Administrators LEAD & MANAGE MY SCHOOL
The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act: Provisions Related to Children With Disabilities Enrolled by Their Parents in Private Schools
March 2011

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Parental Consent

The IDEA regulations include new requirements related to obtaining parental consent. When the parent of a home-schooled or private school child with a disability declines to provide consent for an initial evaluation or reevaluation to determine the child's eligibility under IDEA, the LEA may not use its consent override procedures (the process an LEA may use to pursue the evaluation by overriding the parents' refusal to provide consent) to seek to conduct the evaluation and, thus, may not include the child in the annual count of the number of parentally placed private school children with disabilities.

If the LEA evaluates a parentally placed child and determines the child eligible under IDEA but the parent refuses the provision of equitable services under a services plan, the LEA must include this child in the count of eligible parentally placed private school children with disabilities in that district.

Another new requirement addresses the exchange of information between LEAs. This is particularly important given that the responsibilities for ensuring the delivery of equitable services have shifted from the LEA of the child's residence to the LEA where the child's private school is located. Parental consent must be obtained before any information regarding a parentally placed private school child is shared between LEAs. Parents and private school officials should be aware of this requirement in order to ensure that the children can participate equitably and receive the services and benefits available under IDEA.



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Last Modified: 08/02/2017