Serving Unit 5 and El Paso-Gridley District 11

Free Appropriate Public Education (FAPE) and Comprehensive Programs

A. Mackinaw Valley Special Education Association (MVSEA)
     Provides and maintains appropriate and effective educational programs in order to afford every child with a disability who is between the ages of 3 and 21, is enrolled in a MVSEA Member District, and requires special education and related services to address the adverse effect of the disability on his/her education (including transfer students and students who have been suspended and expelled from school) a free and appropriate public education (FAPE). As part of this effort, MVSEA and its Member Districts provide all eligible students who are residents of the Member Districts with a comprehensive program of special education, which includes the following:

   1. A viable organizational and financial structure
   2. Systematic procedures for identifying and evaluating the need for special education and related services
   3. A continuum of appropriate alternative placements available to meet the  needs of students for special education and related services which may include, but is not limited to, any of the following:

       a. General education classes;
       b. Special classes;
       c.  Special schools
       d. Home/hospital services; and 
       e. State operated or nonpublic services.

   4. Qualified personnel who are employed in sufficient number to provide:

       a. Supervisory services;
       b. Instructional and resource services;
       c. Related services; and
       d. Transportation services.

   5. Appropriate and adequate facilities, equipment, and materials;
   6. Functional relationships with those public and private agencies, that can supplement or enhance the special education services of the public schools;
   7. Interaction with parent(s)/guardian(s) and other concerned persons, which facilitates the educational development of students with disabilities. 
   8. Procedures for internal evaluation of the special education provided. 
   9. Continuous planning for service growth and improvement based on internal and external evaluation.

B. Public Awareness
     MVSEA and its Member Districts shall create public awareness of special education and related services and advise the public of the rights of students with disabilities pursuant to MVSEA/Member District developed procedures. In creating public awareness of special education and related services and advising the public of the rights of students with disabilities, MVSEA and its Member Districts shall comply with the following: 

   1. Information provided to the public shall be made available in each of the major languages represented in the Member Districts and in the language that will be understandable to parent(s)/guardian(s), regardless of ethnic or cultural background or hearing or visual abilities.
   2. Annual notification shall be provided to all parent(s)/guardian(s) in the Member Districts regarding the special education services available in or through MVSEA and its Member Districts and of their right to receive a copy of Part 226 of the ISBE regulations upon request.
   3. Annual dissemination of information to the community served by the Member Districts regarding the special education services available in or through MVSEA and the Member Districts and the rights of students with disabilities.
   4. Documentation, including examples as appropriate, of MVSEA’s and the Member Districts’ efforts in this regard shall be maintained in the MVSEA and Member Districts’ files.

C. Providing Free Appropriate Public Education
     The MVSEA Member Districts will provide a free appropriate public education (FAPE) to all students with disabilities between the ages of 3 and 21, including students with disabilities who have been suspended or expelled from school for more than 10 consecutive school days during the school year, or who receives a series of removals that constitute a change in placement. In order to meet the requirements of a free appropriate public education, the Member Districts shall comply with the following:

   1. All children ages birth through 21 who are suspected of having a disability, which adversely affects educational performance, are identified, located and evaluated in accordance with the Child Identification procedures set forth in 226.100 of the ISBE regulations. 
   2. The special education and related services shall be provided according to the student’s individualized education program IEP), which shall be developed in accordance with these procedures, at no cost to the parent. The IEP shall specify the special education and related services needed in order to ensure that the student receives FAPE, including any extended school year services, as appropriate. 
   3. FAPE shall be made available to all eligible students with disabilities no later than the student’s third birthday. Thus, the IEP or an FSP must be in effect for the student by his/her third birthday. When a student is referred to the district, who does not have an IFSP, the district shall within 60 school days complete the full and individual evaluation and initiate services in accordance with the evaluation and placement requirements. If the child turns 3 over the summer, the student’s IEP team shall determine the date when services under the IEP or IFSP may begin but services must begin no later than the first day of school of the fall.
   4. The special education services and placement that constitute FAPE for a particular student shall be identified based on the student’s unique needs and not the student’s disability. These services shall address all of the student’s identified needs for special education and related services.
   5. The special education and related services shall be provided to an eligible student even though the student is advancing from grade to grade. 
   6. The Member Districts shall provide nonacademic and extracurricular services and activities in a manner necessary to afford students with disabilities an equal opportunity to participate in those services and activities. 
   7. No delay shall occur in implementing a student’s IEP, including any case in which the source of payment or provision of services to he student is being determined.
   8. No eligible student with a disability between the ages of 3 and 21 may be permanently excluded from the public schools, either by direct action of the board of education, by indication of the Member District’s inability to provide educational services, or by informal agreement between the parent(s)/guardian(s) and the Member District to allow the student to remain without educational services.
   9. The Member District need not provide a student with services during periods in which the student has been removed from his/her current placement for 10 school days or fewer in a particular year, if services are not provided to a student without disabilities who has been similarly removed. However, an eligible student who has been suspended or expelled from school for more than 10 school days in a school year and constitute a pattern, the district must provide services to the extent necessary to enable the child to appropriately progress in the general curriculum; and advance toward achieving the goals set out in the student’s IEP.
   10. If a student with a disability who is receiving special education transfers to MVSEA Member District, the receiving Member District shall ensure that the student receives FAPE in conformity with the student’s IEP. If the Member District receiving school district is unable to obtain a copy of the student’s current IEP or a verbal confirmation of the requirements of the IEP from the previous school district, the student shall be enrolled and served in the setting that the Member District believes will meet the child’s needs until a copy of the current IEP is obtained or the Member District develops a new IEP. In no case shall a child be allowed to remain without services during this interim period. 
   11. In providing FAPE to student’s with disabilities who have been suspended or expelled from school, the Member District shall meet the requirements set forth in Subpart E of the ISBE regulations.
   12. The school district is responsible for ensuring that no eligible student with disabilities is denied FAPE due to jurisdictional disputes among agencies.

D. Exceptions to Providing FAPE:
   1. A student with a disability who has graduated with a standard high school diploma or its equivalent shall not be provided FAPE. A “GED” is considered a standard high school diploma. Students with disabilities who something other than a standard diploma shall remain eligible for FAPE until the student reaches the age of 21. Students who become 21 during the school year shall be allowed to complete that year. 
   2. Any student 18 through 21 years of age who is incarcerated and who is not identified as eligible and did not have an IEP in his/her educational placement immediately prior to incarceration shall not be provided FAPE.


LEGAL REF: 

20 U.S.C. 1412 (State eligibility), 1413 (local educational agency eligibility).

34 C.F.R. 300.121 (free appropriate public education-FAPE), 300.122 (exception to FAPE for certain ages), 300.300 (provision of FAPE), 300.301 (FAPE-methods and payments), 300.309 (extended school year services).

105 ILCS 5/14-1.02 (students with disabilities).

23 Ill. Admin. Code 226.50 (requirements for a FAPE), 226.700 (general)

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