[Federal Register Volume 70, Number 172 (Wednesday, September 7, 2005)]
[Notices]
[Pages 53172-53173]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 05-17665]


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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 April 1, 2005 through June 30, 
2005.

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SUMMARY: The Secretary is publishing the following list pursuant to 
section 607(d) of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, as 
amended (IDEA). Under section 607(d) of the 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 (Department) of the IDEA 
or the regulations that implement the IDEA.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Melisande Lee or JoLeta Reynolds. 
Telephone: (202) 245-7468.
    If you use a telecommunications device for the deaf (TDD), you may 
call the Federal Relay Service (FRS) at 1-800-877-8339.
    Individuals with disabilities may obtain a copy of this notice in 
an alternative format (e.g., Braille, large print, audiotape, or 
computer diskette) on request to the contact persons listed under FOR 
FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The following list identifies correspondence 
from the Department issued from April 1, 2005 through June 30, 2005.
    Included on the list are those letters that contain interpretations 
of the requirements of the 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 of 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. Most of the changes made to the IDEA by the Individuals 
with Disabilities Education Improvement Act of 2004 (IDEA 2004), which 
reauthorized and amended the IDEA, took effect on July 1, 2005. Because 
the letters in this list were issued prior to July 1, 2005, the 
effective date of IDEA 2004, statutory citations in this list refer to 
the provisions of the IDEA that were in effect prior to July 1, 2005.

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

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

Section 619--Preschool Grants

    Topic Addressed: Allocation of Funds.
     Letter dated June 20, 2005 to New York State Education 
Department Deputy Commissioner Dr. Rebecca Cort, clarifying that the 
New York State Education Department may not require its local 
educational agencies (LEAs) to pass through Part B funds to private 
providers or counties in the form of a suballocation required under New 
York law, but that at an LEA's discretion, disbursements may be made to 
cover the cost of providing special education and related services to 
individual students with disabilities.
    Topic Addressed: Use of Funds.
     Letter dated May 5, 2005 to Guam Associate Superintendent 
of Education Vincent T. Leon Guerrero, clarifying that Part B funds may 
be used to purchase mini buses equipped with wheelchair lifts operated 
solely to provide transportation services for eligible students with 
disabilities.
     Letter dated April 5, 2005 to Louisiana Department of 
Education Superintendent of Education Cecil J. Picard, approving the 
State's request to use Part B funds to purchase computer equipment and 
software to improve educational services for students with disabilities 
in the State's residential programs.

Section 612--State Eligibility

    Topic Addressed: Children with disabilities placed in private 
schools by their parents.
     Office of Special Education Programs Memorandum 05-09 
dated June 27, 2005 to Chief State School Officers, regarding 
significant statutory changes made by IDEA 2004 governing the 
obligations of LEAs to parentally-placed private school children with 
disabilities attending private schools in the LEA's area of 
jurisdiction and announcing that for the 2005-06 school year only, the 
Secretary will allow States and LEAs to use the best available data in 
calculating the proportionate amount of Federal funds to be expended on 
services for parentally-placed private school children with 
disabilities, in lieu of conducting new child counts.
    Topic Addressed: Participation of children with disabilities in 
state and district-wide assessments.
     Letter dated June 22, 2005 to New Mexico Public Education 
Department Director of Special Education Denise Koscielniak, clarifying 
that IDEA requirements governing the participation of children with 
disabilities in State and districtwide assessments are applicable to 
New Mexico's kindergarten screening program.

Section 613--Local Educational Agency Eligibility

    Topic Addressed: Charter schools.
     Letter dated June 3, 2005 to Arizona Attorney Mary Ellen 
Simonson, regarding the Department's audit determination that for-
profit charter schools are not eligible to receive funds under IDEA or 
Title I Part A of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act.

Part C--Infants and Toddlers With Disabilities

Section 636--Individualized Family Service Plan

    Topic Addressed: Natural environments.
     Letter dated June 7, 2005 to Washington Infant and Toddler 
Early Intervention Program Director Sandy L. Morris, regarding the 
natural environments requirements in Part C of IDEA, and clarifying 
that IDEA 2004 continues the Department's longstanding interpretation 
that early intervention services must be provided in a natural 
environment, unless a written justification exists for providing these 
services in other settings.

Electronic Access to This Document

    You may view this document, as well as all other Department of 
Education documents published in the Federal Register, in text or Adobe 
Portable Document Format (PDF) on the Internet at the following site: 
http://www.ed.gov/news/fedregister/index.html.
    To use PDF you must have Adobe Acrobat Reader, which is available 
free at this site. If you have questions about using PDF, call the U.S. 
Government Printing Office (GPO), toll free, at 1-888-293-6498; or in 
the Washington, DC, area at (202) 512-1530.


[[Page 53173]]


    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.gpoaccess.gov/nara/index.html.

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

    Dated: August 31, 2005.
John H. Hager,
Assistant Secretary for Special Education and Rehabilitative Services.
[FR Doc. 05-17665 Filed 9-6-05; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4000-01-P