Non-Educational Community-Based Support Services (Non-Ed) funds provide assistance to support families of students with disabilities*, age 3 through 21, who are at risk of being placed in a residential facility primarily for educational purposes. Non-Ed funds may also be used to support the family when a student with disabilities* placed in a residential facility primarily for educational purposes returns home from the residential facility.
Non-Ed funds are intended to help families care for their children with disabilities* and enable the families to better cope with having a child with a disability* at home. Non-Ed funds may not be used for a student with disabilities* who is currently placed or needs to be placed in a residential facility primarily for non-educational reasons.
*Students with Disabilities are students with an IEP (Individualized Education Program); Non-Ed funds are not applicable to students with disabilities with only a Section 504 accommodations plan.
Services provided with Non-Ed funds must be non-educational in nature and must not be used for services that are paid with educational funds. All special education and related services allowable by Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, Part B (IDEA-B) in the implementation of a student's Individualized Education Program (IEP) are not allowable expenditures with Non-Ed funds.
Respite Care and Attendant Care are the only services allowable with Non-Ed funds for students with autism.
Non-Ed funds cannot be used for daily services. Non-Ed funds are not intended to maintain services over an extended period of time. Services should be periodic and short-term.
- Respite care is intended to provide relief to parents and families with intermittent, short-term care (e.g. weekends, during school holidays). Regularly scheduled periods of respite care over an extended period of time are not allowable with Non-Ed funds.
- Attendant care is intended to provide occasional outside assistance to parents and families to normalize routine family activities, including hours when families must sleep. Attendant care is not allowable for baby-sitting or to replace day/night care services.
Parents wishing to access Non-Ed services may contact their child's school and request a meeting to discuss the need for Non-Ed services.
The Non-Ed application can only be initiated and completed by the independent school district (ISD) or open-enrollment charter school. The application process requires collaboration between the LEA (Local Educational Agency, which includes ISDs and Open-Enrollment Charter Schools), parent(s), and the Community Resource Coordination Group (CRCG) that services the area in which the student resides.
Non-Ed funds are optional for an LEA (ISD or Open-Enrollment Charter School). If an LEA chooses to apply for Non-Ed funds, the Non-Ed application must be submitted to ESC-20 by the deadline established by ESC-20.
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Contact:
Valerie Dykstra
Director of Special Education - Devine ISD
830-851-0725
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Non-Ed funds are available for allowable, approved services provided between September 1 through August 31 of the school year. All expenditures must occur between these dates.
The LEA that is awarded Non-Ed funds must not make payments directly to the family but instead, must make payments for allowable, approved Non-Ed expenditures directly to the service provider.