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ADE outlines how 'proportionate share' funds must be identified and consulted with private and homeschool families
Summary
ADE staff briefed the board on the IDEA Part B 'proportionate share' obligation: how district allocations are calculated, consultation requirements with private and homeschool families, monitoring approaches, and the potential for unspent funds after a 27-month grant life cycle.
Arizona Department of Education officials explained how school districts must calculate and spend proportionate-share IDEA Part B funds for parentally placed private-school and homeschooled students with disabilities.
Chris Brown and Colette Chapman told the board that the numerator in the allocation formula is the number of eligible parentally placed children with disabilities within a district's boundaries and the denominator is the total number of eligible children with disabilities (public plus private/home-placed). They stressed that Arizona’s rules include homeschooled children in the calculation, a distinction the presenters described as uncommon in other states.
Brown and Chapman described required, timely and meaningful consultation between districts and private-school or homeschool representatives to design Equitable Services. They said a unilateral district offer without meaningful input does not meet statutory requirements, and described monitoring practices that look for documentation such as invitation lists, agendas or written affirmations signed by private-school or homeschool representatives.
Board members pressed ADE on transparency: Member Clark requested district-level reporting showing which districts have complied with consultation requirements and which have not, and asked for data on how much proportionate-share funding has been distributed and actually spent. ADE staff said monitoring is cyclical and many accounting details are held in district financial reports; staff promised follow-up materials and said some reporting lags are caused by open grant accounting cycles.
Members urged clearer outreach to private schools and homeschool families and suggested county-level coordination in rural areas to improve consultation and prevent funds from being unused for eligible students.
