Delaware Extended School Year (ESY) Services: Who Qualifies and How to Fight for It

Every spring, Delaware IEP teams make a decision that has significant consequences for children with disabilities: whether the child qualifies for Extended School Year services over the summer. Many teams make this determination quickly, casually, or by default. Parents often don't know the legal criteria — or that they have the right to push back.

ESY is not the same as summer school. It is a continuation of special education services during breaks in the regular school year, designed specifically to prevent significant skill regression for children whose disabilities put them at particular risk. And Delaware's eligibility criteria are more parent-friendly than many families realize.

What Delaware Law Says About ESY

Extended School Year services in Delaware are governed by 14 DE Admin. Code §923.6.0. The regulation imposes a critical restriction on how districts can make ESY determinations: they cannot unilaterally limit the type, amount, or duration of ESY services, and they cannot restrict ESY to particular categories of disability.

This means a district cannot have a blanket policy of "no ESY for mild disabilities" or "ESY is only for students in self-contained classrooms." Every ESY determination must be made individually by the IEP team based on the specific child's documented needs.

The Three ESY Eligibility Criteria in Delaware

Delaware IEP teams must assess three specific criteria when determining ESY eligibility. A student who meets any one of these criteria may qualify for ESY:

1. Regression and Recoupment

This is the most commonly cited criterion. The IEP team must evaluate whether the student shows a consistent pattern of substantial regression in critical skill areas over breaks — meaning the student loses significant skills during school vacations — and whether the recoupment time is excessive. Recoupment refers to how long it takes the student to recover lost skills once school resumes.

The key word is "substantial." Minor skill fluctuations that recover within a week or two of school resuming generally don't meet this threshold. But a student who loses two months of reading progress over a three-week winter break, and then requires six to eight weeks to return to their previous level, has a strong factual case for ESY.

Documentation matters enormously here. Before your spring IEP meeting, ask the teacher for data on how your child performed at the start of each semester or marking period compared to where they left off before the break. Progress monitoring notes, assessment scores, and teacher observations comparing pre-break and post-break performance are your primary evidence.

2. Recoupment Time

Even if regression isn't dramatic, if the time required to regain lost skills is disproportionate to the break length — consuming so much of the school year that the student essentially makes no net progress — ESY may be warranted on this basis alone.

3. Emerging Critical Skill

This criterion is often overlooked but applies to students who are in the process of learning a critical skill — communication, self-care, behavioral regulation — that is at risk of being significantly jeopardized without continuous intervention. If a student is on the verge of acquiring a foundational skill and a summer break would substantially disrupt that acquisition, Delaware regulations recognize this as a basis for ESY.

This is particularly relevant for young children with autism or developmental delays who are working on early communication skills, students learning augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) systems, or students developing safety-related skills that require daily practice to solidify.

How Denial Typically Happens — and What to Do

IEP teams in Delaware commonly deny ESY in a few ways:

The casual "no": The team moves through the IEP agenda and someone says "we don't see regression concerns, so ESY isn't recommended." No data is cited. No formal discussion of the criteria occurs. Parents often accept this because they don't know what the decision is supposed to be based on.

The blanket policy: The special education coordinator references a district protocol or past practice that treats ESY as rare. As noted above, Delaware regulations prohibit blanket policies — the determination must be individualized.

The "not severe enough" logic: The team implies that ESY is for the most severely disabled students. This is not what the regulation says. Severity of disability is not a criterion.

When ESY is denied and you believe your child qualifies, your response should be:

1. Request the decision in Prior Written Notice. The district must document why ESY was denied, what data was considered, and what alternatives were discussed. Per 14 DE Admin. Code §926, this is your right.

2. Present your own regression data. A written comparison of your child's skill levels at the start of each semester (gathered from progress reports, assessment scores, or teacher emails) is more persuasive than a general concern.

3. Cite the Delaware-specific regulation. In your written response, reference 14 DE Admin. Code §923.6.0 and note that the district's determination must be individualized and cannot be based on disability category or program type.

4. File a DDOE state complaint if the denial is not supported by individualized analysis. A complaint alleging that the district applied a blanket policy or failed to conduct an individualized ESY determination has a solid factual basis if you have documentation of the meeting.

What ESY Services Can Look Like

ESY is not necessarily five days a week for ten weeks. The type, frequency, and duration of ESY must also be determined individually. For some students, two days per week of speech therapy over six weeks meets the ESY standard. For others, a more intensive summer program is required.

The question is what services are necessary to prevent the specific skills at risk from regressing substantially. The IEP team must make that determination based on data — not based on what the district has the capacity to provide.

If the district proposes ESY services that you believe are insufficient to prevent the identified regression, you can disagree with the proposed level of services and request Prior Written Notice documenting the district's rationale for the specific type and amount offered.

Getting the Full Playbook

The Delaware IEP & 504 Advocacy Playbook at /us/delaware/advocacy/ includes an ESY request and dispute section covering how to document regression for the spring IEP meeting, what the Prior Written Notice for an ESY denial must contain under Delaware regulations, and how to escalate to a DDOE state complaint if the denial isn't supported by an individualized determination. Delaware law gives your child a real shot at summer services — if you know how to document the case.

See more United States guides →