PA Out of District Placement - not an APS

[JSD24]

I was reading a post in a Facebook group and I'm in a bit of shock about what I saw.  This was about a school district in PA and out of district placements.  An advocate posted that they've seen this district cover 50% of the tuition for private schools for several students.  I thought that offers from a school needed to be FAPE - Free Appropriate Public Education.  It's not 'Free' if only half is covered.

I did ask the advocate how they are able to only offer 50% and it's OK.  She said, because the parents were waiving FAPE, that the school wasn't obligated to pay for 100%.  Settlement agreements, where the private school isn't going to follow an IEP, does require a parent to waive FAPE.  I thought that this was waiving the right to having an IEP where the student would be getting special instruction to meet specific goals - in other words, the 'A' in FAPE - Appropriate.  I didn't think they would also be waiving 'F' - Free.

Does this sound right to you?

[Carolyn Rowlett]

It's hard to comment without knowing the specific facts of each case (for instance, it might matter whether the private placement was by the parent or by the school), but if a parent can waive FAPE in a settlement agreement that includes a private placement, I would assume that would mean the entirety of FAPE - even the "free" part.  Waiving FAPE in order to receive the services of the private school allowed the school district to use this as an argument to not cover at 100%.  May not be the best result, but I can't think of a reason it would not be allowed in a situation involving a private school not subject to FAPE, and perhaps having 50% covered was the best the parents thought they could receive without spending more time and money.

Unsure in Seattle (actually, Kansas City :))