ADMINISTRATIVE LETTER: Guidance on multiple disabilities eligibility category under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA)

Administrative Letter: 14
Policy Code: BGC
To: Public School Administrators and Special Education Directors
From: Robert G. Hasson, Jr., Ed. D. Commissioner
Date: May 7, 2018
Subject: Guidance on multiple disabilities eligibility category under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA)

The Maine Department of Education’s Office of Special Services is providing the following information regarding the identification of “multiple disabilities” as an eligibility category for students with disabilities. This guidance is intended to help Individualized Education Program (IEP) teams correctly identify students with multiple disabilities consistent with the definition in federal law.

Under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), Part B, for a child to qualify under the category of “multiple disabilities,” the following criteria must be met:

The child has impairments that occur concomitantly (two or more disabilities that occur at the same time); and
the result of the combination of the impairments causes such severe educational needs that the child cannot be accommodated in special education programs solely for one of the impairments.

Based on these criteria, the category of multiple disabilities requires the presence of severe educational needs, not solely the presence of two or more disabilities. For example, a child who has an intellectual disability and blindness or a child who has an intellectual disability and orthopedic impairment would be categorized as multiply disabled. An example of a child that should not be classified as having multiple disabilities could be child who has Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) and has a speech language disability.

Data from the National Center for Education Statistics indicates that Maine has much higher identification rates of children in the category of multiple disabilities than the national average. In 2016-17, for ages 6–21, the national multiple disabilities rate (pooling across all states and territories for which data were available) was 2.34 percent while Maine’s rate was 10.77 percent. There are very few states/territories with higher rates than Maine’s.

Maine Multiple Disabilities Identification Rate Compared to National Average

National	2.34%
Maine	10.77%
These values represent the percentages of multiple disabilities out of all children with disabilities, not out of all children both with and without disabilities.

Maine Multiple Disabilities Identification Rate 2014 – 2016

2016-17	10.46%
2015-16	10.04%
2014-15	9.68%
These values represent the percentages of multiple disabilities out of all children with disabilities, not out of all children both with and without disabilities.

Given the significant difference between Maine’s identification rate and the national average, the Department will be working on supportive efforts to ensure that students are being correctly identified in this category. As such, the Maine Department of Education Office of Special Services’ monitoring team will be working with school districts with high identification rates in multiple disabilities as part of the general supervision system of monitoring and supports. It is recommended that this information be shared with anyone who is a part of identification and/or triennial evaluations.

For more information about this topic, please contact the Maine Department of Education Office of Special Services by phone at (207) 624-6713 or via email to Jan Breton, Director of Special Services at janice.breton@maine.gov.

PRIORITY NOTICE: Delay in changes for documentation of IEPs; DOE will update guidance in admin letter #13

On April 14, 2018, the Maine Department of Education issued Administrative Letter #13: Important changes in documenting medical services in Individualized Education Plans (IEPs). This notification announced changes in documenting IEP plans with Maine Care services that are necessary for a free appropriate public education (FAPE).

Since the release of this guidance, the Department has received feedback from stakeholders and legal counsel for further clarification on some of the wording. While Department staff work with the Attorney General’s office, districts and stakeholders to make these clarifications, the implementation will be delayed.

The planned implementation of these changes is expected to begin June 1, 2018. The Department will release updated, clarified guidance before that time.

Thank you for your feedback and patience. Please look for further notifications in the Maine Department of Education Newsroom. For further questions contact Maine DOE Director of Special Service, Jan Breton at Janice.Breton@maine.gov.

Administrative Letter: Important changes in documenting medical services in Individualized Education Plans (IEPs)

Administrative Letter: 13
Policy Code: BGB
To: Public School Administrators and Special Education Directors
From: Robert G. Hasson, Jr., Ed. D. Commissioner
Date: April 14, 2018
Subject: Important changes in documenting medical services in Individualized Education Plans (IEPs)

The Maine Department of Education has instituted new requirements for Individualized Education Programs (IEPs) beginning May 1, 2018. This guidance is offered in collaboration with the Department of Health and Human Services. The purpose of this change is to clarify the documentation of educationally and medically necessary services on the IEP aligning to Section 65 and Section 28 of the MaineCare Benefits Manual. These changes will ensure compliance with documentation required for access to MaineCare benefits.

When an IEP Team determines that the nature and severity of a child’s educational needs are significant enough that education in regular classes with the use of supplementary aids and services cannot be achieved satisfactorily (MUSER X.2.B. page 120), the least restrictive environment (LRE) statement must reflect the fact that certain services will be necessary in order for the child to access the curriculum.

