The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) requires MCPS to solicit timely and meaningful consultation from private school representatives and representatives of parents/guardians of parentally placed private school students with disabilities regarding Child Find, the proportionate share of federal funds and the provision of services to private/religious school students located in the county, as well as about the consultation process.
“Parentally placed private school children with disabilities” means children with disabilities enrolled by their parents/guardians in private, including religious, schools or facilities that meet the definition of elementary or secondary school in IDEA and in the Annotated Code of Maryland. Education Article §1-101(g) defines elementary and secondary education as “education and programs of education from and including preschool through the end of high school and their equivalent. Private elementary schools include all state-approved or church-exempt educational programs for students, including preschool students.”
MCPS decisions regarding these matters, made after the consultation process, are memorialized in a presentation titled Understanding the Private Parochial School Process.
Parents/guardians of students who attend private/religious schools located in Montgomery County or whose students are being home schooled should contact Division of Business, Fiscal and Information Systems (DBFIS) and request a referral packet for consideration of special education services. The referral packet contains a multitude of MCPS forms which are listed as links on MCPS Form #336-13, Private/Parochial Student Referral for Special Education Services.
Parents/guardians are asked to complete the MCPS forms pertaining to information they are able to provide for enrollment and educational history. If the student attends a private/religious school, parents/guardians are asked to have the school staff complete teacher referral, classroom observation, and educational history forms. When completed, these forms are sent by DBFIS to the student’s MCPS home school, if the parent/guardian is a Montgomery County resident or to the MCPS school closest to the private/religious school, if the parent/guardian is a nonresident. If an MCPS school is located close to several private/ religious schools, DBFIS may select a different MCPS school to conduct the Child Find process. The IEP team at the appropriate school conducts the initial referral IEP team meeting and any follow-up activities.
Following receipt of a written referral to the IEP team, an IEP team meeting must be scheduled in a timely manner. An initial IEP team meeting must be held no later than 60-calendar-days from the initial IEP team’s receipt of the parent’s/guardian’s authorization for assessments, or no later than 90-calendar-days from the date of receipt of the initial referral from the parent/guardian, whichever is sooner. Written consent to assess should be obtained for all recommended assessments at the initial IEP team meeting. If the parent/guardian does not attend the initial IEP team meeting, the case manager and/or assessors should obtain written authorization for all assessments without delay. The 60- or-90-day timeframe will not apply if the parent/guardian of the child repeatedly fails to make the child available for evaluation. In these instances, the case manager shall keep an accurate written record of all attempts to evaluate the child.
If a parent of a child who is home schooled or placed in a private school by the parents at their own expense does not provide consent for the initial evaluation or the reevaluation, or the parent fails to respond to a request to provide consent, the public agency may not use the consent override procedures by filing due process to compel the parent to consent to assessment, and the public agency is not required to consider the child as eligible for services.
At the initial referral IEP team meeting, the IEP team will determine if there is a suspected disability through a review of outside assessments provided by the parent, o the IEP team will recommend any needed assessments. Appropriate staff members shall conduct the assessments and reconvene to review the results of assessment and makes an eligibility recommendation. MCPS shall invite a representative from the private/religious school to all IEP team meetings. If a representative of the private school cannot attend, the IEP team shall use other methods to ensure participation by the private/religious school such as conference calls.
Resident Preschool Student Who Attends a Private/Religious School in Montgomery County
If a resident preschool child who attends a private/religious school located in Montgomery County is found eligible for special education, MCPS should develop an initial IEP for the student so that the parent/guardian is informed regarding what services MCPS would offer should the student enroll in MCPS. The development of an IEP provides MCPS with the opportunity to inform the parents/guardians of the special education services and supports available for their child and of the benefits of early comprehensive intervention. If the parents/guardians ultimately decline to enroll their child in MCPS, a Services Plan is developed by the IEP team, unless the parents/guardians decline all services. The IEP team should document in the prior written notice if the parent/guardian declines the IEP or the Services Plan. The IEP team shall provide a copy of the Services Plan to the coordinator of private/religious school services in the DBFIS.
