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Interagency system refers to the development and implementation of a coordinated, multi-disciplinary, interagency, intervention services system for children and students with disabilities and their families. The IEP team and the county representative must develop an interagency plan of care for an eligible child or student and the child or student's family for the purpose of coordinating services required under the IEP, or IFSP, with county services. The coordination of services system extends to students with disabilities residing in county jails, juvenile facilities, and adult correctional facilities.
Minnesota law specifically requires that each eligible child or student have access to an interagency intervention service system that coordinates services and programs; an Individual Interagency Intervention Plan (IIIP) be developed for each eligible child or student and their family; and a governing board, such as the Interagency Early Intervention Committee (IEIC) develop an interagency agreement or joint powers agreement outlining the responsibilities for the development and implementation for the coordinated system A district, group of districts, or special education cooperative, in cooperation with the county or counties in which the district or cooperative is located, must also establish a community transition interagency committee (CTIC) for youth with disabilities.
Required PoliciesSpecific policies, procedures and other documentation to demonstrate compliance will be found on each of the fourteen district's policy web page. |
Interagency system refers to the development and implementation of a coordinated, multi-disciplinary, interagency, intervention services system for children and students with disabilities and their families. The IEP team and the county representative must develop an interagency plan of care for an eligible child or student and the child or student's family for the purpose of coordinating services required under the IEP, or IFSP, with county services. The coordination of services system extends to students with disabilities residing in county jails, juvenile facilities, and adult correctional facilities.
Minnesota law specifically requires that each eligible child or student have access to an interagency intervention service system that coordinates services and programs; an Individual Interagency Intervention Plan (IIIP) be developed for each eligible child or student and their family; and that school boards and county boards develop an interagency agreement or joint powers agreement outlining the responsibilities for the development and implementation for the coordinated system. A district, group of districts, or special education cooperative, in cooperation with the county or counties in which the district or cooperative is located, must also establish a community transition interagency committee (CTIC) for youth with disabilities.
If at the time of initial referral for an educational assessment, or a reassessment, the district determines that a child with disabilities who is age 3 through 21 may be eligible for interagency services, the district may request that the county of residence provide a representative to the initial assessment or reassessment team meeting or the first individual education plan team meeting following the assessment or reassessment. The district may request to have a county representative attend other individual education plan team meetings when it is necessary to facilitate coordination between district and county provided services. Upon request from a district, the resident county shall provide a representative to assist the individual education plan team in determining the child's eligibility for existing health, mental health, or other support services administered or provided by the county. The individual education plan team and the county representative must develop an interagency plan of care for an eligible child and the child's family to coordinate services required under the child's individual education plan with county services. The interagency plan of care must include appropriate family information with the consent of the family, a description of how services will be coordinated between the district and county, a description of service coordinator responsibilities and services, and a description of activities for obtaining third-party payment for eligible services, including medical assistance payments. Any state, county, or city government agency responsible for providing services or resources to students with disabilities under this section is subject to the same dispute resolution systems as local school districts, and all such agencies must comply with corrective action requirements that ensue from these systems.
Minn. Stat. 125A.10
The governing boards of the interagency early intervention committees are responsible for developing and implementing interagency policies and procedures to coordinate services at the local level for children with disabilities ages three to 21 under guidelines established by the state interagency committee under section 125A.o23, subdivision 4. Consistent with the requirements in this section and section 125A.023, the governing boards of the interagency early intervention committee shall organize as a joint powers board under section 471.59 or enter into an interagency agreement that establishes a governance structure.
The member districts of the Area Special Education Cooperative along with the counties of Marshall, Red Lake, Polk and Norman, in which the member districts reside have developed Interagency Agreements in compliance with federal and state requirements. Each Interagency Early Intervention Committee (IEIC) is under the umbrella of each counties Children's Collaborative and as such is a part of each county collaborative governance agreement.
Agency Financial Responsibility
The agreement or mechanism must include the following: An identification of or a method for defining, the financial responsibility of each agency for providing services to ensure FAPE to children with disabilities. The financial responsibility of each noneducational public agency described in paragraph (b) of this section, including the State Medicaid agency and other public insurers of children with disabilities, must precede the financial responsibility of district or the State agency responsible for developing the child's IEP.
