A lot of parents do not know that IEP-supported students who have opted for Home School or Private School placement may be eligible for services through the public school. For example, a student who has an IEP for Autism-related specially designed instruction, like Speech and Language therapy, may be able to access SLP support services for receptive or expressive language skills through the district’s SLP program. And these services are provided by the district where the school is located! In the case of ADD-related students, there are many students who are identified as “Health Impaired” due to the impact of this diagnosis and would benefit from specially designed instruction in Executive Functioning areas such as Organization & Planning, Initiation, or the development of emotional self-management skills. And these areas may be supported by the local public school via an IEP even though the student attends a private school or is home-schooled.
Here’s the WA State version of this federally guided law:
WAC 392-172A-04010 Provision of services for parentally placed private school students eligible for special education. (1) In addition to the provisions addressed in this section, parents who have placed their children in private school are entitled to enroll their children part-time in their resident district for any course, activity or ancillary service, not provided by the private school under chapter 392-134 WAC and pursuant to WAC 392-172A-01135. Parents who elect to enroll part-time in their resident district in order to receive special education and/or related services are served through an IEP and are counted for federal and state special education reimbursement.
In addition, the district would be responsible for transportation between the private school (or home-school) and the service provider if the district does not provide the services on the private school site. This is important to know for I have received a number of calls each year related to this issue: parents wanting the services for their IEP supported child but transportation has been an issue. Here is the WA State version of the guidelines addressing this issue:
WAC 392-172A-04045 Location of services and transportation. (1) Services to parentally placed private school students eligible for special education may be provided on the premises of private schools. (2) If necessary for the student to benefit from or participate in the services provided, a parentally placed private school student eligible for special education must be provided transportation: (a) From the student’s school or the student’s home to a site other than the private school; and (b) From the service site to the private school, or to the student’s home, depending on the timing of the services. (3) School districts are not required to provide transportation from the student’s home to the private school. (4) The cost of the transportation described in subsection (2) of this section may be included in calculating whether the school district has met its proportional share requirement.
As always, one cannot make a blanket-statement that “all IEP supported students attending private school or home school are entitled to these “equitable” services for each case is different. However, I do know that there are many more students with formal evaluations and the need for IEP specially designed instruction than currently being served. And this is where education advocacy applies.
For more information about this, do contact us at specialeducationadvocacy,org.