South Carolina Office of Exceptional Children Policies and Procedures as of April 6, 2009

On Wednesday, December 17th, 2008, I started a blog label titled Parents Rights in Special Education which featured the most current precedural safeguards with regard to special education in the state of South Carolina. On April 6th, 2009, the Office of Exceptional Children at the State Department of Education released the most recent version of South Carolina's policies and procedures. I am conducting a side-by-side comparison of the Question and Answers section about parent rights and will present the Q and A's that have changed and the ones I haven't entered yet.

Here's the first one...

Question: May an LEA allow a student to sign a waiver at age 18 to waive his rights?

Answer: No, only a court of law may disallow the transfer of rights at age 18. Prior to the promulgation of State Board of Education (SBE) regulation 43-243 in August 2007, LEAs were allowed to use waivers in this situation. Any waivers signed prior to the promulgation of this regulation were "grandfathered" in; however, the rights must now automatically transfer to the student, unless the parent has an order issued by the Probate Court or the student signs power of attorney voluntarily transferring his or her legal rights to the parent.