A note on timing: This piece was first published before the June 1, 2026 deadline for the 2026–27 school year. That deadline has passed. If you missed it, go to the "If You Already Missed It" section below — you may still have options. If you are reading this before June 1, 2027, the deadline information below applies to you. Everything else in this guide is evergreen.

Most parents of children with disabilities in New York City know about IEPs. Far fewer know about IESPs. My son is 12 and I didn't know what they were until a couple months ago when I spoke to Lloyd Donders, a special education lawyer.

If your child attends a private or religious school — and you are not fighting the DOE for a public school placement — your child may still be entitled to free special education services paid for by the city. Speech therapy. Occupational therapy. Special Education Teacher Support Services.

That entitlement is called an IESP: Individualized Education Services Program.

To receive those services for the coming school year, families must file a written notice with their child's Committee on Special Education by June 1 of the prior school year.

Too many families don't know this right exists.

An IESP is a legal document created by the DOE that spells out the special education services your child is entitled to while attending a private or religious school.

It is not the same as an IEP. It does not include a school placement. You are not asking the DOE to find your child a school. You are asking them to provide services — speech, OT, SETSS — at whatever private school your child already attends.

"If the parent of a private school child still wants services — for example, speech — they can request an IESP from the DOE," says Lloyd Donders, a New York City special education attorney. "The DOE would do an IESP and, assuming the child qualifies, provide those related services even though the child is in private school."

Michele Kule-Korgood, a New York City special education attorney, describes it this way: “Think of an IEP as a dinner menu — your child's entire education, services included, comes as a package. An IESP is the a la carte menu. You're ordering — I will order a salad, I will order a main course," she says. "The IESP services are like that a la carte menu. They're pieces."

If your child is found eligible, the DOE is legally required to provide those services. It is a right under New York State law.

One important timing note: services under an IESP begin the following school year, not immediately. That's why the June 1 deadline matters — it is the mechanism for securing services for the year ahead. The DOE has been strictly enforcing this deadline for the past several years and shows no sign of relaxing it.

IEP (Individualized Education Program) — Your child attends a public school, or you are asking the DOE to fund a private school placement because the public school can't meet your child's needs. The IEP covers both the program and the services.

IESP (Individualized Education Services Program) — You have chosen a private or religious school for your own reasons and are not asking the DOE for a placement. But your child is still entitled to related services — speech, OT, SETSS — paid for by the DOE. The IESP covers those services only.

This applies whether you chose a general private school, a religious school, or a private special education school. The key is not the type of school — it's that you are paying for the placement yourself and are not asking the DOE to provide a program.

One important distinction, said Lloyd Donders: "If you are in a due process case against the DOE — fighting over placement, seeking tuition reimbursement — you are not in IESP territory. That's a Carter case, and different rules apply." For help finding an attorney, see our Special Education Lawyers in NYC guide.

IESP due process is a narrower situation. As Donders explains, it applies when you have an IESP but disagree with what's in it, or the services listed were never actually delivered and you are seeking compensatory services.

The legal foundation is New York State Education Law 3602-C.

Federal law used to require school districts to provide special education services to children in private schools. Congress eventually eliminated that individual entitlement. New York State never changed its law.

That means every child with a disability in a New York City private or religious school has an individual right to services — a right that exists in New York but not in most other states.

New York's provision has made it an outlier nationally — and by a significant margin. "New York has climbed out in front by a very far lead," says Kule-Korgood, who has studied due process filings across states. The driver, she says, is services cases — children enrolled in private school at their parents' choice, for any reason, whose families are separately entitled to DOE-funded services under Section 3602-C. "It literally does not matter what the reason is" for the private school choice, she says. "The parent has placed a child in private school that they are privately funding themselves — and New York has a specific provision that establishes rights that go beyond the federal IDEA rights."

At a City Council budget hearing this year, NYC Schools Chancellor Christina Foti put the cost plainly: the city spent almost $400 million on IESP cases in fiscal year 2024.

Under New York State law, to receive IESP services, families must submit a Parental Notice of Intent (PNI) to their child's Committee on Special Education by June 1 of the prior school year.

The DOE has taken the position that if you miss this deadline — even if your child is currently receiving services, even if the DOE never held the annual review it was legally required to hold — you forfeit services for the following year.

The DOE is required to hold an annual review with every IESP family. That review is the natural occasion where a parent would request continued services for the following year. But according to a NYC hearing officer who spoke to Lighthouse on background, those reviews are rarely held. "Of the tens of thousands of IESP cases brought during the time I was conducting hearings, and the thousands that I heard over more than 25 years," he said, "the district routinely failed to conduct timely triennials and seldom even conducted timely annual reviews."

