3 FAM 3280
SPECIAL NEEDS EDUCATION ALLOWANCE
(CT:PER-949; 06-27-2019)
(Office of Origin: DGHR)
3 FAM 3281 Authorities
(CT:PER-949; 06-27-2019)
(Uniform U.S. government civilian employees in foreign areas)
(Applies to Foreign Service & Civil Service Employees)
The authorities cited for this subchapter are:
(1) 5 U.S.C. 5924 (4)
(2) Department of State Standardized Regulations
(DSSR), particularly Chapters 270-276.8, Child with Special Needs
3 FAM 3282 General
(CT:PER-949; 06-27-2019)
(Uniform U.S. government civilian employees in foreign areas)
(Applies to Foreign Service & Civil Service Employees)
a. The Special Needs Education Allowance (SNEA) is an
education allowance to assist employees who have children with special
educational needs. The allowance assists with defraying necessary expenses
incurred in order to provide adequate special education for employees children
when those expenses are not otherwise compensated and when they are incurred in
the course of employees service in a foreign area.
b. Education allowances are governed by the Department
of State Standardized Regulations (DSSR), particularly DSSR 270.
3 FAM 3283 Eligibility
(CT:PER-949; 06-27-2019)
(Uniform U.S. government civilian employees in foreign areas)
(Applies to Foreign Service & Civil Service Employees)
a. SNEA applies to children who, if they were attending
school in the U.S., would be entitled to benefits under the Individuals with
Disabilities Education Improvement Act (IDEIA), 20 U.S.C. 1400 et seq. These
benefits accrue to children with a physical, emotional, developmental, and/or
mental disability when they require additional educational resources.
b. At the request of an employee with a child with
special needs requiring additional education and related services, the
authorizing officer may grant SNEA in lieu of the school-at-post, home
study/private instruction, or school-away-from post rate. This benefit is
available from birth to the childs twenty-first birthday (or, in the case of a
child with special needs who has not yet completed grade 12, until the end of
the school year that is in progress when the child reaches the age of 22). If
an employee later chooses not to receive SNEA for a particular overseas
assignment and use another educational allowance instead, he/she may do so.
This does not preclude reapplying for SNEA at a later date.
c. Educational allowances, including SNEA, are not
available for 1.) children who reside in the United States and have a natural
or adoptive parent or step-parent who is residing in the United States (except
where the employee establishes that the parent residing in the United States is
divested of legal custody of the child or is mentally or physically unfit to
care for the child or the step-parent is estranged from the employee); or 2.)
on whose behalf the employee is receiving a separate maintenance allowance.
3 FAM 3284 Required Documentation
(CT:PER-949; 06-27-2019)
(Uniform U.S. government civilian employees in foreign areas)
(Applies to Foreign Service & Civil Service Employees)
a. The employee must provide the authorizing official
written evidence that the child meets the definition of a child with a
disability under the IDEIA:
b. The child must have a formal Individual Education
Plan (IEP) or equivalent document prepared by a professional medical or
educational expert to be eligible for SNEA. Recognizing the difficulties that
arise when educating children with special educational needs overseas, it is
the policy of the Department that authorizing officials be flexible as they
determine the sufficiency of IEP-equivalent documents.
3 FAM 3285 Department of State Policy
(CT:PER-949; 06-27-2019)
(State)
(Applies to Foreign Service & Civil Service Employees)
a. The purpose of SNEA is to assist employees serving
at posts abroad with obtaining for their children with special educational
needs special early intervention, kindergarten, elementary, and secondary
educational services, including such educational services as are provided in
the United States under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Improvement
Act, that public schools in the United States ordinarily provide without
charge.
b. By assisting employees with the fulfillment of the
educational needs of their children, SNEA encourages employees who have
children with special educational needs to bid on and serve in foreign
assignments. It is in the Departments interest to maximize employees ability
to serve in foreign assignments.
c. International schools vary in their ability to
match the support structure, special education environment, or services found
in U.S. public schools. For this reason, the Department should authorize SNEA
as flexibly as possible in order to accommodate the unique and often
challenging circumstances of overseas operating environments and foreign-area
assignments.
d. Ideally, special education services should be
provided in a school setting as part of a childs educational curriculum.
However, recognizing that educating children with disabilities in overseas
settings often involves unique challenges, in circumstances when special
education services cannot be provided directly in a school setting but are
available as services offered outside school or school hours, or via the
internet (e.g., online speech therapy), SNEA will cover special educational
services required by the childs IEP or equivalent which are provided outside
of school and/or outside normal school hours, when consistent with the DSSR. SNEA
reimbursements may be made directly to employees who have used their personal
funds for these services. Parents may not be reimbursed for special
therapeutic services that they personally provide, although, in accordance with
DSSR regulations, they may be reimbursed for eligible Home Schooling expenses.
e. Because most children of Department of State
employees would be enrolled in one of the school districts of Washington, DC,
Virginia, or Maryland if their employee parent were assigned domestically,
school districts in these areas will generally be the point of reference when
determining what special educational services are ordinarily provided without
charge by public schools in the United States. Within this context, services
named in a childs IEP, or equivalent document, may be eligible to be covered
by SNEA.
f. SNEA is an education allowance. It is subject to
other applicable legal authorities and policies that govern education
allowances in general.
3 FAM 3286 THROUGH 3
FAM 3289 UNASSIGNED