PIC/Family Voices Podcast Episode 25: Understanding Educational Options and Rights for Children with Disabilities

Emily Woodward (00:02.936)
Today we’re talking about educational options for children with disabilities, parents’ rights, and the programs available to support families. Our guest today is Bonnie Dunham. Bonnie has worked here at the Parent Information Center for 40 years, assisting parents and others in understanding the special education process and how to advocate effectively for children with disabilities. As the parent of an adult son with developmental disabilities, Bonnie has seen first-hand how her son and her family have benefited from the advocacy of parents who came before them. That experience has inspired her passion for protecting the rights of children with disabilities and their families, and for empowering parents and others with the knowledge and skills they need to achieve positive outcomes for people with disabilities. Welcome, Bonnie.
 
Bonnie Dunham (00:54.391)
Hi, I’m glad to be here.
 
Emily Woodward (00:58.296)
To get us started today, where can children with disabilities go to school?
 
Bonnie Dunham (01:03.673)
The there’s a short answer, and that is anywhere that children without disabilities can go to school. New Hampshire has a constitutional obligation to provide an adequate education for all school-aged children, whether they have a disability or not, through the public school system. But for children with disabilities, there’s also a federal special education law, the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, and then New Hampshire has its own state law and rules also that ensure that children with disabilities have a right to a free, appropriate public education. We have lots of information on the Parent Information Center’s website about this if you want to know more about the special education process.
 
Emily Woodward (01:50.264)
Thank you. What federal law guarantees special education rights for children with disabilities?
 
Bonnie Dunham (01:56.953)
So, the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, which is called IDEA or IDA, sometimes people say, is the federal special education law. And it says that every child with a disability, once they’re found eligible for special education, they have a right to get a free appropriate public education through an individualized education program or IEP. And that IEP is developed by a team of people that include the parents.  The IEP team makes decisions about what the child’s program and services will look like and also what the least restrictive environment is that can meet the child’s needs. Most often, children with disabilities can be educated in general education classrooms, often needing some supports or accommodations in order to do so. Sometimes children may be pulled out and spend some time during the day in a resource room as a supplement to their general education setting.  But some children might need something different, including a special class or even a special education school. When that placement is made by the IEP team or the school district, the school district is responsible for paying for that placement.
 
Emily Woodward (03:17.25)
Thank you. If a parent does want something different than their local public school, what options do they have?
 
Bonnie Dunham (03:23.855)
So, there are a number of options, public and private, but it’s really important for parents to understand that some of them may affect their child’s right to special education. Their child, regardless, would still be identified and found eligible or not eligible for special education, but their ability to be provided services will depend on where they’re placed and how they got there.
 
Emily Woodward (03:51.672)
Great, and what are the educational options that are available within the public school system?
 
Bonnie Dunham (03:57.881)
So most often children go to their neighborhood school, which is the school that they would go to if they didn’t have a disability. Beyond that, though, school districts can decide that they want to or are willing to accept children from other school districts, and those would be called open enrollment schools. The school district where the child lives also needs to decide if they’re willing to allow children in their district to go to open enrollment schools. Most districts will set a number of children that they will accept, and a number that they will allow to transfer. And if that’s the case, then that child can transfer to that open enrollment school. It’s a public school, and so the child’s right to special education remains intact, and the school district where they live continues to be responsible for that. A parent can also choose to enroll their child in a charter school. The actual name is a public a chartered public school and they call school district public schools district public schools. So, a chartered public school, but charter school is the shorter name for it. Charter schools can’t discriminate on against a child because they have a disability. And when a child with a disability goes to a charter school, it’s always the parent’s choice. Nobody can place a child there. The school district can’t only the parent makes that decision and a child in a charter school has all of their special education rights and the school district where they live continues to provide and oversee that special education for them.
 
Emily Woodward (05:36.93)
Thank you for all that information regarding public school options. Besides public schools, what other educational options are available?

