Extended school year (ESY) services are defined as individualized
instructional programs beyond the regular school year for eligible
students with disabilities.
(1)The need for ESY services must be determined on
an individual student basis by the admission, review, and dismissal
(ARD) committee in accordance with 34 Code of Federal Regulations
(CFR), §300.106, and the provisions of this section. In determining
the need for and in providing ESY services, a school district may
not:
(A)limit ESY services to particular categories of
disability; or
(B)unilaterally limit the type, amount, or duration
of ESY services.
(2)The need for ESY services must be documented using
data collected by the district and the student's parents using [
from] formal or [and/or] informal assessments
[evaluations provided by the district or the parents].
The documentation must demonstrate that in one or more critical areas
addressed in the current individualized education program (IEP) where
the student has previously demonstrated acquired progress [goals
and objectives], the student has exhibited, or reasonably may
be expected to exhibit, severe or substantial regression that cannot
be recouped within a reasonable period of time. Severe or substantial
regression means that the student has been, or will be, unable to
maintain previously acquired progress in one or more [acquired
] critical IEP areas [skills] in the absence
of ESY services.
(3)The reasonable period of time for recoupment of
acquired critical skills must be determined on the basis of needs
identified in each student's IEP. If the loss of acquired critical
skills would be particularly severe or substantial, or if such loss
results, or reasonably may be expected to result, in immediate physical
harm to the student or to others, ESY services may be justified without
consideration of the period of time for recoupment of such skills.
In any case, the period of time for recoupment must not exceed eight
weeks.
(4)A skill is critical when the loss of that skill
results, or is reasonably expected to result, in any of the following
occurrences during the first eight weeks of the next regular school
year:
(A)placement in a more restrictive instructional arrangement;
(B)significant loss of acquired skills necessary for
the student to appropriately progress in the general curriculum;
(C)significant loss of self-sufficiency in self-help
skill areas as evidenced by an increase in the number of direct service
staff and/or amount of time required to provide special education
or related services;
(D)loss of access to community-based independent living
skills instruction or an independent living environment provided by
noneducational sources as a result of regression in skills; or
(E)loss of access to on-the-job training or productive
employment as a result of regression in skills.
(5)The ARD committee must consider ESY services [
If the district does not propose ESY services for discussion]
at the annual review of a student's IEP. If a student for whom
ESY services were considered and rejected at the annual IEP review
meeting later demonstrates a need for ESY services based on the criteria
described in this section, the parent and school district must determine
either through an IEP amendment by agreement in accordance with 34
CFR, §300.324(a)(4), or during an ARD committee meeting the location,
duration, and frequency of ESY services the student requires[,
the parent may request that the ARD committee discuss ESY services
pursuant to 34 CFR, §300.321].
(6)If a student for whom ESY services were considered
and rejected loses critical skills because of the decision not to
provide ESY services, and if those skills are not regained after the
reasonable period of time for recoupment, the ARD committee must reconsider
the current IEP if the student's loss of critical skills interferes
with the implementation of the student's IEP.
(7)For students enrolling in a district during the
school year, information obtained from the prior school district as
well as information collected during the current year may be used
to determine the need for ESY services.
(8)The provision of ESY services is limited to the
educational needs of the student and must not supplant or limit the
responsibility of other public agencies to continue to provide care
and treatment services pursuant to policy or practice, even when those
services are similar to, or the same as, the services addressed in
the student's IEP. No student will be denied ESY services because
the student receives care and treatment services under the auspices
of other agencies.
(9)Districts are not eligible for reimbursement for
ESY services provided to students for reasons other than those set
forth in this section.
(10)If a student whose IEP notes
that ESY services are required withdraws from one district and registers
in another district during the summer months, the new district will
be responsible for ensuring those services are provided. This may
include the direct provision of those services or contracting with
the previous district or another entity to provide the services or
payment for the services.
The agency certifies that legal counsel has
reviewed the proposal and found it to be within the state agency's
legal authority to adopt.
Filed with the Office
of the Secretary of State on March 11, 2024
TRD-202401105 Cristina De La Fuente-Valadez
Director,
Rulemaking
Texas Education Agency
Earliest possible date of adoption: April 21, 2024
For further information, please call: (512) 475-1497
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