By: King of Taylor H.B. No. 3487

A BILL TO BE ENTITLED

AN ACT

relating to staff development requirements concerning the instruction of students with disabilities in public schools.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:

SECTION 1. Section 21.451, Education Code, is amended by adding Subsections (g), (h), and (i) to read as follows:

(g) This subsection applies only to a teacher who provides instruction to a student for whom an individualized education program has been developed under Section 29.005. Except as provided by Subsection (i), a teacher subject to this subsection, at least every three years, must complete a minimum number of hours of staff development, as determined by commissioner rule, relating to the instruction of students with disabilities. The staff development training must include information relating to:

(1) temperament and requirements of students with disabilities;

(2) methods for providing individualized instruction to and assessing students with disabilities; and

(3) behavioral management techniques.

(h) The commissioner shall adopt rules as necessary to administer this section and create as a local option for school districts a three-year implementation schedule. Except as provided by Subsection (i), at least one-third of the teachers subject to Subsection (g) in the district must participate each year during the three-year implementation period or until all teachers subject to Subsection (g) have fulfilled the initial staff development requirement under Subsection (g). The rules adopted under this subsection must emphasize the need to provide adequate staff development training to enable teachers to implement individualized education programs for students with disabilities in an effective manner.

(i) A school district that employs a teacher subject to Subsection (g) may allow the teacher to satisfy the requirements of that subsection if the teacher participates in district-approved professional development activities or training, other than staff development training provided by the district, that satisfies the requirements of Subsection (g).

SECTION 2. Subchapter J, Chapter 21, Education Code, is amended by adding Section 21.459 to read as follows:

Sec. 21.459. RESOURCES FOR TEACHERS OF STUDENTS WITH SPECIAL HEALTH NEEDS. The agency, in coordination with the Health and Human Services Commission, shall establish and maintain an Internet website to provide resources for teachers who teach students with special health needs. The agency shall include on the website information about the treatment and management of chronic illnesses and how such illnesses impact a student's well-being or ability to succeed in school.

SECTION 3. Section 29.001, Education Code, is amended to read as follows:

Sec. 29.001. STATEWIDE PLAN. The agency shall develop, and modify as necessary, a statewide design, consistent with federal law, for the delivery of services to children with disabilities in this state that includes rules for the administration and funding of the special education program so that a free appropriate public education is available to all of those children between the ages of three and 21. The statewide design shall include the provision of services primarily through school districts and shared services arrangements, supplemented by regional education service centers. The agency shall also develop and implement a statewide plan with programmatic content that includes procedures designed to:

(1) ensure state compliance with requirements for supplemental federal funding for all state-administered programs involving the delivery of instructional or related services to students with disabilities;

(2) facilitate interagency coordination when other state agencies are involved in the delivery of instructional or related services to students with disabilities;

(3) periodically assess statewide personnel needs in all areas of specialization related to special education and pursue strategies to meet those needs through a consortium of representatives from regional education service centers, local education agencies, and institutions of higher education and through other available alternatives;

(4) ensure that regional education service centers throughout the state maintain a regional support function, which may include direct service delivery and a component designed to facilitate the placement of students with disabilities who cannot be appropriately served in their resident districts;

(5) allow the agency to effectively monitor and periodically conduct site visits of all school districts to ensure that rules adopted under this section are applied in a consistent and uniform manner, to ensure that districts are complying with those rules, and to ensure that annual statistical reports filed by the districts and not otherwise available through the Public Education Information Management System under Section 42.006, are accurate and complete;

(6) ensure that appropriately trained personnel are involved in the diagnostic and evaluative procedures operating in all districts and that those personnel routinely serve on district admissions, review, and dismissal committees;

(7) ensure that an individualized education program for each student with a disability is properly developed, implemented, and maintained in the least restrictive environment that is appropriate to meet the student's educational needs;

(8) ensure that, when appropriate, each student with a disability is provided an opportunity to participate in career and technology and physical education classes, in addition to participating in regular or special classes;

(9) ensure that each student with a disability is provided necessary related services; [and]

(10) ensure that an individual assigned to act as a surrogate parent for a child with a disability, as provided by 20 U.S.C. Section 1415(b) [and its subsequent amendments], is required to:

(A) complete a training program that complies with minimum standards established by agency rule;

(B) visit the child and the child's school;

(C) consult with persons involved in the child's education, including teachers, caseworkers, court-appointed volunteers, guardians ad litem, attorneys ad litem, foster parents, and caretakers;

(D) review the child's educational records;

(E) attend meetings of the child's admission, review, and dismissal committee;

(F) exercise independent judgment in pursuing the child's interests; and

(G) exercise the child's due process rights under applicable state and federal law; and

(11) ensure that a school district provides to a teacher who instructs a student with a disability in a regular classroom setting:

(A) on the request of the teacher and as soon as practicable, training in providing appropriate educational services to a student with a disability, including training in research-based best practices for meeting the academic and behavioral needs of a student with a disability assigned to the teacher's classroom;

(B) on the request of the teacher and as soon as practicable, assistance from appropriately trained personnel, as determined by the district, in meeting the academic and behavioral needs of a student with a disability assigned to the teacher's classroom; and

(C) before the placement of a student with a disability in the teacher's classroom, relevant information in the student's individualized education program.

SECTION 4. This Act applies beginning with the 2008-2009 school year.

SECTION 5. This Act takes effect immediately if it receives a vote of two-thirds of all the members elected to each house, as provided by Section 39, Article III, Texas Constitution. If this Act does not receive the vote necessary for immediate effect, this Act takes effect September 1, 2008.