Mrs. Leah Steinberg, Director of?Agudath?Israel’s?Special Education division,?Project LEARN, read the document. Then she read it again. And again.

Was she missing something?

But, no: The?national?survey?on?special education?completely omitted?the needs of nonpublic school children with disabilities.

National Study about Special Needs

Here’s the backstory:

In April 2019,?the US Department of Education?(USDE)?proposed?a survey called?the?Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) State and Local Implementation Study 2019.

It’s been ten years since Congress?last reauthorized?IDEA, and it?wanted to “examine how states, districts, and schools are identifying and supporting children and youth with disabilities.” Stakeholders will use the new data to make decisions about allocating future funds and services. Clearly, the results will be impactful for?children with special needs.

As required by law, the?USDE?posted?the?proposed?documents?in?the Federal Register?with a request?for?public comment.

Mrs. Steinberg studied the documents and?saw?that?the survey referenced home-schooled children.?There were?also references to?charter schools.?But?she detected that?there was no?mention?at all?of nonpublic school?children.

Yet,?the?IDEA?clearly states that that the local school districts are responsible to “locate, identify, and evaluate” nonpublic school children with disabilities in their district.?That process is called?“Child?Find”.

Child Find

Child?Find?states that all children from preschool through high school graduation, even up to age 21 or 22, are entitled to an evaluation?as a prerequisite to receiving services.?It explicitly includes children enrolled in?nonpublic?schools.

The?importance of providing much-needed?assessments is?self-evident. But?Child?Find is important for another reason, too.?If the outcome of the evaluation is that the child has a disability,?funding?is generated for children in nonpublic schools. That money can be used?for supports for nonpublic school students with special needs,?including professional?development or?even?direct services.

Although?the Child Find requirement for nonpublic schools has been in?effect for?decades, many school districts and parents?are?not aware of it. Often, parents?don’t?request?evaluations from the school district?and,?when they do, they?are often?wrongly denied.

This rule?now seemed?so far under the radar, nonpublic schools?were not?even included in the national survey!

Agudah Responds

Mrs. Steinberg and?Rabbi Abba Cohen,?Vice President?for Government?Affairs and Washington Director,?discussed?the?matter and they co-authored comments?to the US Department of Education, expressing?their?surprise.?“Free comprehensive evaluations of, and services for, students in public and nonpublic schools should take place as required by law,” they wrote. “Excluding nonpublic school student sends the wrong message — that these students are ineligible, irrelevant and undeserving.”

Agudath?Israel is?pleased?that the?USDE?responded?quickly and changed the survey to include nonpublic school children.

“We are very grateful to the?USDE?for including our children with disabilities. They?are?taking steps to help?make?sure the responsibilities for children with special needs in nonpublic schools are addressed appropriately,” says Mrs. Steinberg.

“All children should get the assistance they are entitled to under the law,” Rabbi Cohen agreed.

Moving Forward

Every?school district in the United States?should now better?understand its responsibility to?all?children with special needs.

And every parent of a child with special needs should understand it, too.

If you have a child that could benefit from an evaluation feel free to?contact Mrs. Steinberg and Project LEARN for assistance.

You can reach Mrs. Steinberg at 212 797 9000 X326/325?or?lsteinberg@agudah.org.?