Part 1B. Provision of Free Appropriate Public Education.

§ 115C‑107.1.  Free appropriate public education; ages.

(a) A free appropriate public education shall be made available to the following:

(1) All children with disabilities who reside in the State, who are the ages of three through 21, who have not graduated from high school, and who require special education and related services.

(2) Any child with a disability who is receiving special education and related services and who has not graduated from high school until the end of the school year in which that child reaches the age of 22.

(3) Children with disabilities who require special education and related services and who are suspended or expelled from school and entitled to continuing education services as provided in IDEA.

(b) A free appropriate public education is not required to be provided to infants and toddlers with disabilities. However, early intervention services shall be made available to these children under G.S. 143B‑139.6A.

(c) If funds are made available, the State Board and the Secretary of Health and Human Services may adopt an agreement to allow the continuation of early intervention services for children with a disability who are at least three years old but before they enter kindergarten or are eligible to enter kindergarten. If an agreement is adopted under this subsection, then a free appropriate public education is not required to be provided to any child with a disability who continues to receive early intervention services in accordance with that agreement.

(d) Nothing in this Article requires a free appropriate public education to be made available to any individual aged 18 through 21 who, in the educational placement immediately before that individual's incarceration in an adult correctional facility, was not actually identified as being a child with a disability and did not have an IEP. (1977, c. 927, s. 1; 1981, c. 423, s. 1; 1989 (Reg. Sess., 1990), c. 1003, s. 5; 1997‑443, s. 11A.118(a); 1998‑202, s. 4(h); 2000‑137, s. 4(k); 2006‑69, s. 2.)