[Federal Register: April 11, 2000 (Volume 65, Number 70)]
[Notices]
[Page 19635-19637]
From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]
[DOCID:fr11ap00-154]
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Part IX
Department of Education
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Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services; List of
Correspondence; Notice
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DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION
Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services List of
Correspondence
AGENCY: Department of Education.
ACTION: List of Correspondence from October 1, 1999 through December
31, 1999.
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SUMMARY: The Secretary is publishing the following list pursuant to
section 607(d) of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act
(IDEA). Under section 607(d) of IDEA, the Secretary is required, on a
quarterly basis, to publish in the Federal Register a list of
correspondence from the Department of Education received by individuals
during the previous quarter that describes the interpretations of the
Department of Education of IDEA or the regulations that implement IDEA.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: JoLeta Reynolds or Rhonda Weiss.
Telephone: (202) 205-5507. Individuals who use a telecommunications
device for the deaf (TDD) may call (202) 205-5465 or the Federal
Information Relay Service (FIRS) at 1-800-877-8339 between 8:00 a.m.
and 8:00 p.m., Eastern time, Monday through Friday, except Federal
holidays.
Individuals with disabilities may obtain a copy of this notice in
an alternate format (e.g., Braille, large print, audiotape, or computer
diskette) on request to Katie Mincey, Director of the Alternate Formats
Center. Telephone: (202) 205-8113.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The following list identifies correspondence
from the Department issued between October 1, 1999 and December 31,
1999.
Included on the list are those letters that contain interpretations
of the requirements of IDEA and its implementing regulations, as well
as letters and other documents that the Department believes will assist
the public in understanding the requirements of the law and its
regulations. The date and topic addressed by a letter are identified,
and summary information is also provided, as appropriate. To protect
the privacy interests of the individual or individuals involved,
personally identifiable information has been deleted, as appropriate.
Part A--General Provisions
Section 607--Requirements for Prescribing Regulations
Topic Addressed: Policy Interpretation Under Part B of the Individuals
With Disabilities Education Act
* OSEP memorandum 00-1 dated October 7, 1999 to Chief State
School Officers, regarding the determination that the letter dated
October 8, 1998 to Wisconsin Superintendent of Public Instruction John
T. Benson regarding public charter schools contained an interpretation
that raised an issue of national significance to the implementation of
Part B of IDEA.
Part B--Assistance for Education of All Children With Disabilities
Section 611--Authorization; Allotment; Use of Funds; Authorization of
Appropriations
Topic Addressed: Use of Funds
* Letter dated December 27, 1999 to Northern Mariana Islands
Federal Program Officer William Matson, regarding whether use of Part B
funds for the purchase of a school bus to be used exclusively to meet
the special needs of eligible disabled students is an allowable cost.
Section 612--State Eligibility
Topic Addressed: Free Appropriate Public Education
* Letter dated November 8, 1999 to Fredric B. Garner, M.D.,
clarifying that decisions about services provided to each child must be
based on each child's special education and related services needs, and
that the entitlement under Part B of IDEA is to a free appropriate
public education, and not to a particular label.
Topic Addressed: Least Restrictive Environment
* Letter dated November 19, 1999 to Montgomery County
Maryland Public Schools Department of Special Education Director
Raymond W. Bryant, regarding the application of the least restrictive
environment requirements to the proposed movement of children with
disabilities from special education centers to other settings,
including requirements to make available a continuum of alternative
placements and to give parents written prior notice in accordance with
the change of placement procedures.
* Letter dated December 27, 1999 to individual, (personally
identifiable information redacted), regarding whether a State is
compelled to maintain a special or residential school placement within
a State if an appropriate placement for a child with a disability is
available at no cost to the parents.
Topic Addressed: Children With Disabilities Placed in Private Schools
by Their Parents
* Letter dated November 15, 1999 to Baton Rouge, Louisiana
Special Education Department Director Sharon M. Crary, regarding the
requirement for public agencies to expend a proportionate share of
available Federal funds on services for parentally-placed private
school children with disabilities, even though districts can count for
purposes of generating Part B funds only those parentally-placed
private school children with disabilities whom they are serving, and
clarifying the two required child counts for these children.
Topic Addressed: State Educational Agency General Supervisory
Responsibility
* Letter dated October 29, 1999 to Washington State Director
of Special Education Douglas Gill, responding to an inquiry about the
doctrine of res judicata and clarifying that a State is not relieved of
its obligation to resolve an issue raised in a complaint filed with the
State if the merits of that issue were not decided in a prior due
process hearing involving the same parties.
