Preschool LRE Reference Points and Discussion Prompts

"All young children with disabilities should have access to high-quality inclusive early childhood programs that provide individualized and appropriate support so they can fully participate alongside their peers without disabilities, meet high expectations, and achieve their full potential. The responsibility to ensure that young children with disabilities and their families are included in high-quality early childhood programs is shared by federal, State, and local governments, early childhood systems, early childhood programs and providers, local educational agencies (LEAs), and schools."

"Disability is a natural part of the human experience and in no way diminishes the right of individuals to participate in or contribute to society. Improving educational results for children with disabilities is an essential element of our national policy of ensuring equality of opportunity, full participation, independent living, and economic self-sufficiency for individuals with disabilities."

"...all young children with disabilities should have access to inclusive high-quality early childhood programs where they are provided with individualized and appropriate supports to enable them to meet high expectations."

"Free appropriate public education or FAPE means special education and related services that—

1. Are provided at public expense, under public supervision and direction, and without charge;
2. Meet the standards of the SEA, including the requirements of this part;
3. Include an appropriate preschool, elementary school, or secondary school education in the State involved; and
4. Are provided in conformity with an individualized education program (IEP) that meets the requirements of §§300.320 through 300.324."

"Early Learning and Development Standards means a set of expectations, guidelines, or developmental milestones that:

1. Describe what all children from birth to kindergarten entry should know and be able to do and their disposition toward learning;
2. Are appropriate for each age group (e.g., infants, toddlers, and preschoolers); for English learners; and for children with disabilities or developmental delays;
3. Cover all Essential Domains of School Readiness; and
4. Are universally designed and developmentally, culturally, and linguistically appropriate."

"Each public agency must ensure that—

1. To the maximum extent appropriate, children with disabilities, including children in public or private institutions or other care facilities, are educated with children who are nondisabled; and
2. Special classes, separate schooling, or other removal of children with disabilities from the regular educational environment occurs only if the nature or severity of the disability is such that education in regular classes with the use of supplementary aids and services cannot be achieved satisfactorily."

"Before a child with a disability can be placed outside the regular educational environment, the group of persons making the placement decision must consider whether supplementary aids and services could be provided that would enable the education of the child, including a preschool child with a disability, in the regular educational setting to be achieved satisfactorily."

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"If a determination is made that the education of a particular child with a disability cannot be achieved satisfactorily in the regular educational environment, even with the provision of appropriate supplementary aids and services, that child then could be placed in a setting other than the regular educational setting."

"Supplementary aids and services means aids, services, and other supports that are provided in regular education classes, other education-related settings, and in extracurricular and nonacademic settings, to enable children with disabilities to be educated with nondisabled children to the maximum extent appropriate in accordance with §§300.114 through 300.116."

Supplementary aids and services can also include:

• direct services and supports to the child, and
• support and training for staff who work with that child.

"In determining the educational placement of a child with a disability, including a preschool child with a disability, each public agency must ensure that—

1. The placement decision—
   1. Is made by a group of persons, including the parents, and other persons knowledgeable about the child, the meaning of the evaluation data, and the placement options; and
   2. Is made in conformity with the LRE provisions of this subpart, including §§300.114 through 300.118
2. The child's placement—
   1. Is determined at least annually;
   2. Is based on the child's IEP; and
   3. Is as close as possible to the child's home;
3. Unless the IEP of a child with a disability requires some other arrangement, the child is educated in the school that he or she would attend if nondisabled;
4. In selecting the LRE, consideration is given to any potential harmful effect on the child or on the quality of services that he or she needs; and
5. A child with a disability is not removed from education in age-appropriate regular classrooms solely because of needed modifications in the general education curriculum."

"In all cases, placement decisions must be individually determined on the basis of each child's abilities and needs and each child's IEP, and not solely on factors such as category of disability, severity of disability, availability of special education and related services, configuration of the service delivery system, availability of space, or administrative convenience."

"Historically, we have referred to "placement" as points along the continuum of placement options available for a child with a disability, and "location" as the physical surrounding, such as the classroom, in which a child with a disability receives special education and related services."

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"The Department's longstanding position is that placement refers to the provision of special education and related services rather than a specific place, such as a specific classroom or specific school."

"An explanation of the extent, if any, to which the child will not participate with nondisabled children in the regular class..."