34 C.F.R. 300.154a)(1)
Each agencies financial responsibilities as well as the procedures and policies that identify each agencies responsibilities are outlined in the governance agreement of each County Collaborative.
Contracts between the Collaborative and service providers must include dispute resolution provisions whenever feasible. In the event of a disagreement between two or more Parties to this Agreement, Parties agree to abide by the following dispute resolution protocol:
Step One: The grieving Parties will attempt to work out the dispute through formal communication.
Step Two: The grieving Parties will notify members of the Governing Board in writing of the nature of the dispute and request the Board to hear the dispute at its next regular meeting and seek resolution at the meeting.
Step Three: If resolution is not achieved at the meeting described in Step Two, the Board shall take the matter under advisement and, at its following regular meeting, recommend a resolution to the grieving Parties, who must decide whether to accept the recommendation.
Step Four: The grieving Parties will submit the dispute to mediation by a neutral third party. The Governing Board will be a separate party to the mediation. The cost of mediation shall be equally distributed among grieving Parties.
Step Five: The grieving Parties will submit the dispute to binding arbitration. The cost of arbitration shall be equally distributed among grieving Parties.
Step Six: Upon resolution of the dispute, a joint communication will be issued to all affected Parties.
Obligations of Non-Educational Public Agencies
Providing Services
If any public agency other than the school district is obligated or responsible to provide or pay for any services that are also considered special education or related services (such as, but not limited to, assistive technology devices, assistive technology services, related services, supplementary aids and services and transition services) that are necessary for ensuring FAPE to children with disabilities, that agency must fulfill that obligation or responsibility either directly or through a contract or other arrangement. The agency may not disqualify an eligible service for Medicaid reimbursement because that service is provided in a school context.
see 34 C.F.R. 300.154(b)(1)(i) & (ii) for specific details
Reimbursement of Educational Agency
If a public agency other than the school district fails to provide or pay for the special education and related services described in 34 C.F.R. 300.154(b)(1)(i) & (ii) the district must provide or pay for these services to the child in a timely manner. The district is authorized to claim reimbursement for the services from the noneducational public agency that failed to provide or pay for these services and that agency must reimburse the district as agreed to in the interagency agreement for that county.
It is the policy of the state to develop and implement comprehensive, coordinated, multidisciplinary interagency programs of early intervention services for children with disabilities and their families.
Minn. Stat. 125A.26
The local primary agency must:
(1) facilitate the development of annual fund requests that identify arrangements with other local and regional agencies providing services as part of the state's early childhood intervention system and that result in service availability on a year-round basis, as necessary;
(2) administer funds received through the annual fund request;
(3) provide oversight for data collection efforts;
(4) facilitate completion of interagency early intervention committee duties as indicated in section 125A.30;
(5) request mediation from the state lead agency, if necessary;
(6) request assistance from the state lead agency when disputes between agencies cannot be resolved within 20 calendar days; and
(7) receive written requests from parents for matters that may be resolved through due process hearings.
When the local primary agency is not an education agency, resources distributed under the early intervention fund must be transferred from a local educational agency to a noneducation agency using a state provided contract. A local primary agency may budget for indirect costs at an amount not to exceed five percent of the amount allocated from the early intervention fund.
MN Statue 125A.31
The local primary agency for schools within the Area Special Education Cooperative is the local public health nursing service in Norman, Marshall and Polk counties, and the Area Special Education Cooperative in Red Lake. The local primary agency must:
administer funds received through the annual fund request;
provide oversight for data collection efforts;
facilitate completion of interagency early intervention duties;
request mediation from the state lead agency, if necessary;
request assistance from the state lead agency when disputes between agencies cannot be resolved within 20 calendar day; and
receive written requests from parents for matters that may be resolved through due process hearings.
Since the local primary agency for Norman, Marshall and Polk counties is not an education agency, resources distributed under the early intervention fund must be transferred from a local educational agency to a non-education agency using a state provided contract. A local primary agency may budget for indirect costs at an amount not to exceed five percent of the amount allocated from the early intervention fund. The fiscal agent for Marshall County is the North West Regional Interdistrict Council, the Crookston Schools is the Polk fiscal agent and the Area Special Education Coop is the fiscal agent for Norman and Red Lake Counties.
