The Virginia Council for Private Education (VCPE) would like to support the comprehensive comments submitted on behalf of our member organization, the Virginia Association of Specialized Educational Facilities (VAISEF), in regard to the proposed Regulations Governing the Operation of Private Schools for Students with Disabilities. 

We acknowledge that VAISEF, as experts in the field of special education services, understand the particular concerns of their constituency and ask that you thoughtfully consider their position on each individual item. However, we would like to highlight two concerns that relate to the philosophy of private schools. In particular,

671-30-In a previous draft of these regulations, there was a letter D that allowed the Department to grant exceptions for good reason.  We recommend this regulation be added back in as the private schools in Virginia serve a diverse group of students with special education needs.  Attempting to impose a rigid set of standards that do not grant any flexibility would be detrimental to the ability of private schools to individualize the educational programming to meet the needs of the students they serve.

Appeals process-There are times when our programs are in disagreement with the regulator on compliance issues and there is no safeguard to protect our programs when these disagreements occur.  Programs have gone from not requiring any corrective action with one regulator to a 15 page report of noncompliance with a different regulator in the next licensure cycle.  We recommend an appeals process be placed into the regulations to promote consistency amongst regulators.

VCPE has enjoyed a successful partnership with our public school counterparts for many years. The key to this success is an understanding that, although our approach can be different, our goal is the same: to educate Virginia’s children. This partnership is especially important for children who need a special education setting to ensure success. Just as each of these children have individual needs that bring them to a VAISEF school, either parentally placed or placed by a public school decision, the VAISEF schools have developed individual strategies to ensure the success for these students.

It is essential to build in flexibility either in the regulations or through a detailed appeals process to address the current and future successful strategies and exceptional situations in our individual VAISEF facilities. The philosophy of Individualized Education Plans for children can be applied to facilities as well. If the facility can provide evidence of sustained success, there is no reason they should be held to a particular regulation that restricts their ability to help children succeed.