[SE-Dir] FW: OSL&P: IDEA Part B Regulations

[ALLRAN Laura]

TO:       All District and ESD Special Education Directors

The message below is being sent to you on behalf of:

Nancy Latini, PhD
Assistant Superintendent
Student Learning & Partnerships
______________________________________________
December 3, 2008

RE:      IDEA Part B Regulations

I know that many of you have heard about the revised IDEA Part B regulations that were published on Sunday.  These regulations are effective December 31 and not before.  The federal staff will be conducting a conference call for state leaders next week.  I want to assure you that the ODE is on top of these changes and will be sharing the expectations immediately after the federal call.  I will be talking about them with our State Special Education Director Advisory committee next week as well.  To quickly summarize, there are five major changes; one of which I consider extremely major:

1.  Allows parent to terminate special education services whenever they choose to.  The request must be in writing from the parent and the district must send a prior written notice to confirm request.  No other record revisions will be necessary -- this is the major change we need to address.  Section 300.300(b)(4) has been revised to require that parental revocation of consent for the continued provision of special education and related services must be in writing and that upon revocation of consent a public agency must provide the parent with prior written notice in accordance with Sec. 300.503.

2. State assurance of hiring people with disabilities (state issue only).

3. The exception clause in Sec. 300.512(a)(1), regarding the right to be represented by non-attorneys, has been revised to apply to any party to a hearing, not just parents.

4. An extension to the timeline for the state special education public reporting (this change will not affect school district timelines).  The timeline in Sec. 300.602(b)(1)(i)(A), regarding the state's public reporting on the performance of each LEA located in the state, has been changed from 60 days to 120 days following the state's submission of the annual performance report to the Secretary.

5. Clarification on the distribution and reallocation of IDEA funds where districts have no child count (limited change).

I am aware that you may be getting guidance and comments from your own advisors.  Please know that the official ODE response will be prepared, vetted and sent to you in a timely manner.  Thank you.

If you have any difficulty viewing this document, please contact Laura Allran at laura.allran at state.or.us<mailto:laura.allran at state.or.us> or 503-947-5674.

Messages to and from this e-mail address may be made available to the public under Oregon law.
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