On December 1st of each year, the district shall conduct an annual count of the number of private elementary and secondary school students eligible for special education who are unilaterally enrolled by their parents in a private school located within district boundaries and who do not wish to enroll in a public school to receive special education and related services. The district special education director shall have timely and meaningful consultation with appropriate representatives and parents of private school students and make determinations about who will receive services and what services will be provided. The purpose of the child count is to determine the proportionate amount that the district must spend on providing special education and related services, including transportation, to private elementary or secondary school students in the next fiscal year.
The district is required to spend a proportionate amount of federal special education Part B and Section 619 funds to provide special education and related services to private elementary school students. In order to determine which students will receive services, what services will be provided, how and where the services will be provided, and how services provided will be evaluated, the district shall consult with appropriate representatives and parents of private school students. The district shall make the final decision with respect to services to be provided to eligible private school students. The special education office will notify each approved private school or preschool operating in the district seeking recommendations of persons to serve as representatives of special education private school students in consultations with the district. An initial meeting will be called by the district to establish a work plan and schedule with the private school student representatives to discuss how to identify students, which students will receive services, what services will be provided, how and where services will be provided, and how services will be evaluated.
Each building’s special education case manager will work with private school students to develop a particular student’s services plan. A private school student has no individual entitlement to any service or amount of service (s)he would have received if enrolled in a public school to receive FAPE*. However, for each private school student receiving special education or related services, the district shall initiate and conduct meetings to develop, review and revise a services plan describing the specific special education and related services that the district will provide. The services plan must: (1) meet IEP* content requirements with respect to the services to be provided; and (2) be developed, reviewed, implemented and revised annually consistent with the requirements for IEP review. The district shall make every effort to include a representative from the private school at each meeting. If the private school representative is not able to attend, the district shall use other methods, including individual or conference telephone calls, to assure the representative’s participation.
Private school students may receive a different amount of services than special education students in public schools. However, the services provided to special education private school students will be provided by personnel meeting the same standards as personnel providing the services in the district.
Services to students in private schools not subject to sectarian control or influence may be provided on-site. District personnel may be made available to nonsectarian private schools only to the extent necessary to provide the services required, if those services are not normally provided by the private school. Services shall not include payment of nonsectarian private school teachers’ or other employees’ salaries, except for services performed outside regular private school hours and under public supervision and control.
Equipment and/or supplies may be placed on nonsectarian private school premises for the period of time necessary for the services plan program, but the district shall retain and exercise title and administrative control of said equipment/supplies. The district shall keep records and make an accounting assuring that said equipment/supplies is/are used solely for the services plan program. Said equipment/supplies shall be removed if necessary to avoid its/their use for other purposes or if no longer needed for the services plan program. No district funds shall be used for repairs, minor remodeling or construction of private school facilities.
The district shall provide services to students in private schools subject to sectarian control or influence in a manner that: (1) maintains physical and administrative separation between the private and public school programs; and (2) does not benefit the private school at public expense.
*See the Special Education Terms & Definitions page for more information.
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