Private School Placement: A Local Director's Perspective

Abstract

The consideration of private placement for a handicapped student's educational program by a local special services director can often be a complex deliberation. The irony of increased private placements for mild/moderately handicapped students, on the heels of landmark court cases mandating deinstitutionalization of programs for the handicapped (PARC, 1971; Mills, 1972), warrants a scrutiny of the interpretation and implementation of P.L. 94–142. Definitions of concepts such as “appropriate education” and “least restrictive environment” must be resolved. Problems of tuition rates, transportation costs, and due process activities are dilemmas which often accompany the issue of a private placement. Local education agency emphasis on well-developed local programming along with state education agency monitoring vigilance of federal regulations pertaining to least restrictive environment issues can provide a proper perspective to the question of private placement.