85R25895 KKA-F
 
  By: Moody H.B. No. 3437
 
  Substitute the following for H.B. No. 3437:
 
  By:  VanDeaver C.S.H.B. No. 3437
 
 
 
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
 
AN ACT
  relating to a notice of educational rights and recovery by school
  districts and open-enrollment charter schools of costs for certain
  student evaluations.
         BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
         SECTION 1.  Subchapter A, Chapter 29, Education Code, is
  amended by adding Section 29.023 to read as follows:
         Sec. 29.023.  NOTICE OF RIGHTS; COST RECOVERY PROGRAM. (a)
  The agency shall develop a notice for distribution as provided by
  Subsection (c) and posting on the agency's Internet website that
  indicates:
               (1)  the change made from 2016 to 2017 in reporting
  requirements for school districts and open-enrollment charter
  schools regarding the special education representation indicator
  adopted in the Performance-Based Monitoring Analysis System
  Manual; and
               (2)  in plain language, the rights of a child under both
  federal and state law and the general process available to initiate
  a referral of a child for a full individual and initial evaluation
  under Section 29.004 to determine the child's eligibility for
  special education services.
         (b)  A school district or open-enrollment charter school
  shall include in the notice developed by the agency under
  Subsection (a) information indicating where the local processes and
  procedures for initiating a referral for special education services
  eligibility evaluation may be found.
         (c)  By a date established by the commissioner, each school
  district or open-enrollment charter school shall provide the notice
  to the parent of each child who attends school in the district or at
  the school at any time during the 2017-2018 school year. A school
  district or open-enrollment charter school shall also make the
  notice available on request to any person. The notice must be
  available in English and Spanish, and a school district or
  open-enrollment charter school shall make a good faith effort to
  provide the notice in the parent's native language if the parent's
  native language is a language other than English or Spanish. 
         (d)  The notice is in addition to requirements imposed by
  Section 26.0081.
         (e)  Beginning with the 2017-2018 school year, from federal
  funds available for this purpose, the agency shall establish a
  reimbursement fund from which school districts and open-enrollment
  charter schools may apply and receive cost reimbursement if the
  district or school experiences a significant increase from the
  preceding school year in the number of full individual and initial
  evaluations conducted under Section 29.004. A decision by the
  commissioner to provide reimbursement from the fund is final and
  may not be appealed.
         (f)  The commissioner may adopt rules necessary to implement
  this section.
         (g)  This section expires September 1, 2021.
         SECTION 2.  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, 2017.