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What is Preschool Special Education (PSE)? 
PSE is programs and services for 3-5 year old children identified as having a deficit in one or more of these areas:  communication, vision, hearing, motor skills, social emotional/behavioral functioning, self-help skills and/or cognitive skills.

The 2008 Operating Standards for Ohio’s Schools Serving Children with Disabilities are currently being revised to support changes resulting from reauthorization of the Individual with Disabilities Education Improvement Act of 2004 to ensure compliance with the statute and regulations.  The most significant change for Preschool Special Education will be in the area of eligibility.  At present, all children eligible for preschool special education services are identified as a preschool child with a disability.  The proposed revisions currently under review by the State Board change the eligibility requirements to disability categories (autism, cognitive disability, deaf-blindness, deafness, emotional disturbance, hearing impairment, multiple disabilities, orthopedic impairment, other health impairment, specific learning disability, speech or language impairment, traumatic brain injury, visual impairment) and add the category “developmental delay.”  Each Local Education Agency (LEA or public school district) has the option of adopting the State’s definition of developmental delay.  The most recent draft of the proposed rules requires that the disability categories be considered first and then developmental delay may be considered.

The State’s proposed definition of developmental delay refers to a delay in physical development, communication development, cognitive development, social-emotional development or adaptive behavior.  Developmental delay may also be used in place of the disability categories for speech-language impairment, cognitive disability, emotional disturbance and specific learning disability.  Rule 3301-51-11: Preschool Special Education Requirements, otherwise known as Rule 11, is awaiting adoption by the State Board of Education. It is anticipated that the revised preschool rules will become effective summer of 2008.  Once the rules have been adopted, the SST 11 will provide training and technical assistance on the Operating Standards, the new guidance document and the required forms.

Preschool Special Education Assessment
The Ohio Department of Education's Office of Early Learning and School Readiness has selected the Get It, Got It, Go screening assessment of literacy benchmarks as the tool that will be used to report the progress of children in Ohio's center-based, state-funded preschool programs.  It was developed by the Center for Early Education Development at the University of Minnesota.

Every child enrolled in a preschool special education classroom is to be assessed.  Districts and ESCs will report results through EMIS in the October and year-end reporting periods (Refer to Section 2.5.7 of the EMIS Manual for more detail).  MR/DDs will report results to the child's district of residence; the district of residence is responsible for EMIS reporting.  The data collection form provides a page for recording results to assist in communication across local service delivery systems.

Reporting results for typically developing children is not required.  However, as federal reporting requirements include comparative data for preschool children with disabilities and typically developing peers, districts are encouraged to report the results for all children enrolled in a preschool special education class.

Early Childhood Education (ECE) grant-funded programs (formerly called Public Preschools), are to report assessment results for special education students receiving itinerant services while attending these school programs. Children receiving itinerant services in any other setting are not reported.

Training on assessment administration is provided for staff.  Reporting procedures are sent to the identified program contact listed in the Request for Unit Funding application.

As part of the research-based indicators, family poverty level is requested. As this also is part of the EMIS ECE record reported in December and June, programs should have this information.  The federal poverty guidelines are available on the Office of Early Learning and School Readiness Web page under the documents library.  Parents are asked to indicate which category applies to the family.  There are no income verification checks for preschool special education.  Parents may refuse to supply this information for preschool special education ONLY. Income verification is required for Early Childhood Education Grant funded programs.

For more information on Ohio's use of Get, It, Got It, Go! click here.

Preschool Special Education Funding Unit Funding Request
The ECE Unit Application is used to request unit funding and for MR/DDs to submit data for funding approval.  Districts request preschool special education state unit funding at the beginning of the school year.  Superintendents are notified of the active dates of the application to request funds.  Districts should receive notice of their allocation by October to coincide with EMIS reporting that approves actual funding amounts.  Districts reported the staff FTE employed to provide services and a projected number of children to be served (based upon trend data).  The projected number of children provides for an eligibility factor, which may be greater than the actual number of staff currently employed. Allocations are made in comparison to the previous fiscal year's allocation and the actual number of units funded in the previous year (EMIS data).  By reviewing the comments section of the allocation approval page, the following may be noted:

Units were added or deleted based upon transfer requests;

1. IF last year's allocation is less than or equal to the staff FTE reported or eligibility factor, the same allocation as last fiscal year provided at a minimum;
2. IF last year's allocation is more than the staff FTE reported or eligibility factor, the allocation was reduced to the higher of the two (staff FTE reported or eligibility); the difference between the current allocation and last year's allocation is redistributed/transferred if possible to another area the district has indicated staff - providing same total allocation as year before at a minimum;
3. IF the district provided a written request to redistribute unit allocation, this was done up to total of previous fiscal year's total, providing same total allocation as the year before.

