85R8042 CAE-F
By: Huberty H.B. No. 3369
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to the statewide plan for special education and assistance
to public school districts in providing special education programs.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Section 8.051(d), Education Code, is amended to
read as follows:
(d) Each regional education service center shall maintain
core services for purchase by school districts and campuses. The
core services are:
(1) training and assistance in:
(A) teaching each subject area assessed under
Section 39.023; and
(B) providing instruction in personal financial
literacy as required under Section 28.0021;
(2) training and assistance in providing each program
that qualifies for a funding allotment under Section 42.151,
42.152, 42.153, or 42.156;
(3) assistance specifically designed for a school
district or campus assigned an unacceptable performance rating
under Section 39.054;
(4) training and assistance to teachers,
administrators, members of district boards of trustees, and members
of site-based decision-making committees;
(5) assistance specifically designed for a school
district that is considered:
(A) out of compliance with state or federal
special education requirements, based on the agency's most recent
compliance review of the district's special education programs; or
(B) in need of intervention or substantial
intervention based on the agency's most recent determination
regarding the district's special education programs under 34 C.F.R.
Section 300.600(a)(2); and
(6) assistance in complying with state laws and rules.
SECTION 2. Section 29.001, Education Code, is amended to
read as follows:
Sec. 29.001. STATEWIDE PLAN. 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, the
Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board, and the State Board for
Educator Certification 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:
(A) are appropriately trained, including
training in linguistic and culturally appropriate evaluations;
(B) have appropriate assessment instruments
available, including assessment instruments in languages other
than English to the extent possible; and
(C) [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;
(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), 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; and
(11) ensure that each district develops a process to
be used by a teacher who instructs a student with a disability in a
regular classroom setting:
(A) to request a review of the student's
individualized education program;
(B) to provide input in the development of the
student's individualized education program;
(C) that provides for a timely district response
to the teacher's request; and
(D) that provides for notification to the
student's parent or legal guardian of that response.
SECTION 3. This Act applies beginning with the 2017-2018
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, 2017.