, the possibility of reimbursement a year or so after the fact is often not enough to enable families to afford non-approved private schools. Some schools will permit families to enroll their students without paying tuition and agree to accept tuition from the public school district when it is approved. In New York this is called Connors funding, after a New York case which discussed this kind of payment.
Parochial Schools
Families who want the benefits of a religious education need not give up all rights to special education services. The law is clear that public districts cannot fund tuition in religious schools, but students who have IEPs through their public school districts still have some rights to special education and related services even if they attend a parochial school. There are a couple of major limitations to these services. First, they cannot be intertwined in any way with religious education, so must be provided separately from the regular, religious curriculum. Furthermore, the funding for such services is extremely limited, so that students will generally receive less extensive services than their peers in public school or approved private schools.
Keep in mind that for all of these sources of public funding, the student in question must have an IEP, so that families will have to deal with the public school system. Even for families who decide to place their student in a private, special education school and to forgo seeking reimbursement from their district, it may be worthwhile to go through the IEP process to have the public district arrange for bus service to the private school.
-Susan Yellin, Esq.
Photo: Greg Sloan/Flickr Creative Commons
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