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.