"...instruction in regular classes, special classes, special schools, home instruction, and instruction in hospitals and institutions."

"Make provision for supplementary services (such as resource room or itinerant instruction) to be provided in conjunction with regular class placement."

"An LEA may provide special education and related services to a preschool child with a disability in a variety of settings, including a regular kindergarten class, public or private preschool program, community-based child care facility, or in the child's home."

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"If there is an LEA public preschool program available, the LEA may choose to make FAPE available to a preschool child with a disability in the LEA's public preschool program. While the number of public pre-kindergarten programs has increased, many LEAs do not offer, or offer only a limited range of, public preschool programs, particularly for three-year-olds. In these situations, the LEA must explore alternative methods to ensure that the LRE requirements are met for each preschool child with a disability... If a public agency determines that placement in a private preschool program is necessary for a child to receive FAPE, the public agency must make that program available at no cost to the parent."

"A Regular Early Childhood Program (RECP) for the purpose of OSEP required data collection is defined as a program that includes a majority (at least 50 percent) of nondisabled children (i.e., children not on IEPs). This may include, but is not limited to the following:

• Head Start
• Kindergarten
• Preschool classes offered to an eligible pre-kindergarten population by the public school system
• Private kindergartens or preschools
• Group child development center or child care

"The following requirements apply when determining placement options for a child with a disability who already participates in a regular public preschool program, including a community-based regular public preschool program operated by a public agency other than the LEA. Under 34 CFR §300.116(c), unless the child's IEP requires some other arrangement, the child is educated in the school that he or she would attend if nondisabled. In addition, under 34 CFR §300.116(d), the placement team, which includes the child's parent and may include the child's current teacher, must consider any potential harmful effect on the child and on the quality of services that he or she needs before removing the child from the current regular public preschool setting to another more restrictive setting. Consistent with these requirements, IDEA presumes that the first placement option considered for a preschool child with a disability is the regular public preschool program the child would attend if the child did not have a disability. Therefore, in determining the placement for a child with a disability who already participates in a regular public preschool program, the placement team must consider whether the LEA, in collaboration with the regular public preschool program, can ensure that the child receives all of the special education and related services and supplementary aids and services included in the child's IEP in order to meet the needs of the particular child with a disability."

"If the IEP Team determines that transportation is required to assist the preschool child to benefit from special education and includes transportation as a related service on the child's IEP, the LEA would be responsible for providing the transportation to and from the setting where the special education and related services are provided."

"Excess costs means those costs that are in excess of the average annual per-student expenditure in an LEA during the preceding school year for an elementary school or secondary school student..."

"Must be used only to pay the excess costs of providing special education and related services to children with disabilities..."

"In general, LEAs must use IDEA Part B section 619 funds and as applicable IDEA Part B 611 funds, only to pay the excess costs of providing special education and related services to children with disabilities ages three through five..."

"The excess cost requirement, however, does not prevent an LEA from using Part B funds to pay for all of the costs directly attributable to the education of a child with a disability in any of the ages three, four, or five if no local or State funds are available for nondisabled children of these ages. For example, if an LEA offers no regular public preschool programs for children without disabilities, and a preschool child with a disability is already participating in a private preschool program that is being paid for by the child's parents, the child's placement team may determine that, based on the child's IEP and the LRE provisions, placement in a private preschool program is necessary for the child to receive FAPE in the LRE. In such situations, the LEA responsible for providing FAPE to the child must pay for all of the costs associated with the provision of special education and related services in the LRE, as stated in the child's IEP."

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"Specifically, if the placement team determines, based on the child's IEP, that placement in an inclusive private preschool program is necessary to provide FAPE to a child who needs interaction with nondisabled peers, the LEA is responsible for making available an appropriate program in the LRE and ensuring that tuition costs associated with that placement for the period of time necessary to implement the IEP are at no cost to the parents."

"An LEA's obligation to serve children aged three through five under the equitable services provisions depends on whether a child is enrolled in a private school or facility that meets the definition of "elementary school" in the IDEA and the final regulations. "Elementary school" is defined in 34 CFR §300.13 as a nonprofit institutional day or residential school, including a public elementary charter school that provides elementary education, as determined under State law. Accordingly, three- through five-year-old children with disabilities who are enrolled by their parents in a private school or facility that meets the State's definition of "elementary school" would be considered parentally placed and the equitable participation provisions would apply."

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