The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA)

Provisions Related to Children With 

Disabilities Enrolled by Their Parents

in Private Schools

U.S. Department of Edu cation
U.S. Department of Education

Provisions Related to Children 

With Disabilities Enrolled by Their 

Parents in Private Schools

The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA)

Office of Innovation and Improvement

Office of Non-Public Education

iii

Introduction

The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) is a federal law 

that requires each state to ensure that a free appropriate public education 

(FAPE) is available to all eligible children with disabilities residing in 

that state. The information in this booklet explains the provisions related 

to, and benefits available to, children with disabilities who are enrolled 

by their parents in private schools, including religious schools, when 

the provision of FAPE is not at issue. In IDEA, these children are often 

referred to as “parentally placed private school children” with disabilities, 

and the benefits available to them differ from the benefits for children 

with disabilities in public schools.

IDEA is designed to improve educational results for all children with 

disabilities. Therefore, it provides benefits and services to children 

with disabilities in public schools and requires school districts to make 

services and benefits available to children with disabilities enrolled by 

their parents in nonpublic (private) schools. The law includes language 

requiring state education agencies (SEAs) and local education agencies 

(LEAs) to ensure the equitable participation of parentally placed children 

with disabilities in programs assisted by or carried out under the equitable 

participation requirements that apply to them. 

The LEA’s obligations to parentally placed private school children with 

disabilities are different from its responsibilities to those enrolled in 

public schools or to children with disabilities placed in a private school by 

a public agency (rather than by parents) as a means of providing FAPE. 

Parentally placed children with disabilities do not have an individual 

entitlement to services they would receive if they were enrolled in a 

public school. Instead, the LEA is required to spend a proportionate 

amount of IDEA federal funds to provide equitable services to this group 

of children. Therefore, it is possible that some parentally placed children 

with disabilities will not receive any services while others will. For those 

who receive services, the amount and type of services also may differ from 

the services the child would receive if placed in a public school by the 

parents or in a private school by a public agency. LEAs are required to 

consult with private school representatives and representatives of parents 

of parentally placed children with disabilities during the design and 

development of special education and related services for these children.

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In August 2006, the U.S. Department of Education released new 

regulations for Part B of IDEA, which went into effect Oct. 13, 

2006. These regulations are designed to assist SEAs, LEAs, private 

school representatives, and representatives of parents of parentally 

placed private school children with disabilities in understanding 

the requirements of IDEA. These groups must work together with 

parents so that the children can receive the benefits available to them 

under IDEA.

Equitable Participation

The 2004 Amendments to IDEA expand upon the 1997 

reauthorization and include new requirements to ensure that LEAs 

provide parentally placed private school children with disabilities an 

opportunity for equitable participation in programs assisted or carried 

out under IDEA, the foundation of which is the consultation process. 

The major provisions regarding children with disabilities enrolled by 

their parents in private, including religious, elementary and secondary 

schools are located in the statute at section 612(a)(10)(A) and in the 

regulations at 34 CFR §§300.130-300.144 and are summarized in the 

sections below. They concern: 

•	 Agency responsibility for conducting child find activities and

determining equitable services (34 CFR §§300.131 –300.132);

•	 Consultation requirements (34 CFR §300.134);

•	 Written affirmation of timely and meaningful consultation 

(34 CFR §300.135);

•	 Child find activities (34 CFR §300.131);

•	 Data collection requirements (34 CFR §300.132(c));

•	 Determination and provision of equitable services 

(34 CFR §§300.137-300.138);

•	 Services plans for children with disabilities receiving equitable

services (34 CFR §§300.132(b), 300.137(c) and 300.138(b));

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•	 Permission for delivery of services at the private schools by LEAs,

to the extent consistent with law (34 CFR §300.139(a));

•	 Determination of the proportionate share of federal IDEA funds 

to be spent on equitable services (34 CFR §300.133);

• 	 Non-availability of an individual entitlement of parentally placed

private school students to special education and related services 

(34 CFR §300.137(a)); and

• 	 Complaint procedures for private school officials regarding

consultation (34 CFR §300.136).

This booklet is not intended to be a replacement for careful study of 

IDEA and the regulations, which are available at http://idea.ed.gov. 

