Districts must provide a full continuum of alternative placements to ensure that students receive services in the Least Restrictive Environment. This includes the following: 

1. General Education placement; 
2. General Education with resource or itinerant instructional services; 
3. General Education with special education related services; 
4. Special classes or special schools (either of which often also involve the provision of related services); 
5. Nonpublic schools; 
6. State schools for students with “low incidence” disabilities; and 
7. Instruction in settings other than classrooms (such as in homes or hospitals)^[1]

Longstanding federal and state policies explicitly prohibit placing a student in a segregated setting over a general education setting if the placement decision is based on administrative factors rather than the student’s needs. A district cannot use the lack of appropriate placements as a reason to deny students their right to an education in the least restrictive environment.^[2]

1. 34 C.F.R. Secs. 300.115 & 300.39; Cal. Ed. Code Sec. 56361.[↩]
2. 34 C.F.R. § 300.39; Federal Policy Letter on LRE, Education for the Handicapped Law Reporter (EHLR) page 211:384, March 21, 1986; CDE, Office of Special Education, Policy Statement on Least Restrictive Environment (October 10, 1986)[↩]