When Can A School District Exit a Child from Special Education?

The IDEA requires that states receiving federal IDEA funds provide a FAPE to all public school children with disabilities residing in the state through age 21. 20 U.S.C. § 1412(a)(1)(A); 34 C.F.R. § 300.101. This requirement ends when: 

1.  The student has exceeded the age of eligibility for FAPE under state law. 20 U.S.C. § 1412(a)(1)(A); 34 C.F.R. § 300.101; Iowa Admin. Code r. 281–41.102(1)(a). In Iowa, this is until the student's 21st birthday or through the end of the school year in which the student turns 21. 

2.  The student no longer meets the legal definition of a “child with a disability.” 34 C.F.R. § 300.8(a); 34 C.F.R. § 300.306(b); Iowa Admin. Code r. 281—41.305(1)(b)(1).

3.  The student’s parents or guardians revoke consent in writing for the continued provision of special education and related services. 34 C.F.R. § 300.300(b)(4); Iowa Admin. Code r. 281–41.300.2(d).

4.   The student has graduated from high school with a regular high school diploma or higher diploma, but a regular high school diploma does not include a recognized equivalent of a diploma, such as a general equivalency diploma, certificate of completion, certificate of attendance, or any similar lesser credential. 34 C.F.R. § 300.102(a)(3)(iv); Iowa Admin. Code r. 281–41.102(1)(c)(4).  

A Regular High School Diploma Cannot Be Based on Coursework Aligned with Iowa’s Alternative Academic Achievement Standards and Alternative Assessment

 In the past year, I've responded to several calls from parents who were struggling to respond to challenges from their child’s private and Medicaid insurers, asking the parents how their children, who the parents and school district said had substantially limited expressive and receptive communication skills and functioned at the level of a two-to-three-year old, had earned regular high school diplomas. 

Calls like this concern me because students whose high school instruction was entirely or mostly based on Iowa’s Essential Elements are not eligible to receive a regular high school diploma.  

Under state and federal law, a regular high school diploma may not be based on high school credits in courses based on Iowa’s Essential Elements for Students with the Most Significant Cognitive Disabilities. 34 C.F.R. § 300.102(a)(3)(iv); Iowa Admin. Code r. 281–41.102(1)(c)(4). A regular high school diploma is the high school diploma (or a higher form of diploma) awarded to the vast majority of graduating students, and doesn’t include any other form of diploma, GED, certificate of completion, certificate of attendance, or any similar lesser credential. 34 C.F.R. § 300.102(a)(3)(iv); Iowa Admin. Code r. 281–41.102(1)(c)(4).

The reasons state and federal law do not permit a regular high school diploma to be based on high school courses aligned with alternate academic achievement standards include:

1. Preserving the Integrity and Value of the High School Diploma. The legal requirement that a regular diploma must be aligned with a state's regular academic achievement standards prevents dilution of the diploma’s value in certifying to employers, postsecondary institutions, and others that a graduate has met the state’s academic requirements. 34 C.F.R. § 300.102; K.L. v. R.I. Bd. of Educ., 907 F.3d 639, 652 (1st Cir. 2018).

2. Preventing Premature Termination of Special Education. The IDEA requires that students with disabilities receive a FAPE until they either age out or graduate with a regular high school diploma. If a regular diploma could be awarded based on alternate, less rigorous academic standards, school districts could use such diplomas to terminate special education services before students with disabilities have aged out of special education eligibility at age 21. See e.g., K.L. at 652.

3. Ensuring Access to the General Curriculum. Requiring that alternate academic achievement standards are based on the state’s regular academic achievement standards ensures access of children with significant cognitive disabilities to the general curriculum (34 C.F.R. 300.39(b)(3)(ii); Iowa Admin. Code. r. 281-41.39(c)(3)(ii)) and to prepare for further education, employment, and independent living. 20 U.S.C. § 1400(d)(1)(A).

4. Ensuring Transparency and Informed Decision-Making. The IDEA and the Every Student Succeeds Act require that IEP teams and parents be informed about the implications of taking courses based on alternative academic achievement standards and alternate assessments. 34 C.F.R. § 300.160(3); 34 C.F.R. § 200.6; Iowa Admin. Code r. 281-41.160.

Closed Courses -- In High School?

Since mid-July, I’ve been fielding phone calls from parents asking why their children, who are enrolled in small and medium size Iowa public school districts, have been unable, for two or more years, to enroll in courses at their high schools that are state-required for graduation.  They ask, “If these courses are required, how can they be closed?”

Many of these parents are shocked when I explain that although the Iowa Administrative Code sets out the specific course credits that students must complete to earn a diploma, Iowa Law does NOT require public high schools to offer more than one section of those courses per school year.

   

Students in Iowa’s large school districts generally encounter few, if any, scheduling problems that interfere with completion of required graduation credits.  However, in order to complete their required accredited graduation credits, some students in some small and medium districts must enroll in online (“distance learning”) courses (see e.g., http://www.kirkwood.edu/distancelearning ), or to enroll in courses offered at regional centers (see, e.g., Linn County Regional Center, at http://www.kirkwood.edu/linnacademies ). In regard to the second option, on the condition that students pass such courses, some school districts underwrite the cost of tuition and transportation. 

Iowa Code § 275.1 requires the state’s area education agency boards to develop detailed studies and surveys of the school districts within their respective areas for the purpose of providing for reorganization of school districts in order to effect more economical operation and the attainment of higher standards of education in the schools.   If those agencies are not doing so now, as a part of their duties under Iowa Code § 275.1(2), they should be investigating the extent to which school districts are  restricting the number of seats available annually in core graduation courses. 

The experience of taking courses online or at regional centers is not equivalent to taking the same courses in a high school.  Students taking courses that originate beyond their school districts are burdened with a host of logistical,  adjustment, and sometimes economic issues, that include, but are not limited to:  additional registration requirements, different and additional requirements of online or regional center instructors, a possible lack at home of a computer and Internet connection sufficient to work on courses at home, a lack of available computers at the school to work on online courses during school hours, and a loss of significant amounts of time spent riding buses or otherwise commuting to and from a regional center site (often returning after dark).   

And if this isn't difficult enough, in the context of these courses, what happens to the provision of accommodations and services required by some students’ IEPs and 504 plans?