81R9583 CAS-D
By: Naishtat H.B. No. 4555
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to determining a student's eligibility for a school
district's special education program on the basis of the student's
visual impairment.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Section 30.002, Education Code, is amended by
adding Subsections (c-1) and (c-2) to read as follows:
(c-1) To implement Subsection (c)(1) and to determine a
child's eligibility for a school district's special education
program on the basis of a visual impairment, the full individual and
initial evaluation of the student required by Section 29.004 must,
in accordance with commissioner rule:
(1) include an orientation and mobility evaluation
conducted:
(A) by a person who is appropriately certified as
an orientation and mobility specialist, as determined under
commissioner rule; and
(B) during the day and at night in a variety of
settings, including in the student's home, school, and community
and in settings unfamiliar to the student; and
(2) provide for a person who is appropriately
certified as an orientation and mobility specialist to participate,
as part of the multidisciplinary team, in evaluating data on which
the determination of the child's eligibility is based.
(c-2) Any reevaluation by a school district of a student who
has been determined, after the full individual and initial
evaluation, to be eligible for the district's special education
program on the basis of a visual impairment must, in accordance with
commissioner rule, include an orientation and mobility evaluation
conducted by a person described by Subsection (c-1)(1)(A).
SECTION 2. (a) Not later than January 1, 2010, the
commissioner of education shall adopt rules necessary to implement
Sections 30.002(c-1) and (c-2), Education Code, as added by this
Act.
(b) Not later than the beginning of the 2010-2011 school
year, Sections 30.002(c-1) and (c-2), Education Code, as added by
this Act, shall be implemented.
SECTION 3. 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.