TheWeekInCongress.com
Week Ending May 14, 2004
HR 1350 Individuals with Disabilities Education Improvement Act of 2004.
BRIEF
The bill reauthorizes funding for the Individuals with Disabilities Education and Improvement Act and revises some of the provisions in the act. The Senate forwent S 1248, its’ version of the bill, and passed HR 1350 instead, with some amendment activity.
Sponsor: Representative Mike Castle ( -DE)
Vote: Passed Senate 95 – 3. (RV 94). Passed House 251 – 171 (RC 154)
Cost to the taxpayer: No discernible cost.
MORE INFORMATION
HR 1350 is an encompassing and lengthy bill. Some highlights follow.
The bill provides that a LEA (Local Education Agency) will be deemed to know about a child's disability if:
(1) the parent has expressed concern in writing;
(2) the parent has requested an evaluation;
(3) a teacher or other school personnel has expressed concern about a pattern of behavior to either the special education director, or to other administrative personnel; or
(4) the child has engaged in a pattern of behavior that should have alerted school personnel that the child may need special education and related services.
LEA will not be deemed to know that the child has a disability if the child's parent has not agreed to allow an evaluation requested by the LEA. An Amendment expresses the sense of Congress, but does not require by law, certification of the child’s disability by a State health board.
Here are other elements of the bill:
Surgically implanted medical devices and their post-surgical maintenance, programming, or replacement; and external devices connected with the use of such devices are not covered for payment, but routine maintenance and monitoring of an external device at the same time the child is receiving IDEA assistance is allowed.
The Comptroller General is directed to review Federal, State, and local requirements relating to the education of children with disabilities to determine which requirements result in excessive paperwork completion burdens for teachers, related services providers, and school administrators.
The Secretary of Education is authorized to grant waivers of statutory or regulatory requirements (other than civil rights requirements) for up to four years to up to 15 States. The waiver would be based on State proposals to reduce excessive paperwork and non-instructional time burdens that do not assist in improving educational and functional results for children with disabilities. The waiver program is prohibited from being construed as affecting the right of a child with a disability to receive a free appropriate public education and as permitting a State or LEA to waive specified procedural safeguards.
States would be required to reserve a specified portion of funds to establish a risk pool fund to assist school districts in serving high-need children with disabilities or unanticipated special education costs. Placement-neutral policies are required for settings of high-need students who do not favor public, nonpublic or out-of-district placements; and to provide the services to which children are entitled in a setting that is consistent with their individualized education plan.
States are directed to adopt policies that require LEAs to take measurable steps to recruit, hire, and retain highly qualified personnel. All special education teachers in an elementary, middle or secondary school must be highly qualified no later than the end of the 2006-2007 school year. State requirements to develop a comprehensive system of personnel development is eliminated. State standards governing the qualifications of related service personnel serving children with disabilities is required to be consistent with any State-approved or State-recognized certification or licensing or other comparable requirement applicable to the specific professional discipline of such personnel. States are required to ensure that such personnel have not had their certification or licensure requirements waived on an emergency, temporary, or provisional basis.
Handicapped children parentally-placed in private schools require LEAs to provide direct services to them children to the extent practicable, provide data on the number of students evaluated, found to have a disability, and served, conduct the child-find process for such children in a time period comparable to that for students attending public schools, not consider the cost of such child-find and individual evaluations in meeting their proportional obligations, and consult with private school officials on the child find process, determination of proportional share of Federal funds, provision of services, alternative delivery mechanisms, and third party providers. Allows private schools to appeal if such consultation does not take place.
Requirements for academic achievement and functional performance of children with disabilities are revised to conform IDEA to the State and LEA accountability system established under NCLBA, (No Child Left Behind Act) with school and LEA disaggregation of data to examine the results of children with disabilities and ensure that they are making adequate yearly progress towards reaching proficiency.
Establishes the National Instructional Materials Access Center to facilitate collection and dissemination of instructional materials for blind and print-disabled students by requiring publishers, on or before delivery of the print instructional materials, to provide an electronic file copy to the Center, to be readily available whenever needed, and providing a single point of contact for any entity authorized to have access to the electronic file.
Establishes a rule under which a school may order a change of placement for a child who violates a student conduct code to an appropriate interim educational setting, another setting, or suspension, for ten consecutive school days or less, to the same extent that it would apply such a discipline measure to a child without a disability, without a manifestation determination. Applies, beyond ten consecutive school days, the same disciplinary procedures as for a child without a disability, as long as the school has determined that the violation in question was not a manifestation of the child's disability. (Allows parental consent to removal of the child for more than ten consecutive school days for disciplinary reasons.) Authorizes a school, in cases involving weapons or drugs, or when a child has committed serious bodily injury, to remove the child from the regular classroom setting for up to 45 school days, regardless of whether the child's behavior was a manifestation of disability. (Allows application of regular disciplinary consequences in addition to the 45-day removal, subject to certain provisions, if the child's behavior is determined not to be a manifestation of the disability.)
Provides that a school need not conduct a manifestation determination before a disciplinary action of ten consecutive school days or less, or prior to a 45-day removal for cases involving weapons, drugs, or serious bodily injury. Requires a school to determine that the child's behavior was a manifestation of disability if it was the result of either: (1) the child's disability; or (2) a failure to implement the IEP or to implement required behavioral interventions. Requires children who are removed from their current placements for more than ten consecutive school days to receive: (1) continued educational services pursuant to the FAPE requirement, so that they can continue to participate in the general curriculum in another setting, and progress toward meeting their IEP goals; (2) the benefit of school-designed actions to address the behavior violation so that it does not recur; (3) behavioral intervention services for children whose behavior impedes learning; and (4) a functional behavioral assessment, if not received before the violation occurred. Directs the IEP team to determine the child's alternative educational setting.## All Rights Reserved. No reproduction or distribution without written permission from TheWeekInCongress.com