Public, Non Public, & Private Schools

If you have any other questions about the reimbursement process or about the process of obtaining funding for your child’s placement at an approved school, please call our office at 646-741-3030 or contact me at Jennifer@Ratclifflaw.org. We look forward to hearing from you.

The difference between public, non-public and private schools can often be baffling for parents, yet, it is crucial that they understand the differences between each as each is funded in a different way. I will attempt to try and clear up some of that confusion today.

My name is Jennifer Ratcliff and I have been practicing special ed law in New York since 2011. 

There are generally three types of schools that you can send your child to, and while many people understand the difference between public versus private school, but they often don’t understand how non-public, otherwise known as approved schools, fit into that mix. 

Before I dive into approved schools, it’s important to understand that private schools operate completely separate from the public school system. So any person sending their child to a private school, whether they be a student with a disability or not, ultimately bears the burden of paying for their child’s tuition.  It’s also important to understand that private schools are under no obligation to except any students, nor are they under an obligation to keep any student for any length of time (outside of any contractual agreement). They are completely independent organizations.

Once you understand that distinction, we can move on to non-public schools. So, non-public schools are not the same as private schools despite what the name may suggest. The term approved school and non-public school can be used interchangeably, and basically, these are technically private schools that receive state funding and have been approved as placements, by the state of New York, for students with disabilities. This means that there is a possibility that this school can be recommended for your child and be funded directly by the school district without the need to file a case against them.

In order for this to happen the IEP team would have to agree that your child cannot be educated in a public school setting, and therefore, defer your case to the central based support team or CBST for them to place him or her in an approved School. At that point, your case would be moved over to somebody at CBST who would send out your child’s packet to every school that takes your child’s classification, the schools would review the packet and determine whether or not they felt you and your child should join them for an intake.

The most important thing is to understand that in order to achieve funding through this process without having to file a lawsuit, you will need both the deferral to CBST and the acceptance an approved school. If you are deferred to CBST but your child ultimately attends a purely private school, this deferral will not pay for the private school. Conversely, if you are not deferred to CBST, but gain acceptance to an approved school, you will have to sue for the funding for that school in order to attend. Most, but not all, approved schools allow you to come in without the deferral to CBST and pay them upfront while pursuing the reimbursement process.