A number of additional provisions found in the law and regulations but 

that are not covered in this booklet also affect parentally placed children 

with disabilities. Therefore, it is important for all stakeholders to be 

familiar with these provisions as well. They concern:

• 	 Requirement that state and local funds supplement, not supplant,

the proportionate share of federal funds (34 CFR §300.133(d));

• 	 Right to file due process complaints regarding child find and

state complaints regarding equitable participation requirements 

(34 CFR §300.140);

• 	 Requirements that funds not benefit a private school 

(34 CFR §300.141);

• 	 Requirements regarding use of public and private school

personnel to provide equitable services (34 CFR §300.142);

• 	 Prohibition of separate classes based on school enrollment or

religion under certain circumstances (34 CFR §300.143);

• 	 Funds for equitable participation remaining in control of public

agency (34 CFR §300.144(a));

• 	 Definition of child with a disability (34 CFR §300.8);

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• 	 Special procedures for identifying specific learning disabilities 

(34 CFR §§300.307-300.311);

• 	 Requirements for highly qualified public school special education

teachers (34 CFR §300.18);

•	 Parental consent for evaluation and provision of services 

(34 CFR §300.300);

•	 60-day evaluation timeline or state-established timeline 

(34 CFR §300.301(c));

•	 State advisory panel (34 CFR §§300.167-300.169);

•	 Arrangement for a bypass (if LEAs are barred by state law from

providing services to private school students or if a public agency 

has failed or is unwilling to provide for equitable participation) 

(34 CFR §300.190);

• 	 Prohibition of mandatory medication (34 CFR §300.174);

• 	 Changing services plans without a formal team meeting 

(34 CFR §300.324(a)(4));

•	 Accommodation guidelines/alternate assessments (if private school

children with disabilities participate in statewide assessments) 

(34 CFR §300.160); and

•	 Reducing litigation to provide an opportunity for resolution

within 30 days following a due-process complaint regarding the 

child find process (34 CFR §300.510).

LEA Responsible for Conducting Child Find and 

Ensuring the Provision of Equitable Services

The most recent provisions require the LEA with jurisdiction 

over the district in which the private school is located to be 

the responsible agency for implementing IDEA requirements for 

parentally placed children with disabilities. This includes the 

obligation that the LEA locate, identify, evaluate, and spend a 

proportionate share of IDEA funds for equitable services for children 

with disabilities enrolled by their parents in private, including 

religious, elementary and secondary schools located in that district. 

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Example: 

After timely and meaningful consultation with representatives of 

private schools and parent representatives of parentally placed private 

school children with disabilities, Liberty Public Schools (LPS) will 

conduct child find activities (see page 7 for more on this term) for 

children attending private elementary and secondary schools that are 

located in its district. They also will provide special education and 

related services to eligible parentally placed children with disabilities 

who are designated to receive services and attend private schools 

located in their district. Children with disabilities enrolled in private 

schools located in LPS will access IDEA benefits from LPS, even if 

the families reside within the geographic boundaries of another school 

district. This includes children who reside out of state but attend a 

private school located within the geographical boundaries of LPS.

Consultation

Consultation is essential for ensuring that LEAs provide parentally placed 

private school children with disabilities an opportunity for equitable 

participation in programs assisted or carried out under IDEA. LEAs 

are required to consult with both private school representatives and 

parent representatives of parentally placed private school children 

with disabilities. The consultation process should occur throughout 

the school year so that parentally placed private school children with 

disabilities identified through the child find process can meaningfully 

participate in special education and related services as determined as a 

result of the consultation process. 

Consultation meetings should include a discussion of the following topics:

•	 The child find process, including:

k how children suspected of having a disability can 

participate equitably; and

k how parents, teachers, and private school representatives 

will be informed of the process. 

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• 	 The determination of the proportionate share of federal 

IDEA funds, including the determination of how that share 

was calculated.

•	 How, where, and by whom special education and related 

services will be provided including a discussion of:

k the types of services, including direct services and alternate 

service delivery mechanisms;

k how special education and related services will be 

apportioned if funds are insufficient to serve all parentally 

placed private-school children with disabilities; and

k how and when these decisions will be made.

•	 The consultation process among the school district, private 

school representatives, and representatives of parents of 

parentally placed private school children with disabilities, 

including how the process will operate throughout the school 

year to ensure meaningful participation of these children in 

special education and related services.

•	 How the LEA will provide a written explanation to the private

school representatives if the LEA disagrees with their views on 

the provision of services or the types of services.

Written Affirmation and Complaints

The LEA must obtain a written affirmation statement from 

the private school representatives who participated in the 

consultation process that timely and meaningful consultation 

has occurred. If the private school representatives do not provide 

a written affirmation within a reasonable period of time, the LEA 

must forward the documentation of the consultation process to 

the SEA.

Consultation must be both timely and meaningful and occur 

during the design and development of special education and 

related services for parentally placed children with disabilities 

to access benefits from IDEA. If private school officials believe 

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that consultation has not occurred in a timely and meaningful 

manner or that the LEA has not given due consideration to their 

views, they have the right to complain to the SEA. To submit a 

complaint, the officials must provide to the SEA the basis of the 

noncompliance by the LEA and include the applicable provisions 

in the regulations, and the LEA must forward the appropriate 

documentation to the SEA. If the private school officials are 

dissatisfied with the response from the SEA, they may submit a 

complaint to the U.S. Secretary of Education, and the SEA must 

forward appropriate documentation to the secretary.

