Updates to the Notice of Procedural Safeguards

UPDATES TO THE NOTICE OF PROCEDURAL SAFEGUARDS

The Notice of Procedural Safeguards is a document with which everyone interested in the special education process is familiar. This document, given to parents at least annually, changes when the federal law changes. The Texas publication version of this document posting was December 1, 2017. Most of the information within the publication stayed the same; however, it might be interesting to note some of the changes.

The changes dealt with the following topics: foster parents as parents, educational records, and transfer of rights, guardianship and alternatives, complaint resolution process, due process hearing program, requesting a due process hearing, resolution meeting in expedited hearings, and the decision.

Foster parents may serve as parents in the special education process. To be eligible they must are to complete a training program within 90 days or prior to the child’s first admission, review, and dismissal meeting, whichever comes first. If the school denies the foster parents the right to act as the parent, the parents have the right to file a complaint with the Texas Education Agency (TEA).

Added to this publication is the definition of education records. This designation indicates that education records are those directly related to a child, maintained by the school or party acting for the school, and specified in the Family Educational Rights to Privacy Act (FERPA). This clarification means that as parents ask for an explanation or interpretation of information or even ask for a copy of a child-specific record that all the records protected by FERPA qualify as applicable.

Parents whose child has turned 18 may not attend admission, review, and dismissal (ARD) meetings unless the adult student or the school specifically invites them. The Texas Administrative Code 89.1048 adds the following verbiage, “or unless their child gives that right in a supported decision-making agreement”. Also added is a requirement that the school provide parents with information about guardianship and alternatives to guardianship, which does include supported decision-making agreements as well as other supports and services designed to help foster independent living.

Parents with concerns, who are having difficulties getting those concerns resolved, have the right to file a complaint with the Texas Education Agency. A few tweaks to this process are in the new Notice of Procedural Safeguards. First, the timeline change indicates that the issue must be within one year from the date the TEA receives the complaint. The statute refers to this one-year timeline as the statute of limitations with some allowable exceptions. The complaint is to include the child’s name and address or available contact information if the child is homeless, the name of the child’s school, and a description of the nature of the problem of the child, including facts relating to the problem to the extent known and available to you at the time. When a parent wants to request a due process hearing, the parent may personally make the request or an attorney or advocate may make the request of behalf of the parent. The last page of the Notice of Procedural Safeguards gives the address for filing the complaint. Substantive grounds are the basis for any decision by a hearing officer.

The Notice of Procedural Safeguards is a good read. It has information required by federal law and it is helpful to parents, educators and advocates. If you have the time, it is time well spent to read through it so you, too, are current on your knowledge of the special education process.