By: Watson S.B. No. 1487
 
 
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
 
AN ACT
  relating to the statewide plan for delivery of services to public
  school students with disabilities and resources for teachers of
  public school students with special health needs.
         BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
         SECTION 1.  Section 29.001, Education Code, is amended to
  read as follows:
         Sec. 29.001.  STATEWIDE PLAN. (a)  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;
               (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 or by agreement
  of the admission, review and dismissal committee 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 or by agreement
  of the admission, review and dismissal committee 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;
                     (C)  before the placement of a student with a
  disability in the teacher's classroom, relevant information in the
  student's individualized education program;
                     (D)  the opportunity to request staffing and
  intervention team meetings and meetings of the student's admission,
  review, and dismissal committee regarding a student with a
  disability assigned to the teacher's classroom; and
                     (E)  the opportunity to participate in staffing
  and intervention team meetings and, as determined by the district,
  the relevant portion of meetings of the student's admission,
  review, and dismissal committee regarding a student with a
  disability assigned to the teacher's classroom, including meetings
  of the admission, review, and dismissal committee as provided by
  subsection (d);
               (12)  ensure that a school district develops a process
  for responding to concerns regarding implementation of the
  student's individualized education program by a teacher who
  instructs the student in a regular classroom setting and for
  notifying the student's parents of such response.
               (13)  ensure that school health services for a student
  with a disability are performed by:
                     (A)  a qualified school nurse; or
                     (B)  if a qualified school nurse is unavailable,
  by other qualified and trained personnel; and
               (14)  ensure that, on the request of the teacher or by
  the admission, review and dismissal committee, the teacher receives
  training and/or assistance from appropriately trained personnel,
  as determined by the school district, to perform necessary tasks
  that the teacher is required to perform related to the student's
  hygiene and care, including diapering needs.
         (b)  Subsection (a)(13) or (14) may not result in a change of
  classroom placement for a student with a disability unless the
  change in classroom placement is made in accordance with applicable
  federal and state laws.
         SECTION 2.  Subchapter J, Chapter 21, Education Code, is
  amended by adding Section 21.463 to read as follows:
         Sec. 21.463.  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.  This Act applies beginning with the 2009-2010
  school year.
         SECTION 4.  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, 2009.