Child Find

Each LEA must locate, identify, and evaluate all children 

with disabilities who are enrolled by their parents in private, 

including religious, elementary and secondary schools located in 

the LEA.

The child find process must be designed to ensure the equitable 

participation of parentally placed private school children with 

disabilities as well as to generate an accurate count of these 

children. After timely and meaningful consultation with 

representatives of private schools and representatives of parents of 

private school children with disabilities, the LEA must conduct 

a thorough and complete child find process to accurately 

determine the number of parentally placed children with 

disabilities attending private schools located in the LEA.

These child find activities must be similar to those the LEA 

undertakes for public school children. For instance, during 

a consultation meeting, private school officials may suggest 

distributing child find flyers in their weekly school bulletin so that 

more parents will be aware of this benefit. 

The child find process for private school children must be 

completed in a time period comparable to that for public 

school children. This includes a requirement to conduct initial 

evaluations within 60 days of receipt of parental consent or within 

the timeframe established by the state.

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The costs of carrying out child find, including individual 

evaluations, may not be considered in determining whether 

an LEA has met its obligations to expend a proportionate 

share of federal IDEA funds on providing equitable services. 

Child find obligations, including individual evaluations and 

reevaluations, exist independently from the requirement 

to expend a proportionate share of federal IDEA funds to 

provide equitable services to eligible parentally placed children 

with disabilities.

Parental Consent

The IDEA regulations include new requirements related to 

obtaining parental consent. When the parent of a homeschooled or private school child with a disability declines to 

provide consent for an initial evaluation or reevaluation to 

determine the child’s eligibility under IDEA, the LEA may not 

use its consent override procedures (the process an LEA may 

use to pursue the evaluation by overriding the parents’ refusal 

to provide consent) to seek to conduct the evaluation and, thus, 

may not include the child in the annual count of the number of 

parentally placed private school children with disabilities. 

If the LEA evaluates a parentally placed child and 

determines the child eligible under IDEA but the parent 

refuses the provision of equitable services under a services plan, 

the LEA must include this child in the count of eligible 

parentally placed private school children with disabilities in 

that district.

Another new requirement addresses the exchange of information 

between LEAs. This is particularly important given that the 

responsibilities for ensuring the delivery of equitable services 

have shifted from the LEA of the child’s residence to the LEA 

where the child’s private school is located. Parental consent 

must be obtained before any information regarding a parentally 

placed private school child is shared between LEAs. Parents and 

private school officials should be aware of this requirement in 

order to ensure that the children can participate equitably and 

receive the services and benefits available under IDEA.

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Data Collection and Record Keeping

Under the IDEA data collection requirement, LEAs must gather and 

maintain data on children with disabilities enrolled by their parents in 

private schools and submit the data to the appropriate SEA. LEAs must 

collect information about the number of children

•	 evaluated;

•	 determined to be children with disabilities; and

•	 served.

Collecting this data will provide valuable information regarding the 

extent and scope of the equitable services provision under IDEA and 

assist in ensuring that parentally placed children with disabilities are able 

to participate equitably in IDEA.

Expenditures and Proportionate Share of Federal 

IDEA Funds

To meet the requirements of IDEA, every year each LEA must expend 

a proportionate share of federal IDEA funds on equitable services 

for parentally placed private school children with disabilities. The 

formula for determining the proportionate share is discussed in the next 

section. Each LEA must, after timely and meaningful consultation 

with representatives of parentally placed private school children with 

disabilities, determine the number of parentally placed private school 

children with disabilities attending private schools located in the LEA.

If necessary for a parentally placed child to benefit from or participate 

in the services provided under the services plan, he or she must be 

provided with transportation from the school or the home to a site other 

than the private school; and from the service site to the private school, 

or to the child’s home, depending on the timing of the services. LEAs 

are not required to provide transportation from the child’s home to 

the private school. The cost of this transportation may be included in 

calculating whether the LEA has met the expenditure requirements of the 

proportionate share.

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Formula for Expenditures

Determining the amount of federal IDEA funds to be expended on 

parentally placed private school children with disabilities is critical to 

ensuring the LEA meets its obligation to spend a proportionate share of 

these funds on special education and related services for these children. 

The formula for determining the proportionate share of the LEA’s 

subgrant is based on the total number of eligible (not on the number 

served) parentally placed children with disabilities aged 3 through 21 

attending private schools located in the district in relation to the total 

number of eligible public and private school children with disabilities 

aged 3 through 21 in the LEA’s jurisdiction. The formula is:

LEAs also must expend a proportionate share of their subgrant under 

section 619 (g) of IDEA for parentally placed children with disabilities 

aged 3 through 5 who are enrolled by their parents in private schools 

that meet the definition of “elementary school” in the final Part B 

regulations. “Elementary school” is defined as a nonprofit institutional 

day or residential school, including a public elementary charter school 

that provides elementary education, as determined under state law. This 

amount is calculated relative to the number of eligible parentally placed 

private school children aged 3 through 5 with disabilities compared to the 

total number of eligible children with disabilities in its jurisdiction aged 3 

through 5.

