Parents, Private Schools and Procedural Safeguards Advocacy for Parentally Placed Private School...

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 EducationBaltimore, Maryland

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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



Who is a Pipsqueak?In this presentation, “persons considered to be SIGNIFICANT, especially

because they are small or young”

PARENTALLY PLACED PRIVATE SCHOOL STUDENTS

WITH DISABILITIESARE CALLED PIPSQUEAKS

NOT “a person considered to be insignificant,

especially because they are small or young…” (OED)3


The Forest: Advocating for the Community

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• Child Find• Consultation• Data collection• Determination of services• Service Plans• Proportionate share• No individual right to service• Complaint procedures


IDEA 2004 – Equitable Participation

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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

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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 required7


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; and2) an accurate count of those children”

Section 300.131

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International Ice Cream Association Study

• Vanilla 29%

• Chocolate 8.9%

• Butter Pecan 5.3%

• Cookies and Cream 3.6%

• Rocky Road 1.5%

http://www.foodchannel.com/articles/article/the-top-15-most-popular-ice-cream-flavors/

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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.

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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 states4%-18%

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Why Care?

The only money school systems must spend on Pipsqueaksis determined by the count of students who have been identified through Child Find

= Total Proportionate Share for PPPSSWD (“pipsqueaks”)

Under-counting means under-funding

Census conducted between October 1 and December 1 to calculate funding for the following year

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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)

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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

ConclusionPrivate school community often can’t advocate for its students, due to lack of knowledge

http://www.midatlanticcsc.org/news_events/files/IDEA%20MACSC%20ACE%20REPORT%2004.19.10.pdf

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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


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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

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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


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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


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The Trees:Advocating for Individual Students

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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


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What’s the difference?

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Service Plan IEPNo 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


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.

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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


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THENORMAL

LAW OF ERRORSTANDS OUT IN THE

EXPERIENCE OF MANKINDAS ONE OF THE BROADEST

GENERALIZATIONS OF NATURALPHILOSOPHY ¨ IT SERVES AS THE

GUIDING INSTRUMENT IN RESEARCHESIN 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

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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


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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


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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


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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!


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For More Information

Office of Non-Public Education (ONPE)202-401-1365www.ed.gov/about/offices/list/oii/nonpublic/index.html

Office of Special Education Programs (OSEP)202-245-7459www.ed.gov/about/offices/list/osers/osep/index.html


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Date post:	23-Dec-2015
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