Resident School-Aged Student Who Attends a Private/Religious School
If a resident school-aged student who attends a private/religious school located in Montgomery County is found eligible for special education, the IEP team shall develop an initial IEP. The IEP team will convene to review the draft initial IEP in order to inform the parents of the services for which the student is entitled should they choose to enroll the student in MCPS. The IEP will be implemented upon enrollment in MCPS. If the parents/guardians make clear their intention to continue to enroll the student in a private school, MCPS is not required to develop an initial IEP for the student. The IEP team must, however, develop a Services Plan for the student, unless the parents/guardians decline all services. If the parents/guardians decline services, this should be documented on the Services Plan form. A copy of the form should be forwarded to the coordinator of private/religious school services in DBFIS.
Resident Student Who attends a Private/Religious School in Another Jurisdiction
A student who resides in Montgomery County but attends a private/religious school in another jurisdiction is not eligible under IDEA to be evaluated by MCPS, unless they are seeking a FAPE from MCPS. If the parent/guardian is seeking private/religious services, the student must be evaluated by the public school system where his/her private/religious school is located. If the student is found eligible, the jurisdiction shall develop the Services Plan for the student. If the parent/guardian requests MCPS to develop an IEP for his/her child, the student’s home MCPS School shall convene an IEP meeting to review existing documentation, determines whether any additional assessment is needed and develop an IEP for an eligible student. The student is not required to withdraw from the private/religious school and enroll in MCPS for this process to occur. The parent/guardian would have the option of enrolling the student in MCPS and receiving the IEP services, or remaining at the private school.
IDEA requires a school district to obtain parental consent before releasing information about a parentally placed private school child to the school district where the child’s parents/guardians reside.
Nonresident Student Who Attends School in Montgomery County
If a nonresident student who attends an MSDE-approved school in Montgomery County is found eligible for special education, the IEP team does not develop an IEP for the student but does develop a Services Plan, unless the parents/guardians decline all services. If the parents/guardians decline services, this should be documented on the Services Plan form. A copy of the form shall be forwarded to the coordinator of private/religious school services in the DBFIS.
If a resident elects to have the student continue to attend the private or religious school but wishes to have the child receive services from MCPS, the IEP team develops a Services Plan. The plan includes only those services that MCPS, after consultation with representatives of private and religious schools and with representatives of parents/guardians of parentally placed private school children with disabilities and in accordance with IDEA, has determined it will provide to private/religious students, and for which the student has been found eligible by the evaluation IEP team. Services provided must be secular, neutral, and non-ideological.
Historically, MCPS has provided special education resource and/or speech and language services for eligible private/religious school aged students and speech and language services for eligible pre-K students. Available services shall be reviewed annually and posted on MCPS Special Education website. Written informed parental consent must be obtained before the provision of services under an initial Services Plan. Services will be provided at the student’s MCPS home school, if the parent/guardian is a Montgomery County resident, or at the MCPS school located as close as possible to the student’s private/religious school, if the parent/guardian is a nonresident. A parent/guardian who wants services delivered at a different site must submit a written request to DBFIS. DBFIS forwards requests for alternative sites for speech and language services to the MCPS supervisor of speech and language services. Requests for alternate sites for resource services will be forwarded to the appropriate special education supervisor. Principals of the affected schools will be consulted about the feasibility of providing services at the requested alternative MCPS school site. Private child-care programs including home child-care programs, family day-care, and home instruction, are not included in the definition of private schools. MCPS may provide speech and language services at the private/religious school site when circumstances warrant.
Follow-up Responsibilities Local School Responsibilities
The MCPS school site that provides services to a student under a Services Plan is responsible for conducting an annual review of the plan. The parent/guardian must be provided with prior written notice from the IEP team meeting. Copies of all documents must be placed in the student’s confidential file. At least once every three years, the school site IEP team conducts a reevaluation of the student to determine if the student continues to be eligible for special education and related services.
Responsibilities of the DBFIS
DBFIS is responsible for maintaining records and providing to MSDE the number of parentally placed children evaluated, the number of children determined to be children with disabilities under IDEA and the number of children who receive special education services. In addition, DBFIS must maintain documentation concerning private/religious school students who are found eligible but whose parents/guardians decline any services.