Total Federal 

Flow-Through 

Total IDEAEligible Public 

and Private 

School 

Eligible Children 

Enrolled by Their 

Parents in Private 

Schools Located in 

the LEA 

 Total 

Proportionate 

Share for 

Parentally Placed 

Private School 

Children With 

Disabilities

X = 

10
Provision of Services

LEAs are required to expend the proportionate share of federal IDEA

funds to provide special education and related services to eligible 

parentally placed children with disabilities. This includes direct 

services to children. Services may be provided directly by the LEA 

or by a contract with a third party.

Services Plan

Each parentally placed private school child with a disability who has 

been designated to receive special education and/or related services 

must have a services plan. The services plan describes the specific 

special education and/or related services that the LEA will provide to 

the child. The LEA must ensure that a representative of the private 

school attends each meeting to develop the services plan. If the 

private school representative cannot attend, the LEA must use other 

methods to ensure participation, including individual or conference 

telephone calls. This will help ensure communication about the 

child’s needs among key stakeholders.

A services plan should reflect only the services the LEA will provide 

to a parentally placed private school child with a disability who is 

designated to receive services. It must, to the extent appropriate, 

meet the applicable individualized education program (IEP) content 

requirements. The services plan also must, to the extent appropriate, 

be developed, reviewed, and revised consistent with the requirements 

related to the IEP team, parent participation, and when IEPs must be in 

effect, as specified in the final Part B regulations.

Service Delivery (Including On-site)

Services may be provided on the premises of private, including 

religious, elementary and secondary schools, to the extent consistent 

with state and federal laws. This may be less costly in terms of 

transportation, and may be more appropriate for some children. 

Providing on-site services could help eliminate the need to transport 

children to and from services. Services may also be provided at an 

alternate location in a manner deemed appropriate by the LEA. 

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In making decisions about the delivery of services, including the 

location of services, the LEA must engage in timely and meaningful 

consultation and give due consideration to the views of the private school 

representatives and representatives of parents of parentally placed privateschool children with disabilities.

Complaint Procedure Regarding Consultation 

As noted previously, a private school official has the right to file a 

complaint with the SEA that the LEA did not engage in consultation that 

was meaningful and timely, or did not give due consideration to his or 

her views. The private school official must provide the basis for his or her 

belief that the LEA did not comply with these consultation requirements. 

As part of this complaint process, the LEA must forward appropriate 

documentation related to the private school official’s complaint to 

the SEA.

If the private school official is dissatisfied with the decision of the SEA, he 

or she may submit a complaint to the U.S. secretary of education. The 

complaint should provide the basis of the official’s belief that the LEA 

did not comply with the consultation requirements, and the SEA must 

forward the appropriate documentation to the secretary.

Preschool Children With Disabilities

Preschool children with disabilities aged 3 through 5 who are enrolled by 

their parents in private elementary schools are considered to be “parentally 

placed” if the private preschool or day-care program meets the definition 

of “elementary school” in the final Part B regulations. “Elementary 

school” is defined as a nonprofit institutional day or residential school, 

including a public elementary charter school, that provides elementary 

education, as determined under state law. Children with disabilities, aged 

3 through 5, enrolled in a private school or facility that meets the state’s 

definition of an “elementary school” would be considered parentally 

placed and the equitable participation provisions would apply. Children 

with disabilities aged 3 through 5 enrolled in a private school or facility 

that does not meet the state’s definition of “elementary school” would not 

be eligible for equitable services. However, the state’s obligation to make

FAPE available to eligible children with disabilities aged 3 through 5 remains.

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Further Information

For additional information on the Individuals with Disabilities Education 

Act, other federal education programs affecting private schools, private 

school statistics, publications, internet links to the private school 

community and similar resources, contact:

Office of Non-Public Education

Address: Office of Innovation and Improvement

 U.S. Department of Education

	 	 400 Maryland Ave. S.W.

	 	 Washington, DC 20202-5940

Phone: 202-401-1365

Fax: 202-401-1368

	 E-mail:	 OIINon-PublicEducation@ed.gov

	 Web site:	 http://www.ed.gov/about/offices/list/oii/	 	 	

 nonpublic/index.html

 Office of Special Education Programs

Address: U.S. Department of Education

	 	 550 12th St. S.W.

	 	 Washington, DC 20202

Phone: 202-245-7629

Fax: 202-245-7614

	 Web site:	 http://idea.ed.gov

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educational excellence and ensuring equal access.

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