Deputy Chancellor Foti described making "thousands of calls and emails directly to families" in the current school year to arrange IESP services — an acknowledgment that in prior years, that direct outreach wasn't happening, and that the annual review process was not doing the job it was designed to do.

The result: the DOE fails to hold the review. Then it argues that because the family didn't file a PNI by June 1, they've missed the deadline.

"The so-called June 1 defense is a grotesquely vivid example of the department arguing that a child should be denied services that its own CSE had determined the child needs," the hearing officer said, "rather than taking the position they always used to take: we're here to serve all the children in New York City."

The deadline for the 2027–28 school year is June 1, 2027.

A note on charter schools: This deadline does not apply to charter school families. In New York City, charter school students with disabilities are entitled to IEPs — the DOE remains responsible for their education and they are treated the same as students in public schools. If your child attends a charter school, contact your DOE Committee on Special Education about the IEP process instead.

If your child attends a private or religious school in New York City and has been found eligible for special education services, here is what you need to do before June 1:

One exception: If your child is newly identified as having a disability after June 1 and before April 1 of the following year, you have 30 days from the date of identification to submit the notice.

One clarification: Submitting a timely PNI does not guarantee you the right to choose your child's specific provider or the location where services are delivered. It preserves your right to receive services at all.

If you are working with an attorney: The PNI must come from you directly, or from a licensed attorney representing you — not from a non-attorney advocate. If submitted by an attorney, it must include a signed confidentiality release for the current school year.

If you are not sure whether you've already filed, contact your CSE office directly and confirm in writing.

Filing a PNI by June 1 is step one. For many families, what comes next is a wall.

The DOE pays IESP service providers a standard rate that most private practitioners in New York City will not accept. Families who have done everything right — filed the PNI on time, received an approved IESP with services listed — often spend months unable to find a speech therapist, OT, or counselor willing to take the case at the DOE's rate. The problem is especially common in the Bronx, said attorney Lloyd Donders.

When the DOE cannot arrange a provider, they may send what is called an RSA letter — a Related Service Authorization — which effectively tells you to go find one yourself. By law, the DOE is still responsible for making sure your child receives the services on their IESP. If services are never delivered, you likely have a claim for make-up services. Most parents never know that.

"The rates are too low," says Lloyd Donders. "I hear complaints all the time that the providers on the list either won't take their calls or will not accept the vouchers anymore."

The Equitable Services Request Form lets you request help finding a provider or request an enhanced rate — but only if you already submitted a timely PNI. Submit it to your DOE Equitable Services contact, with your child's name and NYCID number in the subject line.

These are two separate steps. The PNI preserves your right to services. The Equitable Services Request Form is what you use when services aren't being delivered.

If you are in a due process case against the DOE — seeking tuition reimbursement, fighting over your child's placement — and a CSE representative suggests that an IESP would meet your child's needs, stop.

Parents in online communities have begun flagging this as a pattern. At a CSE meeting, the team may acknowledge that the neighborhood school can't offer what your child needs — and then offer an IESP as the solution. It sounds like a reasonable middle ground. It may not be.

"I have had instances where the district has pushed the parent for an IESP," says Lloyd Donders. "Whether it's intentional or not, sometimes a parent is confused and will say yes."

Agreeing to an IESP in this context, Donders says, "can call into question whether the parent is no longer seeking reimbursement for a private school and may relieve the district of their burden to offer a FAPE."

His advice is unambiguous: he would not recommend a parent accept an IESP while pursuing tuition reimbursement. If it has already happened — if you agreed to one under pressure or confusion — contact a special education attorney. Donders has successfully argued in hearings that parents who accepted IESPs did so because they were confused and thought they had to.

If you are in a due process case and a CSE meeting is coming up, make sure your attorney is present or on the phone.

Talk to a special education attorney. The DOE's position on missed deadlines has been challenged in due process hearings, particularly in cases where the DOE itself failed to hold the required annual review.

You are not necessarily out of options. But you need legal guidance specific to your situation.

IESP cases — approximately 20,000 a year — represent the majority of New York City's special education due process filings. When public debate focuses on "wealthy families gaming the system" for private school tuition, it is largely describing a different category of case entirely.

The families most likely to miss the June 1 deadline are the ones who never knew the right existed — and who don't have attorneys to tell them.

