Source: https://www.parentcenterhub.org/qa2/
Timestamp: 2019-04-25 11:51:34+00:00

Document:
We’ve used the word “you” to speak directly to parents and families, but the details of IDEA’s requirements will also be useful to education professionals working with children with disabilities and their families.
As you read the explanations about IDEA’s requirements, you will find that many are footnoted. These footnotes are provided to lead you to research supporting the discussion in question or to refer you to specific sections of the Federal regulations, such as §300.1. (The § symbol means “section.”) These references to IDEA will help you locate the precise sections in the Federal regulations that address the issue being discussed.
For example, many of IDEA’s requirements for parental participation are found in §300.300. This reference tells you that, if you wanted to read the exact words the regulations use, you would look under Section 300.300 of the Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) for Title 34 (sometimes referred to as 34 CFR). While the CFR is available in many libraries, the most current (and searchable) version of IDEA’s regulations is available online at the eCRF.
One of IDEA’s foundational principles is the right of parents to participate in educational decision making regarding their child with a disability. The law is very specific about what school systems must do to ensure that parents have the opportunity to participate, if they so choose.
The specifics of these rights are discussed in multiple other CPIR documents—see the resources section of this Q&A—but, at a glance, you can see how comprehensively IDEA supports parental involvement in school-related decision making. You have the right to be involved at virtually every step along the way from your child’s identification as possibly having a disability to the special education and related services he or she receives and where those will be provided.
Let’s take a look now at how the school system will ensure that you have the opportunity to participate, if you so choose. It all begins with what IDEA calls providing prior written notice.
1. What’s prior written notice?
2. So the school will tell me about upcoming meetings?
3. What is NOT a meeting?
4. Are meetings the only time the school will provide parents with prior written notice?
This means that the school system must give you prior written notice notice before it may take action or refuse to take action with regard to identifying your child as a “child with a disability,” evaluating your child, determining your child’s placement, or changing it. Notice is also required regarding providing FAPE to your child—in other words, the school system must provide prior written notice a reasonable time before it begins providing FAPE to your child, refuses to provide FAPE, or changes (or refuses to change) what that free appropriate public education involves (e.g., the services and supports that your child receives).
5. What type of information will the notice include?
A description of the action proposed or refused by the school.
An explanation of why the school proposes or refuses to take the action.
A description of each evaluation procedure, assessment, record, or report the school used as a basis for its decision.
A statement that the parents of a child with a disability have protection under IDEA’s procedural safeguards and, if this isn’t a referral for the child’s initial evaluation, how the parents can obtain a copy of them.
Sources for parents to contact to find help in understanding these provisions.
A description of other options that the IEP team considered and the reasons why those options were rejected.
6. What else should I know about prior written notice?
7. Who might I contact to find help in understanding IDEA’s provisions?
The typical prior written notice will tell you what sources parents can turn to for help in understanding IDEA’s requirements. (23) We’d also like to recommend that you get in touch with your state’s PTI, the parent training and information center. Every state has at least one PTI, all of which are funded under IDEA. Some states also have a CPRC, a community parent resource center, which may serve a well-designated geographic area or audience.
Visit our Find Your Parent Center page, to identify your state’s PTI and/or CPRC.
8. You mentioned that parents have “protection under IDEA’s procedural safeguards.” What kind of protection? What safeguards?
The Department’s model form is 47 pages long—true testament to how comprehensive the procedural safeguards notice is intended to be. Its purpose is also clear: to ensure that parents know their specific rights and recourses under the law and that they understand those rights and recourses.
9. Will the school system automatically send me the procedural safeguards notice, or do I have to ask for it?
And, as mentioned under question #7, parents have other sources they can turn to for help in understanding IDEA’s provisions, especially their State’s PTI or CPRC. Your school system’s prior written notice should also identify sources you can contact to find help in understanding IDEA’s provisions.
Being notified by the school system about meetings and other actions regarding your child’s education is a critical aspect of your right as a parent to be involved in that education—but not the only critical aspect. At certain times and for specific things, you also have the right to give or refuse your parental consent. Let’s take a look at how IDEA defines parental consent and when the school system must ask for (and receive) your consent.
Consent within IDEA means that you, as parents, have been fully informed of all information that’s relevant to the activity for which your consent is being sought and that you agree to the activity in writing. (30) The school system will use prior written notice to inform you fully. Prior written notice, you’ll recall, must include a comprehensive description of the activity the school system is proposing. Only by building a foundation of understanding can your informed consent be given.
10. When will the school ask for my consent?
11. What’s considered a “reasonable effort” to obtain my consent?
12. What if I don’t give my consent?
You explicitly refuse to provide consent.
You don’t respond to a request to provide consent.
