Iowa Admin. Code r. 281-41.148 - Placement of children by parents when FAPE is at issue
(1)
General. An LEA or AEA
is not required to pay for the cost of education, including special education
and related services, of a child with a disability at a private school or
facility if that agency made FAPE available to the child and the parents
elected to place the child in a private school or facility. However, the public
agency must include that child in the population whose needs are addressed
consistent with rules
281-41.131
(256,256B, 34CFR300 ) to
281-41.144
(256,256B, 34CFR300 ) and Iowa Code section
256.12.
(2)
Disagreements about
FAPE. Disagreements between the parents and a public agency regarding
the availability of a program appropriate for the child, and the question of
financial reimbursement, are subject to the due process procedures in rules
281-41.504
(256B, 34CFR300 ) to
281-41.520
(256B, 34CFR300 ).
(3)
Reimbursement for private school placement. If the parents of
a child with a disability who previously received special education and related
services under the authority of a public agency enroll the child in a private
preschool, elementary school, or secondary school without the consent of or
referral by the public agency, a court or an administrative law judge may
require the agency to reimburse the parents for the cost of that enrollment if
the court or administrative law judge finds that the agency had not made FAPE
available to the child in a timely manner prior to that enrollment and that the
private placement is appropriate. A parental placement may be found to be
appropriate by an administrative law judge or a court even if it does not meet
the state standards that apply to education provided by the SEA and
LEAs.
(4)
Limitation on
reimbursement. The cost of reimbursement described in subrule
41.148(3) may be reduced or denied in any of the following cases.
a. At the most recent lEP team meeting that
the parents attended prior to removal of the child from the public school, the
parents did not inform the lEP team that they were rejecting the placement
proposed by the public agency to provide FAPE to their child, including stating
their concerns and their intent to enroll their child in a private school at
public expense;
b. At least ten
business days, including any holidays that occur on a business day, prior to
the removal of the child from the public school, the parents did not give
written notice to the public agency of the information described in
41.148(4)"a";
c.
If, prior to the parents' removal of the child from the public school, the
public agency informed the parents, through the notice requirements described
in 41.503(1)"a, " of its intent to evaluate the child,
including a statement of the purpose of the evaluation that was appropriate and
reasonable, but the parents did not make the child available for the
evaluation; or
d. Upon a judicial
finding of unreasonableness with respect to actions taken by the
parents.
(5)
Exceptions. Notwithstanding the notice requirement in
41.148(4)"a" and"b," the cost of
reimbursement:
a. Must not be reduced or
denied for failure to provide the notice if:
(1) The school prevented the parents from
providing the notice;
(2) The
parents had not received notice, pursuant to rule
281-41.504
(256B, 34CFR300 ), of the notice requirement in 41.148(4)"a"
and"b"; or
(3)
Compliance with 41.148(4) "a" and "b" would
likely result in physical harm to the child; and
b. May, in the discretion of the court or an
administrative law judge , not be reduced or denied for failure to provide this
notice if:
(1) The parents are not literate
or cannot write in English; or
(2)
Compliance with 41.148(4)"a" and"b" would
likely result in serious emotional harm to the child.
Notes
State regulations are updated quarterly; we currently have two versions available. Below is a comparison between our most recent version and the prior quarterly release. More comparison features will be added as we have more versions to compare.
No prior version found.