Children with Disabilities Enrolled by Their Parents in Private Schools

 

Children with Disabilities Enrolled by Their Parents in Private Schools

Ed 1126.01(b)(11)

 

 

The Milford School District has procedures in place that are designed to ensure the equitable participation of children with disabilities who are enrolled by their parents in private schools that are located within the jurisdiction of the Milford School District in accordance with 34 CFR 300.131 (Child find for parentally-placed private school children with disabilities), 34 CFR 300.111 (Child Find) and 34 CFR 300.201 (Consistent with state policies).

Procedures for obtaining written affirmation of consult with private schools within the LEA’s jurisdiction 

The Milford School District ensures that children with disabilities who are placed by their parents in private schools have equitable participation in special education programs pursuant to state and federal regulations.

 

Records for children with disabilities who are enrolled by their parents in private schools that are located within the jurisdiction of the Milford School District are maintained at that District office by the Director of Student Support Services and his/her designee(s). The records include, the number of children evaluated, the number of children determined to be children with disabilities; and the number of children served.

 

In accordance with the New Hampshire Education Standards, children who are receiving home education are not considered to be children attending a private school.

 

Child Find

The District must locate, identify and evaluate all children with disabilities attending all private schools, including religious schools, within the geographic boundaries of the District. Private schools must be approved as “elementary” or “secondary” schools by the New Hampshire Department of Education and included on the published list of approved, non-public schools on the NHDOE website.

On an annual basis, the District consults with representatives of private schools and representatives of parentally placed students to decide:

• How parentally placed private school children will participate equitably, and
• How parents, teachers, and private school officials will be informed of the District’s year-round child find activities.

 

All child find activities conducted for children enrolled in private schools by their parents are similar to those activities conducted for children who attend public schools within the District. The District maintains records and reports the number of private school students evaluated, the number of children determined to be children with disabilities, and the number of parentally placed private school children with disabilities who are served to the NH Department of Education on an annual basis.

 

Consultation

The District conducts timely and meaningful consultation with representatives of private schools and representatives of parents of parentally placed private school children with disabilities in order to design and develop special education and related services for eligible children who attend private schools within the District.

 

The consultation process operates throughout the school year to ensure that parentally placed children have the opportunity to meaningfully participate in special education and related services.

Through the consultation process, the District decides:

• Which children will be served,
• What services will be provided,
• How and where the services will be provided, and
• How the services will be evaluated.

The District documents the decisions on the Affirmation of Consultation form. The completed form is sent to each private school providing and rationale of the District’s decisions.

Provision of Services

Services to parentally placed private school children are provided by personnel meeting the same standards as those required in the District. Eligible children do not hold individual rights to special education or related services.  They may receive different amounts of services than those provided to students in the public schools. An Individual Service Plan (ISP) will be developed for each child eligible to receive services.

Private elementary and secondary school teachers who are providing equitable services to parentally placed private school children with disabilities do not have to meet the highly qualified special education teacher requirements under IDEA.