APH Federal Quota Program Requirements
To be eligible for the Federal Quota Program in Michigan, students must:
1) Meet, or function at, the definition of blindness. If neither is met, students may also be eligible because they qualify under IDEA definition of blindness.
- Meeting the definition of blindness:
- Central visual acuity of 20/200 or less in the better eye with correcting glasses, or a peripheral field so contracted that the widest diameter of such field subtends an angular distance no greater than 20 degrees.
- Functioning at the definition of blindness:
- Visual performance is reduced by brain injury or dysfunction when visual function meets the definition of blindness as determined by an eye care specialist or neurologist.
- Qualify under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) definition of blindness: an impairment in vision, that, even with correction, adversely affects a child's educational performance (34 CFR ยง300.8(c)(13)).
2) Be enrolled in a Michigan school or agency.
- The school or agency must be a formally organized, public or private, nonprofit, educational program of less than college level.
- Home school programs must be licensed, approved, or accredited by a local school district and the Michigan Department of Education.
- School-aged students must be enrolled with the registering school or agency on the first Monday in January. Students cannot be registered by two schools or Federal Quota accounts.
- Adult students (older than age 16) who are not enrolled in K-12 must meet the following requirements.
- Adult students must be enrolled in a formally organized nonprofit (public or private) educational program that is at less than college level.
- Adult students in vocational or rehabilitation programs must have received a minimum of 120 hours of documented instruction in the previous calendar year. Social and leisure programs do not qualify as instruction.
3) Have a formal written education plan.
Examples of a formal written education plan include:
- Individualized Education Program (IEP)
- Individualized Family Service Plan (IFSP)
- Nonpublic Services Plan
- 504 Plan
Required Documentation
APH and MDE-LIO do not collect the required documentation as part of the Federal Quota census. However, schools and agencies must be able to provide the following documentation in the event of an audit.
Current eye report for the student.
- The report must be from an ophthalmologist or an optometrist. In cases where the student functions as meeting the definition of blindness, the report may be from a neurologist.
- The report must be no more than three years old, unless the student has a proven non-changing eye condition (e.g., bilateral enucleations, anophthalmos).
The student's formal written education plan.
- A formal written education plan verifies the student is in a formally organized, educational program.
A signed parent consent form.
- A signed parent consent form allows MDE-LIO to release personally identifiable information to APH for the annual Federal Quota census.