Bonnie Dunham (05:45.721)
So, any parent can decide to homeschool their child. And we have a department or a piece of the State Department of Education that parents can go to to get more information about homeschooling. It’s right on their website. But if a parent decides to homeschool their child, they need to know that they’re agreeing to be responsible for that child’s education. They need to provide, coordinate, or direct that education and when they do that, what they’re essentially saying to the public school is no thank you. And then they are opting out of the child receiving special education. Children who are homeschooled do not have a right to receive special education while they are being homeschooled.
 
Parents in addition to the homeschooling, parents can also, just like parents of children without disabilities can, enroll their child in a private school. And when a parent enrolls their child in a private school outside of the special education process, so not the IEP team making the placement, the parent unilaterally on their own places their child in a private school, then the parent is responsible for paying that tuition. The school district has nothing to do with the payment of that tuition for that child. There is one exception, and that is if the parent places their child in a private school because they’re alleging that their public school could not meet their child’s needs, could not provide their child with a free appropriate public education, that parent could then go to a due process hearing, which is a process that the State Department of Education offers to seek tuition reimbursement from the school district. But in almost all cases it would be the parent has just made that decision, and they are then responsible for the payment.
 
Emily Woodward (07:47.106)
Thank you. Can you tell us a little bit about the different kinds of private schools available?
 
Bonnie Dunham (07:53.453)
Yes, and this is a really important distinction. If a private school is a for-profit private school, then the child just has no right to receive any special education or related services through the special education process from the school district where they live or the school district where that private school is located. So it’s important when a parent decides to enroll their child on their own in a private school that they find out if that school is a for-profit private school or a nonprofit private school. If it’s a nonprofit private school, then the federal special education law, that IDEA, is clear that that child does not have any individual right to receive some or all of the special education that they would receive if they were in the public school. However, the child might get some services, and the decision about that is that is made by the school district where the private school is located, and so it’s not where the child lives. In this case, it’s the school district where that private school is located. So, if the child lives in Manchester and they’re in a private school in Concord, they now are dealing with the Concord School District in order to find out if their child may receive some special education services. So that school district that is now responsible would need to spend a proportionate share of the federal IDEA money that it gets to educate children with disabilities on the group of private school children with disabilities. So if there were 10 children with disabilities going to private schools in Concord, the Concord School District would need to decide how to spend the money that they get from the federal government under IDEA on that group of 10 children. What that means is that some children will get some services, but one or two children may not. I think school districts try to offer everybody something, but in order to maximize their ability to serve children, then it doesn’t always happen. Some children may not get services and they don’t have a right to. That decision isn’t just made by the school district just on their own. They first have to meet with the representatives of all of the private schools. Concord may have four or five private schools, they would need to meet with representatives of any private school in which a child with a disability was enrolled. They also need to meet with representatives of the parents of those children. And then with that input, then the school district decides how to spend that pool of money on that group of children. And if they do decide that a child will receive some services then that child will be given an individualized service plan or an ISP. The children who will not get services will not have any document to that effect.
 
Emily Woodward (11:00.024)
Can a private school refuse to admit a child because they have a disability?
 
Bonnie Dunham (11:05.795)
That’s a trick question, not a trick question. I guess it’s a complicated question, or it can be. Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act is not a special educational law, it’s a civil rights law. And it prohibits discrimination on the basis of disability in any program that receives federal funds, like public schools do. Many private schools also receive federal funds for one reason or another and any private school that receives federal funds are required to comply with Section 504 and not discriminate against a child based on their disability. They also can’t discriminate against a parent or an employee because they have a disability either. So they can’t use that as a reason to exclude their child from enrolling in the private school. As long as with minor adjustments, that child can be provided with an appropriate education.
 
