Delaware Homeschool Special Education: Can Your Child Get IEP Services?

Families who choose to homeschool a child with a disability in Delaware face a different legal framework than families whose children attend public school. The IDEA's full FAPE obligation — the right to a free and appropriate public education with an IEP — applies to students enrolled in the public school system. When a parent voluntarily removes a child and places them in a home-based or private educational setting, the legal landscape shifts in ways that surprise many families.

The short version: your child may be entitled to some services from your resident school district, but not the full IEP program. What you can get, how to request it, and what the district is actually required to provide depends on the specific circumstances.

The Distinction Between Enrolled and Parentally Placed Students

The IDEA and Delaware's implementing regulations at 14 DE Admin. Code 922 distinguish between:

Students enrolled in public school — who are entitled to FAPE, including a full IEP with all required services, at no cost to parents, under the full enforcement mechanism of the IDEA.

Parentally placed private school students — which includes homeschooled children — who are entitled to a proportionate share of the district's federal IDEA funds for equitable participation services, but are not entitled to FAPE. These students do not have an enforceable right to a full IEP; they are served under a different framework called a Services Plan.

When you enroll your child in a public Delaware school, the district has the FAPE obligation and must provide a full IEP. When you withdraw your child to homeschool, you make a parental choice to exit the FAPE system. The district is no longer legally obligated to provide the full range of services in the IEP.

What Delaware's Resident District Is Required to Provide to Homeschoolers

Even without a FAPE obligation, the IDEA requires each local education agency (LEA) in Delaware to offer equitable participation services to parentally placed private school children — including homeschooled children — who reside in the district's boundaries. The district must:

• Conduct a child find evaluation if you request one and your child is suspected of having a disability
• Consult with you as a representative of privately placed students in the planning of equitable participation services
• Spend a proportionate share of its federal IDEA Part B funds on services for eligible private school students

The proportion of funding allocated to private school students is calculated based on the number of private school students with disabilities as a share of the total special education population. In a district with 1,000 students and 19 percent receiving special education, if 5 percent of those students attend private schools or are homeschooled, 5 percent of the IDEA allocation must be used for equitable services.

In practice, the services available to homeschooled students are significantly more limited than a full IEP. They may include:

• Speech-language services
• Occupational or physical therapy
• Resource room instruction
• Other services determined through the consultation process

The critical difference from a full IEP: the district determines what to offer based on its proportionate funding, and you do not have an enforceable right to a specific level of services. If the district says it can offer 30 minutes of speech therapy per week for private/home school students across the district and your child gets part of that pool, that is what is available.

Services Plans vs. IEPs

If your child is eligible for equitable participation services, the district develops a Services Plan rather than a full IEP. A Services Plan documents the specific services the district has agreed to provide, but it does not carry the same legal weight as an IEP. Critically:

• You cannot use the IDEA's procedural safeguards — including due process — to challenge the contents of a Services Plan
• You cannot force the district to increase services beyond what its proportionate share of funding supports
• The FAPE standard does not apply to Services Plans

If you disagree with the services offered in a Services Plan, your options are limited to the consultation process and, ultimately, making a different educational choice. This is a significant reduction in leverage compared to the full IDEA protections available to students enrolled in public school.

Requesting an Evaluation While Homeschooling

Even if you are currently homeschooling, your child has the right to a child find evaluation from the district in which you reside. If you suspect your child has a disability, you can request an evaluation in writing from your resident LEA. The district must respond and, if it agrees a disability is suspected, conduct the evaluation within the same timelines as for enrolled students.

However, completing an evaluation does not automatically create IEP services for a homeschooled student. If the evaluation finds your child eligible for special education, you and the district must then negotiate a Services Plan through the equitable participation process — not an IEP.

If you want your child to receive a full IEP with all its protections, the child must be enrolled in the public school. You can enroll your child, receive an evaluation and IEP, and then make the decision about educational placement from there.

Re-Enrolling in Public School After Homeschooling

If you homeschooled your child and now want them to return to public school with a full IEP, the process depends on whether your child has ever been evaluated:

If your child was previously identified and had an IEP: Contact the district to notify them of re-enrollment. The district must conduct an evaluation (or review existing data to determine whether reevaluation is needed) and develop a new IEP appropriate for the current setting. It may review the previous IEP and evaluation data, but it cannot simply reinstate the old IEP without confirming that it remains appropriate.

If your child has never been evaluated by the district: Submit a written evaluation request. The full initial evaluation timeline applies. The district conducts the evaluation, determines eligibility, and if eligible, develops an IEP.

In either case, your child is entitled to FAPE from the date of re-enrollment. The district must act within the regulatory timelines.

When Homeschooling Is Driven by the School's Failure

Some Delaware families turn to homeschooling not out of philosophical preference but because the school has failed their child so badly — through inadequate services, dangerous environments, or repeated IEP violations — that they feel homeschool is the only viable option.

If this describes your situation, be cautious. Withdrawing your child from the public school system resolves your child's immediate distress, but it also removes the district's legal obligation to remedy the problem. If the district violated FAPE before you withdrew your child, you may have grounds for compensatory education or other remedies — but only if you pursue them while your child remains in the system or within the applicable limitations period after you leave.

Before withdrawing for this reason, consult with a special education advocate or attorney. The Parent Information Center of Delaware (PIC) offers free consultations and can help you assess whether your child's situation warrants formal dispute resolution rather than exit from the system.

The Delaware IEP & 504 Blueprint covers the full framework for public school enrollment, IEP rights, and the dispute resolution options that are available before you consider exiting the system — including the SPARC mediation program, state complaints, and due process — and explains what documentation you need to preserve your child's legal claims if you do ultimately decide to homeschool.

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