The USDOE’s Office of Special Education Programs (OSEP) has published policy guidance reaffirming states’ obligations to ensure implementation of The Individuals with Disabilties Education Act (IDEA).
The guidance and accompanying “Dear Colleague” letter address the IDEA’s general supervision requirement. States are required to monitor local school districts and early intervention services to ensure children with disabilities and their families access their rights under IDEA.
OSEP’s updated guidance provides states with accessible and actionable information necessary to timely identify and correct noncompliance and help ensure that the rights guaranteed under the IDEA to children with disabilities and their families are protected. OSEP is further clarifying or expanding positions in the following areas:
- A state must not ignore credible allegations of noncompliance made outside its formal monitoring visit cycle;
- States must monitor each local school district or Early Intervention Services program at least once within the six-year cycle of the state’s State Performance Plan/Annual Performance Reports;
- States must issue a timely finding of noncompliance, generally within three months of the state’s identification of the noncompliance; and
- States, local school districts, and Early Intervention Services programs or providers must verify the correction of each individual case of child-specific identified noncompliance, rather than a subset.
Click here to access the State Performance Plan.
Click here to access the guidance document.
Click here to access the “Dear Colleague” letter.