If the child needs something more, let’s say that they need to have a physical therapist come in once a day for a half hour, then the private school can charge the parent that additional cost as long as it’s justified by a substantial increase in cost of the private school. The Americans with Disabilities Act, which is called the ADA, is another civil rights law that prohibits discrimination in the public and the private sector. They do have a pretty big exception though, and any private religious school is exempt from the Americans with Disabilities Act. So, a private religious school could discriminate on the basis of a child having a disability. The parent has and the child have no protections if it is a private religious school. Often they will try to accommodate children but they are not legally obliged to like a school that receives federal funds would be.
 
Emily Woodward (13:11.52)
If a parent thinks that their child may have a disability, can they refer them themselves for special education?
 
Bonnie Dunham (13:18.287)
Sure. Sometimes children are in private schools and as part of the child go learning and going to school, getting grades and progress reports, the parent may come to think there might be a something that is impeding my child’s ability to learn the way that I would expect, that I have a suspicion. And in that case, if they suspect that the child might have a disability, they can refer them to be evaluated by the school district. In this case, if the child is in a private school, they would refer them to the school district where that private school is located. If the child was in a public school, then they would make that referral to the school district where they live. Remember, I said that it can be complicated the whether the private school is a nonprofit or a for-profit private school. If the private school is a for-profit private school, or the child is being homeschooled, then the parent would make that referral for special education to the school district where they live. So it’s called the resident school district. Parent Information Center on our website has resources, and one of them is a list of sample letters or templates that parents can use. And one of them is one that you could use to make a referral to the school district identifying that you suspect a child may have a disability and asking for them to be evaluated.
 
Emily Woodward (14:51.202)
Thank you. If parents are feeling a little hesitant due to cost, can parents get financial assistance to help pay for private school tuition or home-schooling expenses?
 
Bonnie Dunham (15:02.977)
Yes, it is possible. First some private schools have scholarships and that’s one way that they can. New Hampshire also has the Education Freedom Account program, it’s called the EFA program that provides state-funded scholarships is what they call them to help pay for parental choice options. That’s only for children in grade kindergarten through twelfth grade, so that wouldn’t apply to a preschool child with a disability.
 
And if you want to know more about this the scholarship program or the education freedom account program, then you would go to the website of the Children’s Scholarship Fund New Hampshire, and we’re going to have a link to that included in the resources that you can access. Those state-funded scholarships are based on the money that the school district would have gotten from the state in order to support, help support the child special education services any New Hampshire resident can apply for an EFA. There used to be an income limit. There is not an income limit any longer, but there is an enrollment cap. And so once that enrollment cap is reached, no additional children can apply for an EFA. However, if the child has a disability or a disabling condition, then they are exempt from that cap. Even if the cap has been reached, that child may still receive an Education Freedom Account scholarship.
 
Emily Woodward (16:38.968)
So what you just mentioned, the disability or disabling condition, what is the difference exactly between those two?
 
Bonnie Dunham (16:46.415)
So any child who’s in the public school system would be identified as being a child with a disability. And the way that they would be identified is the school district would become aware that someone suspects the child has a disability. Maybe the parent made a referral or the teacher raised the concern. And then the school district through the individualized education program team, the IEP team, which includes the parents, they would decide what kinds of evaluations would need to be done and then conduct those evaluations. If based on those evaluations they determined that the child has a disability and needs special education, then that child would be identified as being a child with a disability. So it’s a narrower definition than just if you see a child with a disability, it doesn’t necessarily mean that they would be a child with a disability according to special education law.
 
They have to have been evaluated by the school district and found to have a disability, and as a result, need special education. And the reason that that matters is because there’s a small amount of additional funds that school districts can receive to help educate children with disabilities, state funding. Children who are receiving an education freedom account scholarship their parents may also receive additional funding for those children through the EFA program. However, it would apply to children who have been identified by the school district as being a child with a disability. But also any medical professional, any licensed medical professional anywhere in the country could signify that a child has a disabling condition. They wouldn’t have to go through the special education process.
 
If a medical professional identifies them as having a disabling condition, and then their parent would be eligible for those additional funds.
 
