Miscellaneous

Would your state accept the assignment of a surrogate from the health and human services agency or would you only accept the assignment from the local education agency or court when conducting a state complaint investigation?  When the student is a ward of the state: Do you communicate with case managers with or without a release? Do they get copies of complaints they’ve filed with our without a release?

Does anyone have a form for the appointment of a Surrogate Parent by the SEA or that could be used by an LEA who has determined that a child is in need of a surrogate parent?

Just wondering if any other SEAs have thought of any creative ways to support families and school divisions once students return to school as to avoid overloading the dispute resolution processes and more importantly to ensure that students get what they need  without having to wait on these processes.

How does your state support districts in their written adoption of state and federal special education regulations? Do you offer templates for policies and procedures, or do you promote direct referencing of the regulations? Do you provide explanatory guidelines that help to interpret the regulations for district personnel who are not experts in special education, and is this different from explanations that support families?

In your state, does the State require school systems to permanently retain special education records or do school systems have a choice to permanently retain special education records?  Is there a requirement to maintain hard and/or electronic copies?

How are different states interpreting language involving significant disproportionality, specifically “publicly report” on any revisions by the LEAs to their policies as a result of a finding of significant disproportionality. Are states allowing LEAs to report the revisions to their local school board or post on their website to meet this requirement?

I have a question that came up yesterday in the CASE Weatherly Review (quarterly update on special ed case law by Julie Weatherly). This question is in the context of the extreme personnel shortages we are seeing in special education and related services providers. Federal regs state that if an LEA is unable to provide services a child needs, the SEA must use the payments that would have been available to the LEA and provide the services. (34 CFR 300.227)  Has the use of this provision ever come up in any of your states?

I recently received a question I was not sure how to answer about required qualifications for a behavior support/counseling service provider. Do any of your states have specific qualifications required for related service providers?

Does anyone have their procedural safeguards translated into Oromo? (Spoken primarily in parts of Ethiopia, Kenya, Somalia, and Egypt.)

We have been asked to provide a report to a state legislative committee on partial consent to IEPs, including information on how other states handle the matter.   We would really appreciate any help you can provide on the following: Does your state have regulations, policies or procedures related to consent to initial IEPs? Does your state require parental consent to subsequent changes to IEPs in one or more areas?   If so, does your state have regulations, policies or procedures related to partial consent to these matters.