[Federal Register Volume 65, Number 70 (Tuesday, April 11, 2000)]
[Notices]
[Pages 19636-19637]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 00-8962]



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Part IX





Department of Education





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Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services; List of 
Correspondence; Notice

  Federal Register / Vol. 65, No. 70 / Tuesday, April 11, 2000 / 
Notices  

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DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION


Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services List of 
Correspondence

AGENCY: Department of Education.

ACTION: List of Correspondence from October 1, 1999 through December 
31, 1999.

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SUMMARY: The Secretary is publishing the following list pursuant to 
section 607(d) of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act 
(IDEA). Under section 607(d) of IDEA, the Secretary is required, on a 
quarterly basis, to publish in the Federal Register a list of 
correspondence from the Department of Education received by individuals 
during the previous quarter that describes the interpretations of the 
Department of Education of IDEA or the regulations that implement IDEA.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: JoLeta Reynolds or Rhonda Weiss. 
Telephone: (202) 205-5507. Individuals who use a telecommunications 
device for the deaf (TDD) may call (202) 205-5465 or the Federal 
Information Relay Service (FIRS) at 1-800-877-8339 between 8:00 a.m. 
and 8:00 p.m., Eastern time, Monday through Friday, except Federal 
holidays.
    Individuals with disabilities may obtain a copy of this notice in 
an alternate format (e.g., Braille, large print, audiotape, or computer 
diskette) on request to Katie Mincey, Director of the Alternate Formats 
Center. Telephone: (202) 205-8113.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The following list identifies correspondence 
from the Department issued between October 1, 1999 and December 31, 
1999.
    Included on the list are those letters that contain interpretations 
of the requirements of IDEA and its implementing regulations, as well 
as letters and other documents that the Department believes will assist 
the public in understanding the requirements of the law and its 
regulations. The date and topic addressed by a letter are identified, 
and summary information is also provided, as appropriate. To protect 
the privacy interests of the individual or individuals involved, 
personally identifiable information has been deleted, as appropriate.

Part A--General Provisions

Section 607--Requirements for Prescribing Regulations

Topic Addressed: Policy Interpretation Under Part B of the Individuals 
With Disabilities Education Act
     OSEP memorandum 00-1 dated October 7, 1999 to Chief State 
School Officers, regarding the determination that the letter dated 
October 8, 1998 to Wisconsin Superintendent of Public Instruction John 
T. Benson regarding public charter schools contained an interpretation 
that raised an issue of national significance to the implementation of 
Part B of IDEA.

Part B--Assistance for Education of All Children With Disabilities

Section 611--Authorization; Allotment; Use of Funds; Authorization of 
Appropriations

Topic Addressed: Use of Funds
     Letter dated December 27, 1999 to Northern Mariana Islands 
Federal Program Officer William Matson, regarding whether use of Part B 
funds for the purchase of a school bus to be used exclusively to meet 
the special needs of eligible disabled students is an allowable cost.

Section 612--State Eligibility

Topic Addressed: Free Appropriate Public Education
     Letter dated November 8, 1999 to Fredric B. Garner, M.D., 
clarifying that decisions about services provided to each child must be 
based on each child's special education and related services needs, and 
that the entitlement under Part B of IDEA is to a free appropriate 
public education, and not to a particular label.
Topic Addressed: Least Restrictive Environment
     Letter dated November 19, 1999 to Montgomery County 
Maryland Public Schools Department of Special Education Director 
Raymond W. Bryant, regarding the application of the least restrictive 
environment requirements to the proposed movement of children with 
disabilities from special education centers to other settings, 
including requirements to make available a continuum of alternative 
placements and to give parents written prior notice in accordance with 
the change of placement procedures.
     Letter dated December 27, 1999 to individual, (personally 
identifiable information redacted), regarding whether a State is 
compelled to maintain a special or residential school placement within 
a State if an appropriate placement for a child with a disability is 
available at no cost to the parents.
Topic Addressed: Children With Disabilities Placed in Private Schools 
by Their Parents
     Letter dated November 15, 1999 to Baton Rouge, Louisiana 
Special Education Department Director Sharon M. Crary, regarding the 
requirement for public agencies to expend a proportionate share of 
available Federal funds on services for parentally-placed private 
school children with disabilities, even though districts can count for 
purposes of generating Part B funds only those parentally-placed 
private school children with disabilities whom they are serving, and 
clarifying the two required child counts for these children.
Topic Addressed: State Educational Agency General Supervisory 
Responsibility
     Letter dated October 29, 1999 to Washington State Director 
of Special Education Douglas Gill, responding to an inquiry about the 
doctrine of res judicata and clarifying that a State is not relieved of 
its obligation to resolve an issue raised in a complaint filed with the 
State if the merits of that issue were not decided in a prior due 
process hearing involving the same parties.
     Letter dated December 3, 1999 to California Department of 
Education Chief Deputy Superintendent Leslie Fausset, regarding the 
State's longstanding failure to exercise its general supervisory 
responsibility effectively through a corrective action plan to achieve 
State-wide compliance and the State's tardiness in submitting a report 
as required under the special conditions to its Federal Fiscal Year 
(FFY) 1999 Part B of IDEA grant award.
     Letter dated December 17, 1999 to Attorney Marc Grober 
regarding requirements for States receiving IDEA FFY 1998 and FFY 1999 
Part B funds to provide assurances in order to comply with the IDEA 
Amendments of 1997.
     Letter dated December 27, 1999 to Pennsylvania Big Spring 
School District Superintendent Dr. William Kerr Cowden, regarding the 
provisions in the IDEA Amendments of 1997 that reduce unnecessary 
paperwork, and clarifying that States may impose their own requirements 
to govern the education of students with disabilities, as long as those 
State requirements are not in conflict with Federal requirements.
Topic Addressed: Personnel Standards
     Letter dated December 1, 1999 to individual (personally 
identifiable

