Update: This article was published July 2020. It is being updated to include an email indicating Fairfax County Public Schools (FCPS) has long known that its price cap for Independent Educational Evaluations (IEE) is below market price. FCPS’s low rate limits parents to 1) using private providers who accept FCPS’s low IEE rate or 2) paying the difference out of pocket for providers who don’t accept FCPS’s low rate. The email was obtained via a FOIA request for documents FCPS provided the Office of Civil Rights.

This FOIA request was done in 2018 and was submitted to Fairfax County Public Schools (FCPS) in Virginia.

The response includes 528 pages, including how FCPS set its “rates” and letters to providers asking if they’ll accept FCPS rates.

To my knowledge, as of today (July 11, 2022), FCPS’s rates remain unchanged, even though FCPS knows their rates don’t align with those of private providers.

The email below was obtained July of 2022 via a FOIA request and added July 12, 2022, to this article. FCPS admits its IEE price rates are below market rate.