Subject: Extended School Year Standards - Action

Date:    August 13, 2008

To:       Parents and Advocates for Students using Special Education Services and Supports   

From:    Liz Bauer

Subject: Update on Michigan Department of Education Standards for Extended School Year Services in Michigan 

On August 12, 2008 the State Board of Education approved the Standards for Extended School Year Services (ESY) in Michigan. The Standards will be embedded in Administrative Rules for Special Education. Michigan Department of Education submitted a request for rulemaking on June 16, 2008. It is anticipated that this rule change will be presented for public comment in the fall of 2008. However, the statute is already clear that Extended School Year Services and supports MUST be considered for EVERY Student with a disability of any characteristic or degree at EACH Individualized Education Program (IEP) Team Meeting. ESY services must be provided if the IEP team determines that such services are necessary for the provision of a Free Appropriate Public Education (FAPE) to the student.

Details of the Standards and the process for determining the need for ESY services are available on the Department’s website www.michigan.gov/mde  or http://www.michigan.gov/documents/mde/Item_AA_243389_7.pdf  and are also attached to this e-mail. Please study these and be prepared for IEP Team meetings. Advocacy organizations are encouraged to provide parent training and information on the need for data in determining the need for ESY services and supports.

I am writing this to all of you to let you know of the Board’s action and also to ask that you tell everyone in your network that they should EXPECT to discuss the need for ESY services at their IEP Team meeting. Further, IEP Team meetings should be scheduled to allow time for resolution of differences including: mediation, facilitated IEP, due process complaints and hearings and state complaints. IDEA Regulations specify that “public agencies are expected to ensure that these determinations are made in a timely manner so that students with disabilities who require ESY services in order to receive FAPE can receive those necessary services [Federal Register, Vo.64, No.48, 1999, p.12576]

Board members were assured that educators are eager to receive these standards to guide their practice and that they will implement them even though the rule-making process is forthcoming.

I will be very interested in your experience. You may contact me at:

Elizabeth W. Bauer

248 540 4656   or ebauer7400@aol.com

Elizabeth W. Bauer, Member
Michigan State Board of Education
1355 Lake Park Drive
Birmingham, MI 48009-1089
248 540 4656
www.michigan.gov/sbe

"The secret of education is respecting the pupil."
Ralph Waldo Emerson

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