GREEN SHEET REDIGEST HB 69 2023 Regular Session Marino STUDENTS: Provides for the screening and diagnosis of students with respect to dyslexia. DIGEST Dyslexia generally Present law, relative to dyslexia, provides the following: (1)Requires the State Bd. of Elementary and Secondary Education (BESE) to adopt a program for testing students for dyslexia and related disorders and requires school boards to provide remediation for dyslexic students in accordance with the program. (2)Requires every child in grades K-3 to be screened at least once for dyslexia. (3)Requires a student to be referred for dyslexia testing upon request of a parent, student, school nurse, classroom teacher, or other school personnel. (4)Provides for implementation of a pilot program relative to dyslexia screening. Proposed law repeals present law and provides the following relative to dyslexia: Definitions Present law defines "dyslexia" as an unexpected difficulty in reading for an individual who has the intelligence to be a much better reader, most commonly caused by a difficulty in phonological processing, which affects the ability of an individual to speak, read, and spell. Defines "phonological processing" as meaning the appreciation of the individual sounds of spoken and written language. Proposed law retains present law. Screening Proposed law requires the state Department of Education to select a dyslexia screener with an area under the curve of 0.80 or above and provide the screener, at no cost, to each public school. Further requires the dyslexia screener to be administered to each student by a classroom teacher in the second half of kindergarten or at any time it is requested by a teacher or a parent or guardian. Prohibits the screener from being a progress monitoring tool and requires that it be developed solely for dyslexia; be evidence-based with proven, published academic validity; and be used for the purpose of determining whether a student is at-risk for dyslexia. Provides that if the screening results indicate that a student is at risk for dyslexia, the parent or guardian shall be notified within thirty days of the results of the screening Reporting and ancillary certification Present law provides for reporting relative to students with dyslexia and provides for the issuance of an ancillary certificate to a teacher for service as a dyslexia practitioner or dyslexia therapist. Proposed law retains present law but recodifies it for purposes of statutory organization. Applicability Proposed law applies proposed law (relative to dyslexia screening) and present law (relative to dyslexia reporting) to all public schools, including charter schools. Page 1 of 2 Prepared by Tracy Sabina Sudduth. Rules Proposed law requires BESE to promulgate rules to implement proposed law in accordance with the Administrative Procedure Act. Implementation Proposed law shall be subject to the appropriation of funds by the legislature. (Amends R.S. 17:7.2(A)(8)(a)(iii), 392.1(D), and 2112(Section heading); adds R.S. 17:392.11-392.14 and 3996(B)(75); repeals R.S. 17:7(11), 392.1(B)(2)(a) and (3) and (F), 392.2, and 2112(A)(2) and (B) Summary of Amendments Adopted by House The Committee Amendments Proposed by House Committee on Education to the original bill: 1. Apply proposed law and present law relative to dyslexia (screening, diagnosis, and reporting) to charter schools. Summary of Amendments Adopted by Senate Committee Amendments Proposed by Senate Committee on Education to the engrossed bill 1. Require the state Department of Education to select a dyslexia screener that meets certain criteria and to provide the screener, at no cost, to each public school. 2. Change the word "diagnosis" to "identification". 3. Change the word "psychometric" to "academic". 4. Require the core assessment for the identification of dyslexia to include a brief standardized screening tool of intellectual ability. Committee Amendments Proposed by Senate Committee on Finance to the engrossed bill 1. Deletes the Senate Committee Amendments proposed by the Senate Committee on Education and adopted by the Senate on May 16, 2023. 2. Deletes the provisions for dyslexia diagnosis. 3. Provides that if the screening results indicate that a student is at risk for dyslexia, the parent or guardian shall be notified within 30 days of the results of the screening. 4. Requires the implementation of proposed law be subject to the appropriation of funds by the legislature. Page 2 of 2 Prepared by Tracy Sabina Sudduth.