The following discussion is adapted from Content of the IEP, Module 13 in Building the Legacy: A Training Curriculum on IDEA.
FAPE is the fundamental core of the IDEA and the IEP. The acronym stands for free appropriate public education.
Conceptually, FAPE is both the goal and the path to reaching the goal. FAPE is the entitlement of a child with a disability, as IDEA defines that term, and the individualized education program (IEP) that every student with a disability must have is the means by which this entitlement is mapped out. In terms of developing or building an IEP, the foundation is FAPE, and the apex is FAPE.
The definition of FAPE is found at §300.17 and and reads:
§300.17 Free appropriate public education.
Free appropriate public education or FAPE means special education and related services that—
(a) Are provided at public expense, under public supervision and direction, and without charge;
(b) Meet the standards of the SEA, including the requirements of this part;
(c) Include an appropriate preschool, elementary school, or secondary school education in the State involved; and
(d) Are provided in conformity with an individualized education program (IEP) that meets the requirements of §§300.320 through 300.324.
If you break the definition down, you’ll see there are six components. In common-speak language, FAPE is:
1. special education and related services;
2. free to families, provided at public expense;
3. supervised and directed by a public agency via State and local education agencies (LEAs) (e.g., public schools);
4. based on the standards of the State education agency (SEA) (e.g., the State’s general and special education standards and regulations);
5. provided in an appropriate preschool, elementary school, or secondary school in the applicable State; and
6. provided in accordance with an appropriately developed IEP.
What is not immediately clear about FAPE but what is true nonetheless is that, for each child with a disability, FAPE is different. While each child’s education must be free to him or her and while a public agency provides and pays for that education, what is “appropriate” for one child will not necessarily be appropriate for another. Defining what is appropriate for a specific child requires a process of discovery that begins with an individualized evaluation of that child, where his or her areas of strength and weakness are identified in as much detail as possible. It’s also important that the evaluation provide information relative to the child’s participation in the general curriculum and a number of other factors. Thus, it is through evaluation that information is gathered to illuminate the dimensions of an “appropriate” education for a given child.
In addition to defining FAPE, the IDEA also specifies the scope of a state’s obligation to make FAPE available to eligible children with disabilities within the state. The relevant provisions come from §§300.101 and 300.102, the salient points of which are:
· FAPE must be available to all children residing in the State between the ages of 3 and 21, inclusive, including children with disabilities who have been suspended or expelled from school, in accordance with §300.530(d).
· FAPE may be provided to a three-year-old child via an IEP or an IFSP.
· FAPE must be made available to any individual child with a disability who needs special education and related services, even though the child has not failed or been retained in a course or grade, and is advancing from grade to grade.
Exceptions or limitations to a State’s obligation to provide FAPE include:
· FAPE does not apply to children ages 3, 4, 5, 18, 19, 20, or 21 in a State that does not require the provision of general public education to nondisabled children of these ages.
· Further exceptions apply to children aged 18 through 21 who become incarcerated but were not previously identified as being a child with a disability and do not have an IEP.
· Children who graduate with a regular high school diploma.