When an IEP team determines that the student’s needs cannot be met in another setting and that residential placement is appropriate, a formal referral is completed and submitted to the Special Education Local Plan Area (SELPA) or Local Education Agency (LEA) office on behalf of the student. Once this is done, the school district will gather a list of all potential placements that they can find. Parents will then participate in interviews and enroll their student. Parents should expect the process to take some time.
When the placement is an IEP team decision, the whole cost is funded through the student’s local school district.
Sometimes, residential placements are jointly funded by the school district and county mental health department, especially when emotional disability is the primary disability category in the IEP. According to Maltz, usually the residential treatment center works with the school district and the family’s insurance to coordinate who funds which services.
When residential placement is decided through the IEP process, school districts will pay for family visits, which often looks like reimbursing parents for airfare or gas mileage and possibly overnight accommodations.
For more information, see our full article Residential Placement 101.
Save your favorite resources and access a custom Roadmap.
Get Started