A district's allocation may be reduced from the previous fiscal year because the maximum request for the current year was less than the previous year's allocation. This reduction occurs IF:

1. Staff FTE or eligibility (whichever is higher) is less than previous fiscal year;
2. The difference between last year's allocation and this year's request cannot be transferred to any other area -- in other words, last year's total exceeds the total number of units reported in operation or eligibility for the current year;
3. Units transferred to another entity;
4. Eligibility for the unit at the current rate has not been justified.

Any request for additional and/or new units is filled based upon the wealth factor assigned to the district and availability of budgeted funds.

Unit Funding Approval

School Districts and Educational Service Centers:  After allocations have been made, districts report data through EMIS (October K reporting period).  Based upon the data entered, units are approved for funding.  EMIS data correlates with payments on the SF3 report.  ESCs for FY 2005 also will be paid based on EMIS data.  Data submitted represents the program's status as of Dec. 1; data corrections can be submitted until April.
MR/DDs - MR/DDs are paid based upon data reported via the web verification page regarding staff and child count.  Data submitted represents the program's status as of Dec. 1.  Actual funding received by the district is dependent upon:

1. Accurate data submitted via EMIS or for MR/DD, via web application as of Dec. 1;
2. Valid staff credentials to provide the service;
3. FTE assignment of staff;
4. Minimum and/or maximum number of children reported in each class session; Minimum number of children with documented deficit receiving the corresponding related service for related service child count.

Preschool Special Education Waivers
The 2008 Operating Standards for Ohio's Schools Serving Children with Disabilities regulate the ratio of teachers to preschool special education students in several types of settings.  Presented here is information about waivers for exceeding the number of students served.

Class Size Waiver addresses Operating Standards Rule 3301-51-09 (G)(2)(b): A preschool special class teacher may serve six to eight preschool children with disabilities for a full day program or 12 to 16 preschool children with disabilities for a half-day program. Age range shall not exceed 36 months and class size shall not exceed eight children with disabilities at any one time.  Caseload for any teacher shall not exceed 8.0 full time equivalency (FTE) preschool children with disabilities.

A waiver may be requested to exceed the maximum group size of eight preschool children with disabilities, to exceed the maximum age span of 36 months and/or to exceed the maximum group size.  Waiver requests are reviewed with regard to the age of the child, the time of year when the request is made and the total number of waivers requested by the district.  ODE reviews any request for more than nine preschool children with disabilities in any given classroom to determine the total number of children being served by the district under waiver status.  If a district has requested five waivers, it is recommended that local plans be examined regarding the need for an additional classroom; waivers are not intended to be a long-term solution.

Waivers are granted specific to one child, one teacher and one class (a.m., p.m., or full-day).  A separate request must be submitted for each instance.

Waivers to exceed the maximum number of children in a unit-funded classroom are granted under qualifying conditions: (1) No more than nine preschool children with disabilities are enrolled in the classroom; and (2) No more than a total of 14 children are enrolled in the classroom. The district must provide assurances that the needs of students, IEP goals and severity of disabilities being served can be adequately met under these conditions. Assurances also should address that all children receive an appropriate education and that the teacher and parents are involved in the services provided per rule 3301-51-09(C).

Itinerant Caseload Wavier addresses the Operating Standards Rule 3301-51-09(G)(2)(a): A preschool special education teacher providing itinerant services shall serve 10 to 20 preschool children with disabilities. Unless otherwise specified on the IEP, a minimum of four hours of service per month shall be provide for each child receiving itinerant services.
Waivers may be requested to exceed the maximum caseload of 20 preschool children with disabilities.

Waivers are granted specific to one child and one teacher.  A separate request must be submitted for each instance.  Any request is examined to determine the total number of children being served by the district under waiver status.  If a district has requested multiple waivers, it is recommended that local plans be examined regarding the need for an additional classroom.

Class Size Waiver (for download)
Itinerant Caseload Waiver (for download)

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