Confused about when a school system may attempt to override a parent’s lack of consent? We’ve summarized the matter in the box below.
When parents do not give parental consent for…the initial evaluation or reevaluation of the child, is consent override an option for schools?
For children who are in public school, yes. Schools may pursue overriding the parents’ lack of consent, if they so choose, but only to the extent that doing so does not violate State law regarding parental consent.
For children who are in private school at the parents’ expense, no. Consent override is not an option open to schools.
For children who are being home-schooled, no. Consent override is not an option open to schools.
When parents don’t give parental consent for… the initial provision of special education and related services to their child, is consent override an option for schools?
No. This is true whether the child is being educated in public school, private school, or at home, via home-schooling.
13. How is my child’s education affected, if I don’t give my consent?
The answer to this question will depend on the issue for which you do not give your consent. For example, the school system must have your consent before it may begin providing special education and related services to your child for the first time. If you don’t consent, then your child will not receive these services. His or her education will continue as is.
Another example might be your signature on the IEP you and the school develop for your child. Signing the IEP can mean different things in different places. In some school systems, a parent may be asked to sign the IEP to show that he or she attended the IEP meeting. In other school systems, a parent’s signature on the IEP may mean that the parent agrees with the services to be provided to the child—consent for the services, in other words. It’s important to know how your school system interprets your signature on an IEP. Is it asking for your consent or merely documenting your participation?
14. So I can revoke my consent for special education and related services after initially providing it ?
Yes. At any time after providing initial consent, you may revoke consent, in writing, for the continued provision of special education and related services. (41) Once you revoke consent, the school system may no longer provide special education services to your child, and they may not use mediation or due process procedures to try to override your revocation of consent.
Once you revoke consent, your child will be no longer receive the services and supports that were included in his or her IEP. Additionally, there are also a number of other consequences that may arise, such as how your child will be disciplined. Therefore, it is important for you to ask questions about how your child’s education will be affected before revoking consent.
We’ve touched upon a host of parental rights and responsibilities in this Q&A, all of which are intended to ensure that you, as parents, have the opportunity to take part in the educational decisions that are made for your child with a disability. We’d like to end this Q&A with a starter list of resources of additional information. We hope you find them helpful as you meet with, and work with, the school system responsible for making a free appropriate public education available to—and successful for—your child.
The CPIR is a part of OSEP’s technical assistance network. Here’s a starter list of its information for families.
4 | Section 601(c)(5), Findings, Public Law 108-446, The Individuals with Disabilities Education Improvement Act of 2004.
5 | 34 CFR §300.501(b)—Opportunity to examine records; parent participation in meetings.
7 | §300.306(a)(1)—Determination of eligibility.
9 | §300.322(c)—Parent participation: Other methods to ensure parent participation.
10 | §§300.501(c) and 300.327—Opportunity to examine records; parent participation in meetings—Parent involvement in placement decisions; and Educational placements, respectively.
11 | §§300.501(c)(3) and 300.328—Opportunity to examine records; parent participation in meetings—Parent involvement in placement decisions; and Alternative means of meeting participation, respectively.
13 | §300.503(a)—Prior written notice by the public agency; content of notice: Notice.
14 | §300.322(a)—Parent participation: Public agency responsibility: General.
15 | §300.322(b)—Parent participation: Information provided to parents.
17 | §300.501(b)(3)—Opportunity to examine records; parent participation in meetings.
18 | §300.503(a)—Prior written notice by the public agency; content of notice: Notice.
20 | §300.503(b)—Prior written notice by the public agency; content of notice: Content of notice.
21 | §300.503(c)—Prior written notice by the public agency; content of notice: Notice in understandable language.
23 | §300.503(b)—Prior written notice by the public agency; content of notice: Content of notice.
25 | §300.504(a)(1)—Procedural safeguards notice: General.
26 | §300.504(c)—Procedural safeguards notice: Contents.
27 | §300.504(c)—Procedural safeguards notice: Contents.
28 | §300.504(a)—Procedural safeguards notice: General.
29 | §300.504(b)—Procedural safeguards notice: Internet Web site.
31 | §300.300(a)—Parental consent: Parental consent for initial evaluation.
32 | §300.300(b)—Parental consent: Parental consent for services.
33 | §300.300(c)—Parental consent: Parental consent for reevaluation.
34 | §300.322(d)—Parent participation: Conducting an IEP meeting without a parent in attendance.
35 | §300.300(a)(3) and (c)(1)—Parental consent.
37 | §300.300(d)(4)—Parental consent: Other consent requirements.
38 | §300.300(b)—Parental consent: Parental consent for services.
39 | §300.300(d)(3)—Parental consent: Other consent requirements.
41 | §300.300(b)(4)—Parental consent for services.

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