Attached is a PD-2 form to be used to report the count of preschool and school-age students with disabilities provided special education programs and services on December 1, 2004. Preschool students with disabilities may be counted if they are provided special education services by your school pursuant to Section 4410 or 4201 of the Education Law. School-age students with disabilities may be counted if they are placed in your school by public school districts or by Commissioner’s appointments. Out-of-State approved private schools are to report the number of New York State students placed in the school by New York State school districts and by New York State courts and other agencies. All schools submitting this report must be either schools that are approved for educating students with disabilities or are State-operated or State-supported schools. This report is due in the State Education Department between December 1 and December 17, 2004 and should be submitted to:

To be counted in this report, each student with a disability, on December 1, 2004, must meet both of the following criteria:

• The student must be placed in your school and your school must implement the student’s Individualized Education Program (IEP) on December 1, 2004. A student with a disability whose placement in your school is discontinued before December 1, 2004, may not be included in the count for your school. A student who is initially placed in your school and provided special education after December 1, 2004 may not be included in the count for your school.

Federal law and regulation require that State and local education agencies ensure an unduplicated count of students with disabilities. Before submitting the PD-2 report, please complete local verification procedures to ensure that each student is counted only once. Such verification procedures may include visual scans, computer scans or other methods; and are especially important for schools having several school buildings and for students receiving multiple special education programs or services.

The New York State Education Department (SED) will confirm the accuracy of information included in this report as part of the program review process, or as is otherwise indicated. To facilitate such review for your school, please maintain a list (hard copy or other readily retrievable format) of all students included in this child count until June 30, 2011. Upon completing local verification procedures, if it is determined that one or more counts are incorrect, a revised child count (i.e., PD-2 form) must be submitted to SED.

As compared to the PD-2 form for 2003-2004, the PD-2 for 2004-2005 is revised in the following ways:

• Section A, Table 1 has been modified to collect information on preschool children with disabilities ages 2-4, not 2-5. All children who are 5 years of age on December 1, 2004 and receive special education services are "school-age" students with disabilities and as such must be reported in Section B of this report, and not in Section A.

• Some instructions and explanatory notes are added to provide clarifications.

Please note:

• If your school is located within New York State and if you provide educational services to students with disabilities pursuant to Article 81 of the Education Law, please do not complete this form; instead, contact our office to request a PD-2A/4 form.

• The PD-2 report is to be completed only by approved private schools for students with disabilities located within New York State that do not provide educational services to students pursuant to Article 81 of the Education Law. All approved out-of-State schools for students with disabilities must also complete this report. The out-of-State approved private schools will report the count of students placed by New York State school districts as well as by New York State courts and other agencies. The PD-2 report is also to be completed by the State-operated schools and State-supported (Section 4201) schools.

• A SEDCAR-1 (Approved Special Education Program Request for IDEA Sub-Allocation) form is enclosed. This form must be completed by all approved private schools, and State-supported schools for preschool and school-age students with disabilities. This form must also be submitted by all out-of-State approved private schools on behalf of all preschool and school-age students with disabilities who are placed in such schools by New York State school districts or by New York State courts or other agencies. In order to receive IDEA sub-allocations under Section 611 and 619 for the 2005-2006 year, a SEDCAR-1 form must be submitted to each school district by March 3, 2005. The form must be sent to each district placing one or more students in your program on December 1, 2004. For students with disabilities placed by New York State courts and other agencies in out-of-State approved schools, the SEDCAR-1 form must be submitted to the school district in which such students resided at the time they were placed in the out-of-State schools by the courts or other agencies.

Please note that the data collected through the PD forms are used in the following reports and activities:

• Annual Performance Report for Special Education

• Pocketbook of Goals and Results for Individuals with Disabilities

• Chapter 655 Report to the Governor and the Legislature on the Status of the State’s Schools

• Special Education Quality Assurance Reviews

• School Report Cards

• BOCES Report Cards

• Charter School Report Cards

• Calculations to identify instances of possible race/ethnicity disproportionality

• Other reports required by State or federal statutes

• Summary reports for public information, to be placed on the Department's website

• Evaluation of programs and policies

If you have any questions or are in need of assistance in completing this report, please contact the Strategic Evaluation Data Collection, Analysis and Reporting (SEDCAR) Unit by using the contact information provided in the letterhead. Thank you.

Attachment

cc: Rebecca H. Cort