The Board of Education (“Board”) of the North Colonie Central School District (“District”) recognizes its responsibility to provide special education services to eligible students with disabilities enrolled by their parents in nonpublic schools located within its District, regardless of whether such students are residents of the District. The scope of that responsibility affects:
- The District’s child find activities for locating, identifying, and evaluating parentally- placed nonpublic school students with disabilities;
- Committee on Special Education (“CSE”) and CSE subcommittee responsibilities for the development plan, individualized education services program (“IESP”), or a services plan (“SP”), in the case of an out of state resident, for any such student determined to be eligible for special education services under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (“IDEA”) and Article 89 of the New York Education Law (“Article 89”);
- The provision of services to such students;
- The relationship between the District and nonpublic school officials and nonpublic school parents of students with disabilities, with whom the District is required to consult;
- The District’s data collection and reporting responsibilities; and
- The District’s use of federal funds available under the IDEA.
(Refer to policy 4321, Programs for Students with Disabilities under the IDEA and Article 89 for more information regarding the provision of special education services to students with disabilities enrolled in the District’s public schools).
Consistent with applicable law and regulations, this policy does not apply to resident students with disabilities enrolled by their parents in a nonpublic school located within the District’s boundaries because of a dispute over the provision of a free appropriate public education. Neither does it apply to charter school students, or to students placed in or referred to private schools by public agencies such as school district placements in approved private schools, Special Act school districts, and state-supported or state-operated schools.
District staff will obtain prior consent from the parent of a parentally-placed nonpublic school student with disabilities, or the student if the student is 18 years or older, for the release of personally identifiable information about the student from records collected or maintained pursuant to the IDEA between the District and the student’s district of residence.
I. Location, Identification and Evaluation of Parentally-placed Nonpublic School Students with Disabilities
The District’s activities for locating and identifying parentally-placed nonpublic school students with disabilities will be comparable to those undertaken for students attending the District’s public schools, and will be completed in a comparable time period, as well. However, District staff will consult with nonpublic school representatives and representatives of parents of parentally-placed students with disabilities regarding these activities, in order to ensure the equitable participation and an accurate count of such students.
The District will use the same procedures that apply to the evaluation of the District’s public school students to evaluate and reevaluate parentally-placed nonpublic school students with disabilities. (Refer to policy 4321, Programs for Students with Disabilities under the IDEA and Article 89, for more information on those procedures).
II. CSE Responsibilities
Once a parentally-placed nonpublic school student with disabilities is determined to be eligible for special education services under the IDEA and Article 89, the CSE or CSE subcommittee will develop an IESP or SP for the student in accordance with the following:
- If the student is a New York State resident, the CSE or CSE subcommittee will develop an IESP based on the student’s individual needs in the same manner and with the same contents as an individualized education program (“IEP”) prepared for a public school student.
- If the student is an out-of-state resident, the CSE or CSE subcommittee will develop an SP for the student in accordance with the IDEA and its implementing regulations.
III. Provision of Services
Parents of nonpublic school students with disabilities eligible for special education services under this policy must submit to the Board a written request for such services on or before June 1st of the preceding the school year for which they want the District to provide services. However, if the student has not been first identified as a student with a disability until after June1st, the parent may submit the written request for services within thirty (30) days after the identification, and the student will be entitled to services during the current year if the request is submitted before April 1st. For students first identified after March 1st of the current school year, any request for services in the current school year made before April 1st will be deemed a timely request for such services in the following school year.
The District will provide special education programs and services to parentally placed nonpublic school students with disabilities with an IESP on an equitable basis, as compared to special education programs and services provided to other students with disabilities attending public and nonpublic schools within the District.
The District will provide special education programs and services to parentally placed nonpublic school students with disabilities with an SP to the extent required by the IDEA and its implementing regulations, and in consultation with nonpublic school officials and representatives of parents of parentally-placed nonpublic school students with disabilities. In this regard, the District will expend a proportionate amount of the federal funds it receives under the IDEA to provide such services.
The District will provide parentally-placed nonpublic school students with disabilities only services (including materials and equipment) that are secular, neutral, and non-ideological.
IV. Consultation
The District will consult in a timely and meaningful manner with nonpublic school officials and representatives of parents of parentally-placed nonpublic school students with disabilities regarding the following issues:
- The process that will be used to locate and identify parentally-placed nonpublic school students with disabilities, including who parents, teachers, and nonpublic school officials will be informed of the process, and how the process will work throughout the school year to ensure that the students can participate in special education and related services.
- How, where and by whom special education and related services will be provided to such students, and with respect to students with an SP, the types of services that will be provided.
- With respect to students with an SP, how a proportionate share of the federal funds the District receives under the IDEA will be spent on special education services to such students.
- The determination of the proportionate amount of the District’s IDEA funds available to serve parentally-placed private school students with disabilities, including how that amount was calculated.
- How services will be apportioned if the proportionate amount of the District’s available IDEA funds is not sufficient to serve all parentally-placed nonpublic school students with an SP, and how and when these decisions will be made.
Notwithstanding, the District will provide services to students with an IESP, regardless of the apportionment of such federal funds. The Superintendent will establish a process for obtaining from nonpublic school officials a written affirmation of their participation in the consultation process. If that affirmation is not secured within a reasonable time, the Superintendent will submit to the State Education Department documentation of the consultation process.
V. Data Collection and Reporting
The Superintendent will establish a process for maintaining records and report to the commissioner of education on the number of parentally-placed nonpublic school students who are evaluated, and determined to have a disability, and receive special education services from the District.
Ref: The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), 20 USC §1412(a)(10(A); 34 CFR 300.130, et seq.
Education Law §3602-c
8 NYCRR §202.2 (a)(7); 8 NYCRR § 177.1
Adopted: October 24, 2011