Deadline extended for N.J. kids to get extra help for special ed services lost during COVID – NJ.com

With just days to go before a looming deadline, Gov. Phil Murphy signed legislation Thursday extending the time New Jersey families have to file claims to get extra help for students who lost special education services during COVID-19 school shutdowns.

The new law gives families until Sept. 1, 2023, to file a claim for a hearing in the state Office of Administrative Law for additional services for kids who missed out on special education classes and therapy while their schools were remote during the pandemic.

Families previously only had until March 18 — the second anniversary of the day most New Jersey schools switched to remote learning due to COVID — to file a claim covering the full length of time that their children missed services.

Advocates pushed lawmakers to extend the deadline because many of the families of the state’s 230,000 special education students don’t know they can ask their school districts to make up for every day of lessons and services missed due to COVID.

“These bills have widespread support because they offer much needed breathing room to both families and schools to resolve claims cooperatively and because they prioritize the needs of students,” said Elizabeth Athos, a senior attorney with the Education Law Center, a Newark-based legal advocacy organization.

When schools switched to remote learning in 2020 many children with Individualized Education Programs, known as IEP plans, were suddenly cut off from individualized classes and therapies at school. That included everything from one-on-one reading lessons to speech therapy, physical therapy and occupational therapy.

Under federal law, students are eligible for “compensatory education” to make up for what they missed. That means they can get additional help and services from their school districts for every day of learning they failed to receive.

For example, if a student missed 100 days of speech therapy sessions at school while they were home remote learning during the pandemic, the child may be eligible for an additional 100 days of speech sessions to make up for the lost time. Those 100 make-up sessions could come during the school day, in addition to their current speech therapy, or during summer or after school in extra sessions paid for by their school districts.

In some cases, school districts will also pay for tutors or other classes for students to get extra help outside of school.

Most families can go to their school district to work out an agreement for making up missed services. If that does not work, they can file for a due process hearing in the state Office of Administrative Law.

Disability and education advocates lobbied lawmakers to create legislation last year to extend the deadline to file for a hearing until 2023 to give parents and overwhelmed school districts more time to have “compensatory education” meetings with families.

The initial legislation extending the deadline was approved by the state Senate, but was not posted for a vote by the Assembly before the end of the legislative term in January to the frustration of supporters.

So, the bills (S905 and A1281) were introduced again at the start of the new legislative session and fast-tracked to beat the March 18 deadline. The legislation was approved by the state Senate in a 34-0 vote last month. The Assembly approved the legislation in a 74-0 vote on Monday before it was sent to the governor for his signature.

“Postponing the deadline to file a legal claim will give parents more time to work with their child’s school district to come up with a learning plan to make up for lost services,” said state Senate Majority Leader Teresa Ruiz, D-Essex, one of the sponsors of the Senate bill.

It is unclear how many of the state’s students with IEP plans have asked their school districts to make up for services they lost during the pandemic or how many know they can request a hearing.

The new law requires school districts to hold an IEP meeting with families no later than Dec. 31 to discuss the need for make up services for every student with a disability affected by school shutdowns between March 18, 2020, and September 1, 2021.

“The COVID-19 pandemic has disrupted the education of countless students throughout New Jersey who have had to adapt to drastic changes while being exposed to unprecedented stress and isolation. This is particularly true for the over 230,000 students eligible for special education in our state,” said a joint statement by Assemblyman Sterley Stanley, D-Middlesex, Assemblywoman Linda Carter, D-Union, and Assemblyman Raj Mukherji, D-Hudson, some of the sponsors of legislation.

“It is critical to extend the period for filing a due process petition to ensure that these students will continue to receive an education that meets their unique needs during the pandemic,” they added.

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Kelly Heyboer may be reached at kheyboer@njadvancemedia.com.