Coordination of Services
It is the joint responsibility of county boards and school boards to coordinate, provide, and pay for appropriate services, and to facilitate payment for services from public and private sources. Appropriate services for children must be determined in consultation with parents, physicians, and other educational, medical, health, and human services providers. The services provided must in conformity with an IFSP for each eligible infant and toddler from birth through age two and its family, or an individual education plan (IEP) or individual family service plan (IFSP) for each eligible child ages three through four.
Minn. 125A.29(a)
Appropriate Services
Appropriate services include family education and counseling, home visits, occupational and physical therapy, speech pathology, audiology, psychological services, special instruction, nursing, respite, nutrition, assistive technology, transportation and related costs, social work, vision services, case management including service coordination, medical services for diagnostic and evaluation purposes, early identification, and screening, assessment, and health services necessary to enable children with disabilities to benefit from early intervention services.
Minn. Stat. 125A.29(b)
Responsibility for Services/Procedural Safeguards
This section applies to school and county boards for children from birth through age two who are eligible for Part H, Public Law Number 102-19, and their families.
A parent has the right to:
inspect and review early intervention records;
prior to written notice of a proposed action in the parents' native language unless it is clearly not feasible to do so;
give consent to any proposed action;
selectively accept or decline any early intervention service; and
resolve issues regarding the identification, evaluation, or placement of the child, or the provision of appropriate early intervention services to the child and the child's family through an impartial due process hearing.
If the child's parent is not available, the child has the right to have a surrogate parent appointed by the district. Please contact your special education director for information on surrogate appointments.
If at the time of initial referral for an educational assessment, or a reassessment, the district determines that a child with disabilities who is age 3 through 21 may be eligible for interagency services, the district may request that the county of residence provide a representative to the initial assessment or reassessment team meeting or the first individual education plan team meeting following the assessment or reassessment. The district may request to have a county representative attend other individual education plan team meetings when it is necessary to facilitate coordination between district and county provided services. Upon request from a district, the resident county shall provide a representative to assist the individual education plan team in determining the child's eligibility for existing health, mental health, or other support services administered or provided by the county. The individual education plan team and the county representative must develop an interagency plan of care for an eligible child and the child's family to coordinate services required under the child's individual education plan with county services. The interagency plan of care must include appropriate family information with the consent of the family, a description of how services will be coordinated between the district and county, a description of service coordinator responsibilities and services, and a description of activities for obtaining third-party payment for eligible services, including medical assistance payments. Any state, county, or city government agency responsible for providing services or resources to students with disabilities under this section is subject to the same dispute resolution systems as local school districts, and all such agencies must comply with corrective action requirements that ensue from these systems.
MN Stat. 125A.10
The school districts and county boards of Marshall, Polk, Norman and Red Lake Counties have developed interagency agreements that establish agency responsibilities that assures early intervention services are coordinated, provided, paid for, and that payment is facilitated from public and private sources. These agreements are a part of each county collaborative governance agreement.
School boards of the 14 member districts of the Area Special Education Cooperative and the county board of Marshal, Polk, Norman and Red Lake have entered into agreements to cooperatively serve and provide funding for children with disabilities, under age five, and their families within their specified geographic area. These agreements are a part of each county collaborative governance agreement.
A school district, group of districts, or special education cooperative, in cooperative with the health and human service agencies located in the county or counties in which the district or cooperative is located, must establish and interagency early intervention committee for children with disabilities under age five and their families and for children with disabilities ages three to 22. Committees must include representatives of local and regional health, education, and county human service agencies, county boards, school boards, early childhood family education programs, parents of young children with disabilities under age 12, current service providers, and may also include representatives from other private or public agencies and school nurses. The committee must elect a chair from among its members and shall meet at least quarterly.
MN. Stat. 125A.30(a)
The Area Special Education Cooperative, in cooperation with the health and human service agencies located in Region 1 in which the cooperative is located, are in the process of establishing a regional interagency early intervention committees for children with disabilities under the age of five and their families. The establishment of a Regional IEIC will be developed during the 2011-12 school year. New
The local committee shall also:
participate in needs assessments and program planning activities conducted by local social service, health, and education agencies for young children with disabilities and their families; and
review and comment on the early intervention section of the total special education system for the district, the county social service plan, the section or sections of the community health services plan that address needs of and service activities targeted to children with special health care needs, and the section of the maternal and child health special project grants that address needs of and service activities targeted to children with chronic illness and disabilities.