Emily Woodward (18:47.724)
With the New Hampshire’s education freedom accounts, how much funding can a parent receive through this program?
 
Bonnie Dunham (18:54.831)
So first it changes every year a little bit because it’s based on the adequacy amount which is which the state calculates every year. And right now the adequacy amount, the base amount is $4,265. So a family, any family who gets an education freedom account would receive that much money to spend on things that are necessary for them to educate their child.
 
If the child has a disabling condition or is a child with a disability, that family would receive an additional $2,184. Families could also receive additional funding if the child qualifies for free or reduced lunch or is an English language learner. And so a family who has a child with a disability or a disabling condition and qualifies for free or reduced lunch would get an even higher amount.
 
Bonnie Dunham (19:55.661)
Just to be clear though, they do need to spend those funds on qualifying educational expenses. It they do have to identify and provide the education scholarship organization with information to demonstrate that they have spent the money appropriately.
 
Emily Woodward (20:16.362)
That makes sense. Do you have any kind of guidelines on what kind of things the fund should be taken spent on?
 
Bonnie Dunham (20:21.491)
So sometimes it may be for a child who’s homeschooled, for example, it may be to pay for the homeschool curriculum the parent is using. It may be to pay for a tutor. It may be to pay for part of the tuition for a private school. So, it’s pretty broad. Some parents have used it for certain recreational activities as a physical education course so it is broad. But if parents have questions, they should contact the New Hampshire Scholarship Fund because then they could say exactly what would be a qualifying expense and the parent wouldn’t by erroneously apply for funding for a service that didn’t qualify.
 
Emily Woodward (21:10.67)
Thank you. Can a child who is homeschooled or attends a private or charter school or participates in the EFA program still take classes or participate in extracurriculars and co-curricular activities through their local public school district?
 
Bonnie Dunham (21:26.125)
Yes. In order to be eligible for an education freedom account, a child cannot be a full-time student at a public school, and that means they cannot spend more than 50% of their instructional time in a public school. However, they can take up to that 50%. They can access curricular and co-curricular courses, which can include classes and non-academic and extracurricular activities. And those would be with where the school district is where they live. So a child who is being homeschooled or is going to a charter school, which are often pretty small and may not have a varsity basketball team, for example, or a child is in a private school, can participate in extracurricular, non-academic and co-curricular activities at the school where they live.
 
Each school district needs to set a policy for that. And so parents should contact their school district to obtain that. So, the local school board would adopt that policy, but they can’t have a policy that is more strict for children who are not enrolled in the public school system. They can’t use that as a way to limit the availability of those programs to just kids who are attending the public school.
 
It has to be an equal opportunity situation where it’s the same policy that applies to all children. Parents need to be careful though, because you might have a child who is in high school and is being homeschooled, and the parent asks to have them participate in a chemistry class at the high school because the chemistry classes have labs, which the parent may not have in their home, and then the child may want to participate in another course. If they go over that fifty percent mark then in terms of being in that public school, then the parent could lose the education freedom account eligibility. And so parents should be cautious of that as well.
 
Emily Woodward (23:42.68)
Thank you for that information. If a child were to leave the public school system, can a parent later on choose to re-enroll them in public school?
 
Bonnie Dunham (23:51.661)
Yes, they can. I’m gonna sort of take one step backwards because that issue of whether a child can participate in extracurricular, co-curricular, and curricular activities. Up until very, very recently, up until this summer actually, if a homeschool student received an education freedom account funding, they were not able to do that at no cost. The law changed and went into effect this summer that says that children who attend private school or charter school or being homeschooled have the right to access those programs and activities and classes regardless of whether they’re getting an education freedom account funding. So that’s a new piece of information. So if a child leaves the public school or they haven’t ever been enrolled in the public school, they’ve been always homeschooled or enrolled in a private school.
 
