DATE: January 7, 2026

Agudath Israel strongly supports this bill which would ensure nonpublic school students with disabilities retain their right to a due process hearing.

The Board of Regents recently proposed a new rule that would remove parents’ long-standing right to seek a due process hearing when a district fails to implement the services listed on an Individualized Education Services Plan (IESP) for a nonpublic-school student. This is not a clarification of existing law but a new restriction that strips families of the only reliable enforcement mechanism ensuring that mandated services are actually delivered. Under the proposal, public-school students would continue to have full due process protections, while nonpublic-school students with the same disabilities would lose them, despite the statutory promise of equitable treatment.

This change conflicts directly with Education Law § 3602-c, which requires IESPs to be created “in the same manner and with the same contents” as IEPs and expressly cross-references the due process framework in § 4404. It also contradicts nearly two decades of consistent State Review Officer precedent affirming parents’ right to challenge failures in service delivery. Not one SRO decision has held that implementation disputes fall outside due process. Removing this right would allow districts to recommend services without any meaningful obligation to provide them.

The harm to students would be significant. Children would have no recourse when essential services such as SETSS, speech, OT, PT, counseling, or paraprofessional support are missed or delayed. Existing alternatives, such as the NYC ERES process or the NYSED complaint system, are not neutral, not timely, and not effective. ERES is run by school district attorneys, takes months for decisions, offers no appeal rights, and can be eliminated at any time. The NYSED complaint process is paper-only, often routed back to the same district, and too complex for most families to use without legal help.

This bill would explicitly reaffirm parents’ due process rights for both recommendation and implementation disputes. Codifying these rights preserves the equity the statute mandates, maintains alignment with long-standing precedent, and ensures that students with disabilities do not lose vital services simply because they attend a nonpublic school. For all these reasons, we strongly urge you to support this bill.

Click here to download the memo.