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.