cdfox, I understand you and many others have had bad experiences with public schools in MA and other places, but, as others have clarified, I was referring to what they are required to do specifically in the context of special education child find, not what they care to or want to do with non-public school students in general.
Also, although there are plenty of bad eggs out there (as there are in any field), some public school special education teams actually do care about private/home/unschoolers and their special education needs. What they usually don't really understand is how students with disabilities can be serviced anywhere outside of the public school system. So when a child is found eligible, they have a hard time coming up with an intervention plan that doesn't involve enrolling in the local public school.
I've spent my whole career in public school special education, yet I homeschool my own child who would almost certainly be identified as 2e (or worse, not identified as anything at all, just simultaneously underchallenged and unremediated) if enrolled in the public schools. And there's a reason for that.