What is an IESP? An IESP — Individualized Education Services Program — is a legal document created by the NYC DOE specifying the special education services a child is entitled to while attending a private or religious school at their family's expense. Services may include speech therapy, occupational therapy, and Special Education Teacher Support Services (SETSS).

What does IESP stand for? IESP stands for Individualized Education Services Program. It is the document that governs special education services for children in private or religious schools in New York City whose families are paying for the placement themselves.

What is the meaning of IESP in NYC DOE? In NYC DOE terminology, an IESP is the mechanism through which the DOE provides special education services — speech, OT, SETSS — to students in private or religious schools. It is created by the Committee on Special Education and is governed by New York State Education Law 3602-C.

What is the IESP deadline in NYC? To receive IESP services for the 2027–28 school year, families must submit a Parental Notice of Intent (PNI) to their Committee on Special Education by June 1, 2027. The DOE strictly enforces this deadline.

What is the difference between an IESP and an IEP? An IEP (Individualized Education Program) covers both a child's school placement and their services, and applies to children in public schools or children whose parents are seeking a DOE-funded private placement. An IESP covers services only — it applies to children whose families have chosen a private or religious school at their own expense and are not seeking a placement from the DOE.

What happens if I miss the June 1 IESP deadline? The DOE's position is that missing the deadline forfeits your child's right to services for the following school year — even if your child is currently receiving services, and even if the DOE itself failed to hold the annual review where you would normally have submitted the notice. If you missed the deadline, consult a special education attorney. The DOE's position has been successfully challenged in due process hearings.

Who is entitled to an IESP in New York City? Any child with a disability who attends a private or religious school in New York City at their family's expense may be entitled to an IESP under New York State Education Law 3602-C — provided the family submits a timely Parental Notice of Intent. This right exists in New York State because New York never changed its law when Congress eliminated the federal individual entitlement for privately placed students.

Does the June 1 deadline apply to charter school families? No. Charter school students with disabilities are entitled to IEPs, not IESPs. The DOE remains responsible for their education the same as public school students. Charter school families should contact their Committee on Special Education about the IEP process.

What happens if the DOE offers me an IESP when I'm trying to get my child a placement or tuition reimbursement? Be careful. If you are seeking tuition reimbursement for a private school placement, agreeing to an IESP — even under pressure, even out of confusion — can undermine your case. It may signal to a hearing officer that you are voluntarily placing your child at your own expense and no longer seeking a program from the DOE. Lloyd Donders advises parents not to accept an IESP in this situation. If it has already happened, contact a special education attorney — Donders has argued successfully that parents who accepted IESPs did so because they were confused about what they were signing.

Why can't I find a provider who accepts my IESP services? Because the DOE's standard rate is too low. Most speech therapists, OT providers, and counselors in New York City will not accept what the DOE pays. The DOE may send you an RSA letter — a Related Service Authorization — and tell you to find a provider yourself. That shifts a burden that is legally the DOE's. If your child's IESP services are never delivered, you likely have a claim for make-up services. The Equitable Services Request Form is the mechanism for requesting an enhanced rate or help locating a provider — but only if you already submitted a timely PNI.

Is there a limit on how many IESP sessions my child can receive per week? Not from the DOE. Students with IESPs are entitled to equitable services compared to students with IEPs. If your child's IESP says they need speech therapy five times a week, they should receive speech therapy five times a week. If you were told there is a three-session-per-week cap, that policy is not coming from the DOE — ask whoever told you that to show you the rule in writing.

What happens to my child's services when we move from a public school IEP to an IESP? There is a gap. When a family moves a child from public school to private school, the child is generally not eligible for IESP services until the following school year — and only if the family submitted a Parental Notice of Intent before June 1. The DOE is not legally required to bridge that gap. On occasion a CSE will provide services during the transition anyway, but parents should not count on it. If you are planning a move from public to private school, talk to an attorney about timing before you make the switch.

What is a PNI? A Parental Notice of Intent (PNI) is the written request a family must submit to their Committee on Special Education by June 1 each year to receive IESP services the following school year. The form is available on the NYC DOE Committees on Special Education page. It must be submitted by the parent directly, or by a licensed attorney on the family's behalf.

Sources: Lloyd Donders, special education attorney (on record); Michele Kule-Korgood, special education attorney (on record); Christina Foti, NYC Schools Deputy Chancellor, City Council budget hearing, March 25, 2026; hearing officer, on background; NYC DOE Equitable Services (IESP) Assistance page; New York State Education Law 3602-C.

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