6161.3 6161.3Instruction
Comparability of Services
The Superintendent or his/her designee shall pursue funding under Title I of the Federal Strengthening and Improving of Elementary and Secondary Schools Act to supplement instructional services and activities in order to improve the educational opportunities of educationally disadvantaged or deprived children.
All District schools, regardless of whether they receive Title I funds, shall provide services that, taken as a whole, are substantially comparable. Teachers, administrators and other staff shall be assigned to schools in a manner that ensures equivalency among the District s schools. Curriculum materials and instructional supplies shall be provided in a manner that ensures equivalency among the District s schools.
The Board of Education believes that at all times its schools should be equally as well equipped and maintained as may be possible within existing financial limitations.
It shall be the policy of the Board of Education to insure comparability of services funded by state and local sources in both Title I project schools and non-project schools. The Board of Education will therefore:
1. Maintain a district-wide salary schedule.
2. Provide services with federal, state and local funds in schools serving Title I project areas that are at least comparable to services in non-project areas.
3. Use federal, state and local funds to provide for an equivalence among all schools in all schools with the same grade levels in teachers, administrators, auxiliary personnel.
4. Use federal, state and local funds to provide for an equivalence among all schools with the same grade levels in the provision of curriculum and instructional materials, books and supplies.
Nothing in this policy will prohibit the administration from addressing identified problems at individual schools.
Private School Students and Comparability of Services
The Board of Education is responsible for identifying disabled students attending private schools when the students have not been placed in such schools by the Board of Education or other public entities. When disabled students attending private school are identified, the Board of Education will offer a free appropriate public education to such students in the public schools.
Also, the Board of Education will offer disabled students attending private schools access to federally funded special education programs in accordance with the law. Any such access will ensure public control of funds and property and public supervision of staff serving the private school students. Any federally funded Education of Handicapped Act Part B (EHA-B) services for private school students will be comparable, when taken as a whole, to services provided to other disabled students served by the Board of Education.
Legal Reference: Title I Improving the Academic Achievement of the Disadvantages, as implemented by 34 C.F.R. part
200 of the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001
Agostini v. Felton 521 U.S. 103 (1997)
Policy adopted: June 3, 2008
Instruction
Private School Students and Comparability of Services
The Board of Education has implemented procedures which ensure the identification and proper participation of private school students in special education programs consistent with state and federal mandates.
September Information Package
In September, a child identification package is sent to each private school within the town. This package contains:
1. A letter describing the Board of Education s identification and Planning and Placement Team (PPT) process. The letter describes the pre-referral process that must take place before a special education referral for evaluation and instructions for using the standard referral for evaluation form.
2. A copy of the pre-referral form and the standard referral for evaluation form.
3. The private school consultation form, asking the knowledgeable private school officials to list the names of disabled students in the school who have nexus with the school district, the students ages, disabled categories , and services received. The form also asks the knowledgeable private school officials to estimate future disabling prevalence for nexus students.
Procedures for identifying disabled students attending private schools are exactly the same as for students attending the public schools. These procedures are provided in the child identification section of these procedures. The same pre-referral procedures are required and the same standard referral sheet is to be used. The students and their parents/guardians retain all the procedural safeguards outlined under the federal laws and regulations.
The same standards for PPT membership apply for cases when the student attends a private school. The administrator, student services representative, and teacher must come from the public schools. In addition, every attempt is made to involve the teacher who knows the student best from the private school.
Access
Access to the federally funded programs is made on an annual basis, subject to the annual granting of federal EHA-B funds. During the preparation of the grant application for the funds and throughout the administration of the project, data from the private school consultation form is considered. Additional consultation with the private schools is conducted on a case by case basis, as necessary.
Parents/guardians have the right to decline the free appropriate public education which is available to their children and guaranteed by state and federal laws in the public schools. If the parents/guardians of a student identified as needing special education decide to enroll their child in a private school, they also decline the free appropriate public education. Any such student still has a right to benefit from special education services which are provided from federal funds awarded annually to the public school district having jurisdiction.
Provisions of Services
The federal regulations specify that disabled students enrolled in private schools by their parents/guardians have the right to equitably participate in special education programs and services provided with federal EHA-B funds. The genuine opportunity for equitable participation is not the same as the free appropriate public education guarantee for students enrolled in public schools. To meet this federal genuine opportunity requirement, the public school district having jurisdiction must ensure that the average amount of EHA-B entitlement funds expended on behalf of an eligible private school student is no less than the average amount of such funds expended to benefit public school students.
The average amount of EHA-B funds expended on services for public school students is not the same as the per capita amount on which a public school district s entitlement is based. Virtually all school districts target EHA-B entitlement funds on specific activities which do not directly benefit all of the students who were included in the district s annual student count which established its entitlement amount.
To determine the average expenditure for public school students, it is necessary to examine a school district s application for EHA-B entitlement funds and specifically the public program description pages, to determine the types of services proposed/approved, numbers and grades of student to be served, and also the costs attributed to same. Utilizing such information, it is possible to calculate the average per student expenditure amount for public school students which can then serve as the criterion amount for determining the provision of services to each eligible private school student.
If the amount of the federal funds available to provide services to an eligible private school student cannot meet all of the student s special education needs, the student s parents/guardians are encouraged to consider enrolling their child in public school.
For any services provided with federal EHA-B funds, the funds expended must benefit the student and not benefit the private school. The public schools maintain control of all public funds and property used to serve private school students. Special education staff serving private school students are supervised by the Director of Student Services and not by the private school administration.
Legal Reference: Title I Improving the Academic Achievement of the Disadvantages, as implemented by 34 C.F.R.
part 200 of the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001
Agostini v. Felton 521 U.S. 103 (1997)
Regulation approved: June 3, 2008