At any time that parent can re-enroll the child in that in the public school. Once they do that, then the child would become eligible for special education if they’ve already been found eligible for special education. If a child was found eligible for special education through the school district in first grade, and then the parent left to use one of these parental choice options, and two years later they re-enroll the child, they don’t have to start over again. They don’t have to re-refer the child to be tested for special education. They, of course, would need to meet with the school district and the individualized education program or IEP team, which again includes the parent, to determine have the child’s needs changed, do we need to do any additional testing and develop an appropriate plan for that child to receive the special education and services that the child needs to in order to do so. If the child has not already been identified as being a child with a disability, then the parent can make that referral and the child would be treated like any other child who’s in the public school. They would be evaluated, the evaluations would be determined by the IEP team, and then that IEP team would use that information to determine whether the child is eligible for special education. I think it might be confusing sometimes to a parent who was receiving the additional financial assistance, because the child has been identified as having a disabling condition, because those children have not been identified through the special education process. And so if they leave the school choice option and then enroll in the public school, they would have to they would have to start over. They would have to make a referral to determine if they’re eligible under the special education process. The being eligible as having a child, Being a child with a disability does not apply in terms of eligibility for special education.
 
Bonnie Dunham (26:49.945)
So in order to be eligible for special education, I think it’s helpful for people to know that that applies to children from age three up until a child turns 22 or earns a regular high school diploma, whichever happens first. Even though special education eligibility starts at age three, remember children can only get an education freedom account once they reach kindergarten age, but could still be found eligible for special education sooner than that. A child could also have their eligibility end if they are evaluated and found to no longer need special education. Sometimes children develop coping mechanisms and learn strategies to the point that they no longer need special education. And in that case, they would then be found not eligible for special education and just receive regular education.
 
Emily Woodward (27:46.37)
That makes sense. because every family’s journey is a little bit different, what should parents do if they have questions about their child’s specific special education situation or they need help understanding their options?
 
Bonnie Dunham (28:01.039)
So the Parent Information Web Center’s website (http://www.picnh.org), which is http://www.p as in parent, I as in information, C as in center, NH as in New Hampshire.org, is great. It has sort of walks people through the special education process, has some frequently asked questions, it has some online training modules, it can link parents to in-person training opportunities and virtual training opportunities that that we are offering. And then it has a lot of resources that range from copies of the special education laws to one-page summaries and family guides that are very user-friendly. Very often parents can get their questions answered that way. But if someone has a specific question that they really need to speak to someone about they can call our office and speak to the receptionist who will gather information, and then one of our staff who specializes in special education support will call them back and discuss their situation and offer them some information and often additional resources as well. If a parent does call us though, it’s really important that they do go through the main number and go to extension 110. The other thing that a parent could do is on our website there’s a contact us button and a parent could go to that, enter their information, their questions, and then that would go directly to a staff who could then contact them back and answer it.
 
If a parent prefers to have their question answered by email, we can do that, or we can call and speak to them. It would really, as someone who does speak with parents sometimes, it’s really helpful if parents can say, I’m always available on Tuesday mornings or after three o’clock.  I think the resources on the Parent Information Center’s website as well as the staff who can offer individual assistance is just a great help to parents.
 
Emily Woodward (30:37.976)
Great, thank you for all that. And we will link all those resources that you’ve mentioned throughout this podcast, a link to PIC and the Children’s Scholarship Fund as well. And if you have any additional resources, we can also note them in the resource notes. Thank you again, Bonnie, for joining us today. We really enjoyed talking about all of the options for educational resources available for children with disabilities.
 
Bonnie Dunham (31:05.219)
Thank you so much there are lots of options and it can be confusing sometimes, but I think if a parent wants to explore them all, then they may find ways to have their children’s needs met through the public school system or they might decide to use a different option and hopefully this information will help them to make an informed decision.
 
Emily Woodward (31:27.96)
Great. Sounds good. Thank you so much.
 
Bonnie Dunham (31:30.563)
You’re welcome. Bye.