Beginning May 1, 2018, the Department requires that newly developed or amended IEPs contain justification for medically and educationally necessary services such as day treatment services, rehabilitation services, nursing services, or other medical services that a child needs in order to receive a free appropriate public education (FAPE). Other educationally and medically necessary services such as speech and language, occupational therapy, physical therapy, social work services, and transportation are already listed in the service grid. The justification will be stated in the least restrictive environment section (LRE) of the IEP (Section 9).

The LRE statement must include information that would justify MaineCare paid educationally necessary medical services. An example of such a statement is the following: “Due to the child’s complex medical needs, the child requires a highly-structured setting with a predictable routine, clear and consistent consequences and integrated therapy for social and emotional needs in a significantly more restrictive day treatment setting”. Please note that an LRE statement might include additional explanation and that the above example is not intended to necessarily model a complete LRE statement.

Beginning May 1, 2018, schools are requested to write an LRE statement similar to the above example depending on the specific needs of the child. When the revised IEP form goes into effect on August 1, 2018, it will still be important to develop an appropriate LRE statement but the documentation for MaineCare purposes will be in section 8, “Additional Medical Services for FAPE”.

A draft copy of the revised IEP form can be accessed at the following site: http://maine.gov/doe/specialed/forms/index.html. Please note: this form is only a draft and the revised IEP form will change before implementation on August 1, 2018.

Further guidance will be included in a revision of the procedural manual available on the Special Services webpage sometime before the August 1 date. For more information, contact the Department of Education – Office of Special Services at (207) 624 -6713.

Maine Education Assessments (MEA) Student Test Status Extended 3/16/18

The Department is extending the period to identify a student’s test type as “alternate” or “general” until March 16 in order to allow districts sufficient time to complete their updates.

All students participating in the Multi-State Alternate Assessment (MSAA) for mathematics and ELA/Literacy or the Personalized Alternate Assessment Portfolio (PAAP) for science must be identified in the Synergy Student Information System by March 16^.

Students that are not identified in the Special Education Student Services module of Synergy will participate in the grade 3 – 8 mathematics and ELA/Literacy eMPowerME test, or the or the high school mathematics and ELA/Literacy SAT test.

For further information regarding alternate assessment testing contact Sue Nay at sue.nay@maine.gov or 624-6774. For technical assistance with Synergy contact the Helpdesk at MEDMS.Helpdesk@maine.gov or 624-6896.

Comments sought on Maine’s IDEA Part B application

The Maine Department of Education (DOE) is seeking comments from the public on its annual application for federal funds under Part B of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), which covers services to children with disabilities, ages 3-20.

The application, which covers Maine fiscal year 2019 (starting July 1, 2018) is posted on the Maine DOE’s webpage at http://www.maine.gov/doe/specialed/idea. The Part B budget is projected on the basis of Maine’s award for the current State fiscal year (2018), pending the State’s receipt of the finalized federal award for the coming year. Both documents will be posted from March 8^th, 2018 through May 8^th, 2018.

Written comments will be accepted from March 9^th, 2018 until 4 p.m. on Friday, April 6^th, 2018. Please send comments to Janice Breton at janice.breton@maine.gov or 23 State House Station, Augusta, ME. 04333.

Early Start Maine Earns National Recognition for Infant and Early Childhood Intervention

Early Start Maine, a program funded by federal grants for special education administered through the Maine Department of Education, has received the national 2018 Exemplary Program Award for Infant and Early Childhood Intervention services by the American Council on Rural Special Education, the national organization devoted entirely to special education in rural America.

Early Start Maine is housed at the University of Maine and works throughout the state to support young children with autism and their families. In collaboration with Child Development Services (CDS), Early Start Maine provides training, professional development, and technical assistance to early intervention service providers working with toddlers with autism. The program’s comprehensive early intervention system has positively affected services provided to children with autism and their families.

This national award is granted annually for programs that demonstrate exemplary programs providing service to rural communities, involving the community, and having a significant impact on rural special education.

For more information about this award, see https://umaine.edu/autisminstitute/2018/02/20/maier-early-start-maine-program-receives-national-recognition/

Seeking special education mentors for MACM Program

Maine’s Alternative Certification and Mentoring (MACM) Program is seeking up to 50 practicing or recently retired special educators interested in mentoring conditionally certified first-year teachers for 2018-2019. Maine’s Alternative Certification and Mentoring program is a collaboration between Maine DOE and the UMaine System.

The mentorship position requires the following:

Current or recently expired certification and endorsements in 282, 286, 290, or 291 and at least 5 years of experience supporting students with disabilities. Special education directors and recently retired educators are also encouraged to apply. Must be available to attend training in late June 2018.