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information redacted), regarding personnel shortages of special 
education teachers in New Hampshire and the provisions under the IDEA 
Amendments of 1997 that may relate to such shortages.
Topic Addressed: Information Required for State Program Grants
     OSEP memorandum 00-4 dated November 3, 1999 to State 
Directors of Special Education, clarifying the eligibility 
documentation and public participation requirements that States must 
meet to comply with Part B of IDEA.

Section 614--Evaluations, Eligibility Determinations, Individualized 
Education Programs, and Educational Placements

Topic Addressed: Individualized Education Programs
     Letter dated October 6, 1999 to Winston-Salem and Forsyth 
County Schools, North Carolina Attorney Douglas S. Punger, regarding 
the ability of the parents of a child with autism to invite parents of 
other students with disabilities to their child's individualized 
education program (IEP) meeting, and the responsibility of the IEP team 
to determine, if appropriate, whether a child with autism should 
receive applied behavioral analysis.

Section 615--Procedural Safeguards

Topic Addressed: Student Discipline
     Letter dated December 7, 1999 to Iacocca Professor of 
Education Perry A. Zirkel, regarding the requirements in the IDEA 
Amendments of 1997 and the March 12, 1999 final regulations that are 
applicable to students with disabilities removed from their current 
placements for more than 10 school days in a school year.

Section 619--Preschool Grants

Topic Addressed: Procedures for Allocating Preschool Grants
     Letter dated October 21, 1999 to New York State Education 
Department Deputy Commissioner Lawrence Gloeckler, regarding New York's 
distribution of section 619 funds to eligible entities, and confirming 
that ineligible entities cannot receive future awards under the 
Preschool Grants program.
     Letter dated November 24, 1999 to New York State Education 
Department Deputy Commissioner Lawrence Gloeckler, regarding the 
State's discretion to require its local educational agencies that place 
preschool age students with disabilities in approved private preschool 
special education programs to provide those programs with an amount 
equal to the flow-through dollars generated by the individual students, 
and clarifying that if LEAs provide section 619 funds to those schools, 
those funds must be used in accordance with the requirements of Part B 
of IDEA, including the applicable cost principles.

Part C--Infants and Toddlers With Disabilities

Sections 631-641

Topic Addressed: Definitions
     Letter dated December 15, 1999 to Permanent Judicial 
Commission on Justice for Children Member Sheryl Dicker, clarifying 
that the Part C regulatory definition of ``parent,'' like the statutory 
definition applicable under both Parts B and C of IDEA, does not 
include the ``State'' if the State is the child's guardian.

Section 635--Requirements for Statewide System

Topic Addressed: State Lead Agency General Supervisory Responsibility
     Letter dated December 15, 1999 to Mississippi State Health 
Officer Dr. E.F. Thompson, Jr., regarding a Part C State lead agency's 
general supervisory responsibility to ensure State-wide compliance 
within its Part C system and to identify whether deficiencies in some 
districts exist in other districts and to correct all identified 
deficiencies.

Section 640--Payor of Last Resort

Topic Addressed: Payments by CHAMPUS and TRICARE Program Funds for 
Early Intervention Services
     Letter dated December 21, 1999 to TRICARE Management 
Activity, requesting clarification of, and amendment to, a Department 
of Defense proposed regulation to provide that CHAMPUS and TRICARE is 
first payor for early intervention services under Part C of IDEA, as 
required by the IDEA Amendments of 1997.

Electronic Access to This Document

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Education documents published in the Federal Register, in text or Adobe 
Portable Document Format (PDF) on the Internet at either of the 
following sites:
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    Note: The official version of this document is the document 
published in the Federal Register. Free Internet access to the 
official edition of the Federal Register and the Code of Federal 
Regulations is available on GPO Access at: http://www.access.gpo.gov/nara/index.html.


(Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance Number 84.027, Assistance to 
States for Education of Children with Disabilities)

    Dated: April 6, 2000.
Curtis L. Richards,
Acting Assistant Secretary for Special Education and Rehabilitation 
Services.
[FR Doc. 00-8962 Filed 4-10-00; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4000-01-U