I appreciate the opportunity to comment on the proposed regulations.
The requirements as proposed do not adequately conform to the spirit of the existing amendments as required by IDEA.
1. I oppose the proposed change for parental consent prior to providing special education services to transfer students when there is a disagreement on the provision of services. As you are probably aware currently IEP’s are a team effort with parental involvement where consensus is reached. I am also puzzled by potential meaning of “consultation”, which could be construed as contrary to the IEP “team approach”. This proposed requirement, if adopted could negatively impact children with disabilities.
2. The Child Study Committee is an important and valuable tool that provides timelines that adhered to and useful for all parties involved. The existing timelines should be preserved and the current proposal as stated could negate parental involvement.
3. The proposed timeline for eligibility decisions (65 days) do not match the federal guidelines (60 days). Most certainly this is an oversight on VDOE’s part and I am requesting that the final rule conform to existing federal guidelines.
4. VDOE regulations for disability categories should not exceed those defined in federal regulations. As you know, “autism” is a spectrum and children can fall anywhere within that spectrum. VDOE should not specify criteria for autism, thereby potentially taking away elegibility determinations for children who need services.
5. Why in the world would VDOE propose to strike the following language:
“Each local education agency must make a good faith effort to assist the child to achieve the goals, including benchmarking or objectives listed in the IEP”
This language is not harsh rulemaking language. It basically says “try to do a good job in meeting the goals the IEP team set”. Why would VDOE strike this language? I strongly oppose this modification.
6. LEA personnel should not be voting members on local advisory committees due to the obvious potential for conflict of interest. I do believe that these individuals should be free to comment like any other concerned citizen.