* Letter dated December 3, 1999 to California Department of
Education Chief Deputy Superintendent Leslie Fausset, regarding the
State's longstanding failure to exercise its general supervisory
responsibility effectively through a corrective action plan to achieve
State-wide compliance and the State's tardiness in submitting a report
as required under the special conditions to its Federal Fiscal Year
(FFY) 1999 Part B of IDEA grant award.
* Letter dated December 17, 1999 to Attorney Marc Grober
regarding requirements for States receiving IDEA FFY 1998 and FFY 1999
Part B funds to provide assurances in order to comply with the IDEA
Amendments of 1997.
* Letter dated December 27, 1999 to Pennsylvania Big Spring
School District Superintendent Dr. William Kerr Cowden, regarding the
provisions in the IDEA Amendments of 1997 that reduce unnecessary
paperwork, and clarifying that States may impose their own requirements
to govern the education of students with disabilities, as long as those
State requirements are not in conflict with Federal requirements.
Topic Addressed: Personnel Standards
* Letter dated December 1, 1999 to individual (personally
identifiable
[[Page 19637]]
information redacted), regarding personnel shortages of special
education teachers in New Hampshire and the provisions under the IDEA
Amendments of 1997 that may relate to such shortages.
Topic Addressed: Information Required for State Program Grants
* OSEP memorandum 00-4 dated November 3, 1999 to State
Directors of Special Education, clarifying the eligibility
documentation and public participation requirements that States must
meet to comply with Part B of IDEA.
Section 614--Evaluations, Eligibility Determinations, Individualized
Education Programs, and Educational Placements
Topic Addressed: Individualized Education Programs
* Letter dated October 6, 1999 to Winston-Salem and Forsyth
County Schools, North Carolina Attorney Douglas S. Punger, regarding
the ability of the parents of a child with autism to invite parents of
other students with disabilities to their child's individualized
education program (IEP) meeting, and the responsibility of the IEP team
to determine, if appropriate, whether a child with autism should
receive applied behavioral analysis.
Section 615--Procedural Safeguards
Topic Addressed: Student Discipline
* Letter dated December 7, 1999 to Iacocca Professor of
Education Perry A. Zirkel, regarding the requirements in the IDEA
Amendments of 1997 and the March 12, 1999 final regulations that are
applicable to students with disabilities removed from their current
placements for more than 10 school days in a school year.
Section 619--Preschool Grants
Topic Addressed: Procedures for Allocating Preschool Grants
* Letter dated October 21, 1999 to New York State Education
Department Deputy Commissioner Lawrence Gloeckler, regarding New York's
distribution of section 619 funds to eligible entities, and confirming
that ineligible entities cannot receive future awards under the
Preschool Grants program.
* Letter dated November 24, 1999 to New York State Education
Department Deputy Commissioner Lawrence Gloeckler, regarding the
State's discretion to require its local educational agencies that place
preschool age students with disabilities in approved private preschool
special education programs to provide those programs with an amount
equal to the flow-through dollars generated by the individual students,
and clarifying that if LEAs provide section 619 funds to those schools,
those funds must be used in accordance with the requirements of Part B
of IDEA, including the applicable cost principles.
Part C--Infants and Toddlers With Disabilities
Sections 631-641
Topic Addressed: Definitions
* Letter dated December 15, 1999 to Permanent Judicial
Commission on Justice for Children Member Sheryl Dicker, clarifying
that the Part C regulatory definition of ``parent,'' like the statutory
definition applicable under both Parts B and C of IDEA, does not
include the ``State'' if the State is the child's guardian.
Section 635--Requirements for Statewide System
Topic Addressed: State Lead Agency General Supervisory Responsibility
* Letter dated December 15, 1999 to Mississippi State Health
Officer Dr. E.F. Thompson, Jr., regarding a Part C State lead agency's
general supervisory responsibility to ensure State-wide compliance
within its Part C system and to identify whether deficiencies in some
districts exist in other districts and to correct all identified
deficiencies.
Section 640--Payor of Last Resort
Topic Addressed: Payments by CHAMPUS and TRICARE Program Funds for
Early Intervention Services
* Letter dated December 21, 1999 to TRICARE Management
Activity, requesting clarification of, and amendment to, a Department
of Defense proposed regulation to provide that CHAMPUS and TRICARE is
first payor for early intervention services under Part C of IDEA, as
required by the IDEA Amendments of 1997.
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Note: The official version of this document is the document
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(Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance Number 84.027, Assistance to
States for Education of Children with Disabilities)
Dated: April 6, 2000.
Curtis L. Richards,
Acting Assistant Secretary for Special Education and Rehabilitation
Services.
[FR Doc. 00-8962 Filed 4-10-00; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4000-01-U