By: Cain S.B. No. 870
99S0548/1
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
1-1 relating to information provided to parents of students receiving
1-2 special education.
1-3 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
1-4 SECTION 1. Section 26.001, Education Code, is amended by
1-5 adding Subsection (f) to read as follows:
1-6 (f) The agency shall provide to parents of students
1-7 receiving special education a clear, comprehensive document
1-8 explaining the special education process and parents' rights and
1-9 responsibilities.
1-10 SECTION 2. Section 29.001, Education Code, is amended to
1-11 read as follows:
1-12 Sec. 29.001. STATEWIDE PLAN. The agency shall develop, and
1-13 modify as necessary, a statewide design, consistent with federal
1-14 law, for the delivery of services to children with disabilities in
1-15 this state that includes rules for the administration and funding
1-16 of the special education program so that a free appropriate public
1-17 education is available to all of those children between the ages of
1-18 three and 21. The statewide design shall include the provision of
1-19 services primarily through school districts and shared services
1-20 arrangements, supplemented by regional education service centers.
1-21 The agency shall also develop and implement a statewide plan with
1-22 programmatic content that includes procedures designed to:
1-23 (1) ensure state compliance with requirements for
1-24 supplemental federal funding for all state-administered programs
2-1 involving the delivery of instructional or related services to
2-2 students with disabilities;
2-3 (2) facilitate interagency coordination when other
2-4 state agencies are involved in the delivery of instructional or
2-5 related services to students with disabilities;
2-6 (3) periodically assess statewide personnel needs in
2-7 all areas of specialization related to special education and pursue
2-8 strategies to meet those needs through a consortium of
2-9 representatives from regional education service centers, local
2-10 education agencies, and institutions of higher education and
2-11 through other available alternatives;
2-12 (4) ensure that regional education service centers
2-13 throughout the state maintain a regional support function, which
2-14 may include direct service delivery and a component designed to
2-15 facilitate the placement of students with disabilities who cannot
2-16 be appropriately served in their resident districts;
2-17 (5) allow the agency to effectively monitor and
2-18 periodically conduct site visits of all school districts to ensure
2-19 that rules adopted under this section are applied in a consistent
2-20 and uniform manner, to ensure that districts are complying with
2-21 those rules, and to ensure that annual statistical reports filed by
2-22 the districts and not otherwise available through the Public
2-23 Education Information Management System under Section 42.006, are
2-24 accurate and complete;
2-25 (6) ensure that appropriately trained personnel are
2-26 involved in the diagnostic and evaluative procedures operating in
3-1 all districts and that those personnel routinely serve on district
3-2 admissions, review, and dismissal committees;
3-3 (7) ensure that an individualized education program
3-4 for each student with a disability is properly developed,
3-5 implemented, and maintained in the least restrictive environment
3-6 that is appropriate to meet the student's educational needs;
3-7 (8) ensure that, when appropriate, each student with a
3-8 disability is provided an opportunity to participate in career and
3-9 technology and physical education classes, in addition to
3-10 participating in regular or special classes; [and]
3-11 (9) ensure that each student with a disability is
3-12 provided necessary related services; and
3-13 (10) ensure that a document is furnished to the
3-14 parents of a student receiving special education as provided by
3-15 Section 26.001(f).
3-16 SECTION 3. This Act takes effect beginning with the
3-17 1999-2000 school year.
3-18 SECTION 4. The importance of this legislation and the
3-19 crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
3-20 emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
3-21 constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
3-22 days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended,
3-23 and that this Act take effect and be in force from and after its
3-24 passage, and it is so enacted.