Special Education Services for Nonpublic Schools

Memorandum of Support

Re: S1325-B Hoylman-Sigal / A3950-A Pheffer Amato
Relates to special education services for students in nonpublic schools 

The above-referenced bill amends the education law to address procedural barriers that have prevented students with disabilities attending nonpublic schools from accessing their entitled educational services. The New York State Catholic Conference strongly supports this legislation. 

New York has long-guaranteed students in both public and nonpublic schools, special education services set forth in their Individual Education Plans (IEPs) and which they need to help reach their human potential. That guarantee carries an implicit public obligation: the State must make the path to those services clear, timely, and navigable for families. This measure provides long-overdue clarification by establishing firm notice requirements to avoid having paperwork errors or opaque deadlines preventing a child from receiving needed services. The bill also supplies urgent, one-time relief to thousands of New York City students who lost services in 2024-25. 

Nonpublic school students are entitled, under §3602-c, to receive special educational services through Individualized Education Services Plans (IESPs). For decades, districts accepted late parental requests in good faith and reminded families each spring that a statutory June 1 service request deadline was approaching. In 2024, many districts, including New York City, did not send the same customary notice and then enforced the June 1 deadline retroactively, without a reasonable opportunity for appeal. As a result, of the roughly 40,000 students who were served in 2023-24, only some 17,000 service requests were honored in 2024-25. Another 3,000 families were told their children would be served only if parents waived due-process rights. Consequently, at least 20,000 eligible students, half the previous year’s total, have gone without mandated support for most of this school year. The sharp and unacceptable decline shows what happens when notice disappears: families are unaware of their rights, paperwork goes unfiled, and children lose services, leading to documented academic regression, behavioral challenges, and emotional distress that falls hardest on low-income households least able to pay privately. 

The bill corrects these deficiencies in two ways. First, it requires every district to annually and clearly notify parents on how and when to request services, and bars districts from conditioning services on a waiver of due process protections. Second, the bill provides immediate remedies for the present crisis in New York City by directing NYC school districts to contact families whose 2024-25 requests were rejected and to accept corrected applications, as well as entitling students who lost services in the current school year, to compensatory education for those missed services. 

This measure sets forth sensible and clear procedures to ensure students receive their required services and begins to remediate the educational damage done to those denied support this year. The NYS Catholic Conference urges swift passage of this essential legislation.