For more information and to apply – view the online application.

About Maine’s Alternative Certification and Mentoring Program

For conditionally certified special educators, Maine’s Alternative Certification and Mentoring Program offers intensive, ongoing support and mentoring for up to three years from an experienced special educator in the same area of practice. Find out more information about the MACM Program.

Administrative Letter: Guidance for suspension, expulsion and modified schedules in public preschool programs

Administrative Letter: 12
Policy Code: JKD
To: Public School Administrators
From: Robert G. Hasson, Jr., Ed. D. Commissioner
Date: January 18, 2018
Subject: Guidance for suspension, expulsion and modified schedules in public preschool programs

This guidance is offered by the Maine Department of Education to clarify suspension, expulsion, and modified schedules as they apply to 4-year-olds attending public preschool programs.

Suspension, Expulsion, and Modified Schedules in General Education

Suspension for up to 10 days of 4-year-olds attending public preschool programs is permitted only in accordance with 20-A M.R.S. § 1001(9).

As with their K-12 counterparts, 4-year-olds attending public preschool may not be unenrolled nor asked not to return without being afforded the due process standard for expulsion in accordance with 20-A M.R.S. §1001(8-A).

Districts cannot unilaterally determine that a child attend on a modified schedule-e.g. reduced school day, reduced school week. Parents must be involved in and agree to this decision and understand thoroughly the reasons for the request.

Suspension and Expulsion for Children with Disabilities

In accordance with Federal and State law, a child may not be excluded from enrollment in a public preschool program based solely on the presence of a disability. Enrolled children who are referred to Child Development Services (CDS) based on program concerns regarding the child’s development or behavior must be considered a child with a disability and afforded the same rights as his/her K-12 counterparts until the child’s Individualized Education Program (IEP) team makes its determinations.

Please contact Sue Reed, Early Childhood Specialist at 624-6632 or susan.d.reed@maine.gov or Jan Breton, State Director of Special Services, Birth – 20, Janice.breton@maine.gov 624-6676 with questions or comments about the guidance.

CDS Committee Recommendations

On December 11, 2017, the Part B 619 Advisory Committee, which discussed the proposed transition of special education and related services for children ages 3 to 5 from Child Development Services to the public schools, held its final meeting. Over the course of the Committee’s six meetings, multiple issues related to the proposed transition were identified and discussed. The final product of the Committee’s work is a list of recommendations, for the Commissioner’s consideration, which focus on funding, staffing, facilities, and regionalization opportunities.

A complete list of the Committee’s recommendations can be found at: http://www.maine.gov/doe/cds/guidance/documents/PartB619AdvisoryCommitteeRecommendations-Final.pdf

Any questions regarding the recommendations may be sent to the Child Development Services State Director, Roy Fowler, at roy.fowler@maine.gov

MaineCare Seed adjustments to be made, review Q417 and Q118 reports by February 9, 2018

Due to time constraints, the recovery of Q417 and Q118 MaineCare Seed will occur in the February 2018 subsidy payment.

To access the MaineCare Seed reports, please follow the instructions below.

Log into NEO using the link below

https://neo.maine.gov/DOE/neo/Dashboard

Anyone who currently has permissions to the Special Education modular, will automatically have permissions to access MaineCare reports.

As in the past, if a new staff member needs permission to access this modular, a request from the Superintendent to the Maine DOE helpdesk will be necessary.

Click on the Student Data tab

Click on the Student Report tab

Select MaineCare in the Reporting Area drop-down

Choose the quarterly Seed report and the report type (private/public)

Click view report button
Once the report appears on the screen, choose the export button.

You may export the reports to Excel but, please be aware that there may be multiple worksheet tabs within the workbook. Save the file to your computer.

To ensure accurate adjustments to subsidy, SAU staff must review student by student claims on both the public and private MaineCare reports for Q417 and Q118 by February 9, 2018.

If you disagree that a particular student or time period should be on the report, please provide the reason that you disagree along with the following to Denise.towers@maine.gov.

Identify the type of report (public or private) and the quarter in which the claims are located.
State Student ID
Service provided dates (to and from)
Total amount of Seed being disputed

Summer services: Students must be enrolled when they are receiving educational services. This means that students that are receiving extended school year services in district or extended school year services in an out of district placement must have a primary enrollment for that time period in order for the MDOE to have the most accurate enrollment data to determine SAU responsibility for MaineCare Seed.

For more information or technical assistance related to MaineCare Seed, please contact Denise.towers@maine.gov.