What's Required
"Residential facility" means:
(A) a facility operated by a state agency or political subdivision, including a child placement agency, that provides 24-hour custody or care of a person 22 years of age or younger, if the person resides in the facility for detention, treatment, foster care, or any non-educational purpose; and (B) any person or entity that contracts with or is funded, licensed, certified, or regulated by a state agency or political subdivision to provide custody or care for a person under Paragraph (A).
Under §29.012, a residential facility is required to notify the school district in which the facility is located of the placement of a person three years of age or older.[56] The facility is required to give the notice not later than the third day after the date of placement. A district should contact residential facilities in the district to coordinate implementation of this notice provision. In general, students placed in residential facilities are entitled to admission under other provisions of §25.001. However, §25.001(b)(7) provides a uniform admissions provision for children in such facilities. Additionally, the notice requirement should generate communication between the facilities and school districts that will promote efficiency in the provision of educational services to these children
School districts and charter schools are subject to the residential facilities monitoring system (RFM) if they serve students with disabilities who reside in residential facilities (RFs) within their geographic boundaries or jurisdiction. In accordance with 19 Texas Administrative Code (TAC) §97.1072, the RFM system provides standards and procedures for monitoring special education programs offered to students with disabilities residing in RFs. The RFM system has been established to improve performance and compliance with federal and state special education requirements for a unique and vulnerable population of students who often have limited access to family members who can advocate for their educational needs.
The definition of an RF, for the purposes of the RFM system, is a facility that provides 24-hour custody or care of students who reside in the facility for:
• any non-educational purpose.
An RF does not include traditional foster homes licensed by the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services as Foster Family Homes (Independent).
The RFM system is a data-driven, results-based system of coordinated and aligned agency monitoring activities. Targeted and graduated interventions are implemented based on areas of risk, shown in historical monitoring data, longitudinal district performance, and district data submitted or available to the TEA. The RFM system focuses on program performance and effectiveness as well as program compliance with federal and state requirements and includes an annual analysis of data for each RF district in the state.
The results of TEA’s annual data analysis determine extent of intervention activities in which an RF district must engage and the related level of TEA involvement. Intervention activities will focus on data analysis by RF districts and the TEA to determine and address causal factors for program ineffectiveness or noncompliance. At higher stages of intervention, the agency may conduct an on-site visit to review a broad array of program effectiveness and compliance issues. The result of all intervention activities will be the development and implementation of a targeted improvement plan, with corrective actions, if needed.
For more information about residential facility monitoring download the RFM manual. LEAs that need help conducting required nonpublic interventions should view the RF monitoring guidance and resources webpage.
What We Do
Residential Facility (RF) Procedures
Campus Responsibilities:
At Time of Transfer/Entry into the District:
1. When a student with special needs enters Spring ISD who meets the criteria as an RF Tracker student, the Campus Diagnostician or SLP contacts the District RF Tracker Diagnostician via email with the following:
- Name of the student
- Local ID
- Campus
- Date of entry into Spring ISD
- District Appointed Surrogate or Foster appointed as the surrogate or Court Appointed Surrogate parent name
- Disability, Instructional Code (IA) from previous district
- Instructional Code (IA) in Spring ISD
NOTE: Determining RF status is obtained by making a copy of the registration form and a copy of the Designation of Education Decision-Maker Form, Child Protective Services from the registrar. These documents indicate where the child is living, with whom and IF a court has appointed a someone to serve as that student’s surrogate parent.
District RF Tracker Diagnostician and District Special Education PEIMS Clerk Procedures:
1. District RF Tracker Diagnostician forwards the info (email) to the District Special Education PEIMS Clerk
2. District RF Tracker Diagnostician creates a spreadsheet/log with the following information:
a. Name of student with local ID.
b. Name of surrogate/foster parent
d. Date of entry into Spring ISD
e. Dates of when progress report grades and reports cards grades are due to be sent to home to surrogate parent. (Elementary 4 times a year/ Secondary 6 times a year)
f. Date withdrawn from Spring ISD (if applicable)
NOTE: This spreadsheet/log is shared with the District Special Education District PEIMS clerk as the District PEIMS Clerk is responsible for maintaining the database throughout the school year for both beginning and ending snapshot dates.
3. District Special Education PEIMS Clerk enters the information into the RF Tracker State Database.
4. After the End of Year Closing date, the District Special Education PEIMS Clerk finalizes the RF Tracker Database.
5. The District RF Tracker Diagnostician verifies the database.
6. The Director of Special Education is notified that the RF Tracker Database has been finalized on time and in compliance.
7. The Director of Special Education sends the RF Tracker database to TEA.
Ongoing Processes/Responsibilities During the School Year of the District RF Tracker Diagnostician:
1. Auditing ALL paperwork and ARDs for ALL students identified as RF and providing corrective guidance as needed.
2. Accessing, printing and sending, via US mail, copies of ALL progress grades and report card grades to District OR Court appointed surrogate parents of RF tracker students.
3. Maintaining the RF Tracker spreadsheet/log.
4. Monitoring the number of RF students supported by each District Surrogate parent.
5. Providing updates to the campus Diagnosticians regarding the availability of each District Surrogate parent.
6. Receiving District Surrogate parent logs and placing those documents into the state file.
7. Recruiting and training new District Surrogates.
8. Assisting the District Surrogates as needed.
9. Providing assistance/guidance to campus diagnosticians/SLPs as needed.
10. Remaining current with changes/updates to the RF processes.
We have created an email address that will be specifically used for keeping up to date with RF students, please use the following email to contact us regarding these students:
Please notify the Spring ISD SHARS team immediately via email when a new RF student enrolls in the district.
School Districts are required by TEA to update the State database for these students as soon as they enroll in a district for accountability.
Forms
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