Least Restrictive Environment (LRE):
LRE means that placement of students with disabilities in special classes, separate schools or other removal from the regular educational environment occurs only when the nature or severity of the disability is such that, even with the use of supplementary aids and services, education cannot be satisfactorily achieved. The placement of an individual student with a disability in the LRE must:
provide the special education needed by the student;
provide for education of the student to the maximum extent appropriate to the needs of the student with other students who do not have disabilities; and
be as close as possible to the student's home.
The individualized education programs (IEPs) of students with disabilities must be developed in conformity with the LRE requirements as follows:
placement must be based on the student’s IEP and determined at least annually;
placement must be as close as possible to the student’s home, and unless the student’s IEP requires some other arrangement, the student must be educated in the school he or she would have attended if not disabled;
in selecting the LRE, consideration must be given to any potential harmful effect on the student or on the quality of services that he or she needs; and
a student with a disability must not be removed from education in age-appropriate regular classrooms solely because of needed modifications in the general education curriculum.