Minn. Stat. 125A.30(b)
A district, group of districts, or special education cooperative, in cooperation with the county or counties in which the district or cooperative is located, must establish a community transition interagency committee for youth with disabilities, beginning at grade 9 or age equivalent, and their families. Members of the committee must consist of representatives from special education, vocational and regular education, community education, postsecondary education and training institutions, mental health, adults with disabilities who have received transition services if such persons are available, parents of youth with disabilities, local business or industry, rehabilitation services, county social services, health agencies, and additional public or private adult service providers as appropriate. The committee must elect a chair and must meet regularly. The committee must:
(1) identify current services, programs, and funding sources provided within the community for secondary and postsecondary aged youth with disabilities and their families;
(2) facilitate the development of multiagency teams to address present and future transition needs of individual students on their individual education plans;
(3) develop a community plan to include mission, goals, and objectives, and an implementation plan to assure that transition needs of individuals with disabilities are met;
(4) recommend changes or improvements in the community system of transition services;
(5) exchange agency information such as appropriate data, effectiveness studies, special projects, exemplary programs, and creative funding of programs; and
(6) following procedures determined by the commissioner, prepare a yearly summary assessing the progress of transition services in the community including follow-up of individuals with disabilities who were provided transition services to determine post school outcomes. The summary must be disseminated to all adult services agencies involved in the planning and to the commissioner by October 1 of each year.
MN Stat. 125A.22
The responsibilities of the Community Transition Interagency Committee (CTIC) is under the umbrella of the county collaborative in Marshall, Polk, Norman and Red Lake Counties. Because of the small size of each of these counties and because the agency representatives on the collaborative are the same representatives for the CTIC, all duties and responsibilities are carried out within the collaborative process.
The State may require that a public agency include in the records of a child with a disability a statement of any current or previous disciplinary action that has been taken against the child and transmit the statement to the same extent that the disciplinary information is included in, and transmitted with, the student records of nondisabled children.
The statement may include a description of any behavior engaged in by the child that required disciplinary action, a description of the disciplinary action taken, and any other information that is relevant to the safety of the child and other individuals involved with the child.
If the State adopts such a policy, and the child transfers from one school to another, the transmission of any of the child's records must include both the child's current IEP and any statement of current or previous disciplinary action that has been taken against the child.
34 C.F.R. 300.229
Nothing in this part prohibits an agency from reporting a crime committed by a child with a disability to appropriate authorities or prevents State law enforcement and judicial authorities from exercising their responsibilities with regard to the application of Federal and State law to crimes committed by a child with a disability.
34 C.F.R.300.535(a)
If the district is the agency reporting a crime committed by a child with a disability, the district must ensure that copies of the special education and disciplinary records of the child are transmitted for consideration by the appropriate law authorities.
The district reporting a crime may transmit copies of the child's special education and disciplinary records only to the extent that the transmission is permitted by the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act.
34 C.F.R. 300.535(b)
The obligation to make FAPE available to all children with disabilities does not apply with respect to the following:
Children aged 18 through 21 to the extent that State law does not require that special education and related services be provided to students with disabilities who, in the last educational placement prior to their incarceration in an adult correctional facility:
Were not actually identified as being a child with a disability; and
Did not have an IEP.
The exception to the above section does not apply to children with disabilities, aged 18 through 21 who:
Had been identified as a child with a disability and had received services in accordance with an IEP, but who left school prior to their incarceration; or
Did not have an IEP in their last educational setting, but who had actually been identified as a child with a disability.
Children with disabilities who are convicted as adults under State law and incarcerated in adults prisons are not required to participate in general assessments or transition planning and transition services when their eligibility under Part B of the Act will end, because of their age, before they will be eligible to be released from prison.
When a student with a disabilities is convicted as an adult and incarcerated in an adult prison, the IEP team may modify the student's IEP or placement if the State has demonstrated a bona fide security or compelling penological interest that cannot otherwise be accommodated.
34 C.F.R.300.324(d)(2)