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Subject: Transfer Students Arriving with No
IEP Document/Provision of Comparable Services
Source: Margaret Strecker, Director, Compliance
Intended Audience: Administrators of Special Education
Date: March 29, 2007
On September 19, 2006, I sent you a SELS message on the issue of providing
special education services to students who transfer into the school district
without an IEP document, and who interviews indicate were served as special
education students in the prior district. That SELS indicated that
comparable services were required even without the IEP document in hand.
The U. S. Department of Education, Office of Special Education Programs
(OSEP) has recently indicated a change in interpretation on this issue,
based on language in the reauthorized Individuals with Disabilities
Education Act (IDEA) and the new federal regulations implementing IDEA.
This interpretation is covered in a Question and Answer provided by OSEP to
the states at a recent meeting and now posted on the OSEP website at:
http://idea.ed.gov/explore/view/p/%2Croot%2Cdynamic%2CQaCorner%2C3%2C
scroll down the page to item B.
While the question posed involved "out-of-state" transfers, the answer cited
the out-of-state transfer and in-state transfer provisions of the
regulations and the answer applies to both.
Based on OSEP's interpretation, we will revise the state regulations
accordingly. |
