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March 31, 2003
IDEA is the Federal governments primary mechanism to fund special
education for our country's children. HR 1350, this year's
reauthorization bill, is scheduled for mark-up on Wednesday, April
2. The current draft of the bill does little to help rectify the
current problems with the law as it relates to special needs
children in private and parochial schools.
Please see below a
list of talking points on IDEA as well as a
list of members of the relevant House and Senate committees.
Serving Parentally-Placed Private
School Students Under a Reauthorization IDEA
Issue:
The Individual with Disabilities Education Act (‘IDEA’) is the
central federal funding program for special education services in
this country. These funds are essential for
parentally-placed private school students with disabilities.
These children, identified through an evaluation known as ‘Child
Find’, generates federal funds that provide special
education and related services. But myriad problems with the
current language and procedures in IDEA make it nearly impossible
for these children, our children, to access IDEA services.
A
representative study of children in parochial schools found that 6
percent of parochial school students suspected of having a
disability are denied an evaluation through the Child Find
process. This study found that, when students denied an
evaluation and those given an evaluation and found not to have a
disability, are evaluated by a private evaluator, 90 percent of
the students are diagnosed with a disability.
Even with a
Child Find undercount of students with disabilities, we know that
7 percent of parochial school students have disabilities.
However, of parochial school students with disabilities, slightly
less than 1% receive services through IDEA. To put the issue even
more graphically, parochial school students generate approximately
over $200 million in federal IDEA funds and receive services worth
less than $200,000!
Recommended changes: A
broad coalition of education and private school organizations,
including the Orthodox Union, supports the following changes in
IDEA in order to equitably serve parentally-placed private school
students:
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Incorporate the provisions for the equitable
participation of private school students from No Child Left
Behind into IDEA in regard to:
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consultation
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documentation
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assessment
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complaint and bypass, and
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third party contracting
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Allow for the flexible delivery of services,
including:
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providing special education and related
services on site of the private school unless there is a
strong reason to move them elsewhere,
-
offering services through a third party
contractor, and
-
offering a certificate to parents in the amount
of federal funds generated by the private school child with a
disability.
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Reform Child Find to require:
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timely evaluation,
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a determination of the count of private school
students with disabilities who attend private schools located
in the LEA (Local Education Administration), rather than
involving multiple LEAs with each private school because of
the children’s residences,
-
consultation and sign-off in the Child Find
process, and
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that LEAs apply the proportion of public school
students with disabilities to the population in the private
school.
-
Prohibit States from supplanting federal funds
with State funds when providing services to parentally-placed
private school children.
-
Require federal oversight of the state and local
education agencies to ensure that private school students with
disabilities are receiving appropriate and equitable services
through IDEA and provide recourse to parents when IDEA services
for their parentally-placed private school child are not
effective.
Importantly,
these provisions accrue no additional costs—they are simply
meant to ensure that the funds already generated by private
school students with disabilities are spent on services to private
school students with disabilities.
List
of members of the relevant House and Senate committees.
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