La. Admin. Code tit. 28 § XLIII-230

Current through Register Vol. 50, No. 3, March 20, 2024

Section XLIII-230 - LEA Jurisdiction

A. Each LEA shall identify, locate, and evaluate each student suspected of having a disability (regardless of the severity of the disability), 3 through 21 years of age, residing within its jurisdiction.

B. Each LEA is responsible for making available a free appropriate public education to each eligible student with a disability, 3 through 21 years of age, who resides within its jurisdiction except those students enrolled by their parents in a private school program. This responsibility includes the provision and cost of any program on the continuum of services a student requires, including residential placement.

C. Each LEA is responsible for making available a free appropriate public education to each eligible student with a disability, 3 through 21 years of age, who are non-residents of the LEA but located within its jurisdiction for any reason, except for those students enrolled by their parents in a private school program. Funding for services for these students is established in this Section.

D. Jurisdiction is the right and obligation of an LEA to exercise authority over all students residing within its geographic area and over each student placed by the LEA in an educational program within the geographic area of another LEA or in an approved educational program out of the state.

1. For city/parish school systems, the geographic area is the boundary of the school district as defined in the Louisiana Revised Statutes.

2. For SSD, the geographic area is the boundary of the State-operated treatment and care residential facilities.

3. For a state board special school, the geographic area is the boundary of the educational facility.

4. For a charter school that is considered an LEA, the geographic area is the boundary of the educational facility.

5. If an LEA places a student in another LEA or an approved private school, the student so placed remains within the jurisdiction of the placing LEA. The responsibility for a FAPE remains with the placing LEA.

a. All students sent to a board special school by another LEA are considered "placed" by the sending LEA.

E. Students who are eligible to receive a free appropriate public education are described as follows.

1. LEAs shall make available a free public education to all students with disabilities located in their jurisdictions and reaching the age of three years, regardless of when the birthday occurs during the school year; an IEP shall be in effect by the student's third birthday. If a student's third birthday occurs during the summer, the student's IEP team shall determine the date when services under the IEP will begin. At the discretion of the LEA and with parental approval, a FAPE may be provided to an eligible student before age three years if his or her third birthday occurs during the school year.

2. A student with a disability shall remain eligible for services until reaching age 22 unless the student has graduated from high school with a regular high school diploma. A student with a disability whose twenty-second birthday occurs during the course of the regular school year (as defined by the LEA) may be allowed to remain in school for the remainder of the school year.

3. LEAs are required to make available a free appropriate public education to students expelled, suspended or otherwise removed from their current educational placements for more than 10 school days in a school year, in accordance with these regulations.

4. A student with a disability who needs special education and related services shall remain eligible even though he or she is advancing from grade to grade.

F. Funding for public school special education and related services as provided by an LEA shall be as follows.

1. Each LEA shall provide special education and related services to students with exceptionalities who are located within its geographical boundaries, including students who are placed in a private residential facility or an intermediate care facility for the developmentally disabled for any reason by any individual or agency; however, the LEA shall pay the cost of such services only for students who are residents within the geographical boundaries of the LEA. Each LEA shall provide child find and evaluation services to nonresident students who are parentally placed in a private elementary or secondary school in the LEA's jurisdiction.

2. If an LEA provides special education and related services to a student with an exceptionality who is a resident of the state of Louisiana and is located within the geographical boundaries of an LEA but is not a resident thereof, including students who are placed in a private residential facility or an intermediate care facility for the developmentally disabled for any reason by any individual or agency, the responsibility for the student's special education and related service is divided between the student's LEA of residence and the LEA where the student is located as follows:

a. the LEA where the student is located is responsible for providing special education and related services to the student; and

b. the cost of special education and related services shall be reimbursed by the LEA within the boundaries in which the student resides or in which a student who attains majority resides.

3. If a student with an exceptionality is living in a private residential facility in this state but the student is not a resident of this state, the LEA providing special education and related services to that student shall be reimbursed by the residential facility for the cost of providing those services.

4. The state shall be responsible for funding the costs of special education and related services for students enrolled in the special school district and special schools, with the exception of daily transportation costs for day students at board special schools if the students are not placed by parent option. Those transportation costs remain the responsibility of the sending LEA.

5. The Department of Education and LEAs may, under policies established by the State Board of Elementary and Secondary Education, enter into purchase of service agreements or contracts with other public or non-public agencies to provide special education and related services.

6. This Section is not applicable to students who are adjudicated delinquent, or are members of a family in need of services by a court or is in the custody of the Office of Juvenile Justice as a result of any such adjudication and is assigned by the Office of Juvenile Justice to a community-based program or facility, pursuant to R.S. 17:100.1.

G. If a student's LEA of residence is required to fund a student's special education and related services while the student is located in another LEA in the State of Louisiana, the billing must be implemented as follows.

1. The LEA providing the special education and related services will claim the student on its student count for purposes of the Minimum Foundation Program (MFP) and any other available state or federal funding for which the student is eligible.

2. The LEA providing the special education and related services will determine the cost of the student's special education and related services by prorating all services among all participating students in each setting. Those costs include, but are not limited to, the following.

a. School bus transportation costs shall be the student's prorated share of the LEA's actual cost of the school bus, driver, and bus aide(s).

b. Classroom costs shall be the student's prorated share of the cost of the teacher, paraprofessional(s), and aide(s).

c. Related services costs shall be the hourly rate or a portion thereof, of a related service provider's salary or fee for the number of hours or minutes the student actually received services.

d. If the student does not qualify for a free breakfast or lunch pursuant to the United States Department of Agriculture free or reduced nutrition programs, the cost of any meals and snacks shall be the cost of the meals and snacks charged to all students.

e. The actual cost of any assistive technology or other required equipment, supplies, and supports can be billed to the LEA of residence.

f. Indirect costs cannot be included in the billings sent to the LEA of residence.

3. The LEA will subtract the total costs for the student, as enumerated herein, from the total state and federal funding generated by the student's enrollment. The difference may be billed to the student's LEA of residence.

4. Each LEA which intends to bill a non-resident student's Louisiana LEA of residence must send a written notification to the LEA of residence no later than 90 school days prior to sending a bill.

H. "Resident" as it applies to a student with a exceptionality for purposes of this Section shall mean any one of the following.

1. The student is a resident within the geographical boundaries of the local education agency in which the student's parent or parents have their legal residence, unless the parent or parents have relinquished custody of the student. In such case, the student is a resident within the geographical boundaries of the LEA in which the student's legal custodian or custodians have their legal residence.

2. If a student's parents are divorced, the student is a resident of the LEA in which the student's domiciliary or custodial parent has his or her legal residence.

3. If a student is in foster care, the student is a resident of the LEA in which the parent or parents with whom the student lived immediately prior to being placed into foster care have their legal residence.

La. Admin. Code tit. 28, § XLIII-230

Promulgated by the Board of Elementary and Secondary Education, LR 36:1500 (July 2010).

AUTHORITY NOTE: Promulgated in accordance with R.S.17:1941 et seq.