LAC 28:XCI.111. Purpose

A. The LDOE has the responsibility to ensure that each participating agency in the state is in compliance with all applicable federal and state laws, regulations, and standards required for the provision of a free and appropriate public education for all children with disabilities ages three through twenty-one for whom each is legally responsible. To fulfill this responsibility, the LDOE has established a purpose for conducting monitoring, as well as procedures and strategies that provide ongoing monitoring activities. The procedures provide continuous and comprehensive monitoring of all aspects of special education including the following: 1. child identification; 2. demographic and disproportionality issues; 3. screening, intervention, referral, and evaluation process; 4. the provision of FAPE in the LRE including program, services, and placement implementation for students with disabilities three through twenty-one years of age; including transition from Part C by the child’s third birthday; 5. professional development; 6. fiscal requirements relative to programmatic issues of local educational agencies; and 7. the use of resolution meetings and mediation. B. In Louisiana, the purpose of compliance monitoring is three fold: 1. to enforce legal requirements; 2. to ensure program effectiveness; and 3. to ensure corrective action, when needed, has been taken. C. The information obtained as a result of the monitoring process will be utilized in the following ways: 1. to improve outcomes for all children with disabilities; 2. to direct initiatives statewide; and 3. to direct statewide personnel development.