DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE

MATTHEW P. DENN
ATTORNEY GENERAL

NEW CASTLE COUNTY

820 NORTH FRENCH STREET
WILMINGTON, DELAWARE 19801

CIVIL DIVISION (302) 577-8400

FAX: (302) 577-6630
CRIMINAL DIVISION (302) 577-8500
FAX: (302) 577-2496
FRAUD DIVISION (302) 577-8600
FAX: (302) 577-6499

April 4, 2016
Tina Shockley
Education Associate
Department of Education
401 Federal Street
Suite 2
Dover, Delaware 19901
Dear Ms. Shockley,
I write in opposition to a specific change to 14 Del. Admin. Code 926 proposed in the February
2016 Register of Regulations. Most of the proposed changes to 14 Del. Admin 926 appear to be the
Departments effort to bring the regulations in line with 14 Del. C. 3134(2)-(6) as amended by Senate
Bill 33. However, the proposed change to Section 3.2.8 runs counter to both the letter and the spirit of the
law, by diminishing the amount of information made available to parents prior to an IEP meeting.
The Delaware Department of Educations current regulations require that parents receive, at least
ten days prior to an IEP meeting, a notice that includes (among other things) A full explanation of all the
procedural safeguards available to the parents. The Department proposes to change this regulation to
require an undefined written summary of those procedural safeguards and to require they only be
available to parents, rather than provided to them with the notice. Under this change, parents would not be
entitled to the full copy of procedural safeguards they now receive in advance until the IEP meeting itself.
There is no language in Senate Bill 33, or anywhere in the Delaware Code, that would require or
even encourage that full information about a students procedural rights be withheld from parents and
students until they literally arrive at a meeting where those rights might need to be invoked. Regardless of
whether the current DOE administration intends to advise parents of the safeguards document available
online, that does not impose any such requirement on future administrations and would still be a reduction
of families present access to information, especially for those who do not have regular, reliable access to
the Internet or to a printer.
We strongly recommend that the Department not adopt the proposed change and instead bring the
regulation into compliance with state law by simply adding these words to the existing regulation: under
state and federal law and regulations.

Sincerely,
/s/ Matthew P. Denn
Matthew P. Denn
Attorney General