HB 1043

CS

CHAMBER ACTION

1	The Committee on Education K-20 recommends the following:
2
3	Committee Substitute
4	Remove the entire bill and insert:
5	A bill to be entitled
6	An act relating to instruction for exceptional students;
7	amending s. 1003.57, F.S.; providing guidelines for
8	determining the residency for a student who receives
9	instruction as an exceptional student; requiring the
10	placing authority in a student's state of residence or the
11	student's parent to pay the cost of instruction,
12	facilities, and services in the case of nonresident
13	students; providing responsibilities of the Department of
14	Education; providing responsibilities of residential
15	facilities that educate exceptional students; providing
16	applicability; amending s. 1003.58, F.S.; correcting a
17	cross reference; providing an effective date.
18
19	Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida:
20
21	Section 1.  Section 1003.57, Florida Statutes, is amended
22	to read:
23	1003.57  Exceptional students instruction.--
24	(1)  Each district school board shall provide for an
25	appropriate program of special instruction, facilities, and
26	services for exceptional students as prescribed by the State
27	Board of Education as acceptable, including provisions that:
28	(a)(1)  The district school board provide the necessary
29	professional services for diagnosis and evaluation of
30	exceptional students.
31	(b)(2)  The district school board provide the special
32	instruction, classes, and services, either within the district
33	school system, in cooperation with other district school
34	systems, or through contractual arrangements with approved
35	private schools or community facilities that meet standards
36	established by the commissioner.
37	(c)(3)  The district school board annually provide
38	information describing the Florida School for the Deaf and the
39	Blind and all other programs and methods of instruction
40	available to the parent of a sensory-impaired student.
41	(d)(4)  The district school board, once every 3 years,
42	submit to the department its proposed procedures for the
43	provision of special instruction and services for exceptional
44	students.
45	(e)(5)  No student be given special instruction or services
46	as an exceptional student until after he or she has been
47	properly evaluated, classified, and placed in the manner
48	prescribed by rules of the State Board of Education. The parent
49	of an exceptional student evaluated and placed or denied
50	placement in a program of special education shall be notified of
51	each such evaluation and placement or denial. Such notice shall
52	contain a statement informing the parent that he or she is
53	entitled to a due process hearing on the identification,
54	evaluation, and placement, or lack thereof. Such hearings shall
55	be exempt from the provisions of ss. 120.569, 120.57, and
56	286.011, except to the extent that the State Board of Education
57	adopts rules establishing other procedures and any records
58	created as a result of such hearings shall be confidential and
59	exempt from the provisions of s. 119.07(1). The hearing must be
60	conducted by an administrative law judge from the Division of
61	Administrative Hearings of the Department of Management
62	Services. The decision of the administrative law judge shall be
63	final, except that any party aggrieved by the finding and
64	decision rendered by the administrative law judge shall have the
65	right to bring a civil action in the circuit court. In such an
66	action, the court shall receive the records of the
67	administrative hearing and shall hear additional evidence at the
68	request of either party. In the alternative, any party aggrieved
69	by the finding and decision rendered by the administrative law
70	judge shall have the right to request an impartial review of the
71	administrative law judge's order by the district court of appeal
72	as provided by s. 120.68. Notwithstanding any law to the
73	contrary, during the pendency of any proceeding conducted
74	pursuant to this section, unless the district school board and
75	the parents otherwise agree, the student shall remain in his or
76	her then-current educational assignment or, if applying for
77	initial admission to a public school, shall be assigned, with
78	the consent of the parents, in the public school program until
79	all such proceedings have been completed.
80	(f)(6)  In providing for the education of exceptional
81	students, the district school superintendent, principals, and
82	teachers shall utilize the regular school facilities and adapt
83	them to the needs of exceptional students to the maximum extent
84	appropriate. Segregation of exceptional students shall occur
85	only if the nature or severity of the exceptionality is such
86	that education in regular classes with the use of supplementary
87	aids and services cannot be achieved satisfactorily.
88	(g)(7)  In addition to the services agreed to in a
89	student's individual education plan, the district school
90	superintendent shall fully inform the parent of a student having
91	a physical or developmental disability of all available services
92	that are appropriate for the student's disability. The
93	superintendent shall provide the student's parent with a summary
94	of the student's rights.
95	(2)(a)  A student who receives special instruction,
96	facilities, or services as an exceptional student is considered
97	a resident of the state in which the student's parent or
98	guardian is a resident. The cost of such instruction,
99	facilities, and services for a nonresident student shall be
100	provided by the placing authority in the student's state of
101	residence, such as a public school entity, other placing
102	authority, or parent. Nonresident students shall not be reported
103	by any school district for FTE funding in the Florida Education
104	Finance Program.
105	(b)  The Department of Education shall provide to each
106	school district a statement of the specific limitations of the
107	district's financial obligation for exceptional students under
108	federal and state law. The department shall also provide to each
109	school district technical assistance as necessary for developing
110	a local plan to impose on the placing authority in the student's
111	state of residence or the student's parent the fiscal
112	responsibility for educating a nonresident exceptional student.
113	(c)  The Department of Education shall develop a process by
114	which a school district must review the residency of each
115	exceptional student who lives in a residential facility in this
116	state prior to providing services. The residential facility, not
117	the district, is responsible for billing and collecting from a
118	nonresident student's placing authority or parent payment for
119	the student's educational and related services.
120	(d)  This subsection applies to any nonresident student who
121	receives instruction as an exceptional student in any type of
122	educational facility in this state, including, but not limited
123	to, a public school, a private school, a group home facility as
124	defined in s. 393.063(24), an intensive residential treatment
125	program for children and adolescents as defined in s.
126	395.002(16), a facility as defined in s. 394.455(10), an
127	intermediate care facility for the developmentally disabled or
128	ICF/DD as defined in s. 393.063(28) or s. 400.960(12), or a
129	community residential home as defined in s. 419.001(1)(a).
130	Section 2.  Subsection (3) of section 1003.58, Florida
131	Statutes, is amended to read:
132	1003.58  Students in residential care facilities.--Each
133	district school board shall provide educational programs
134	according to rules of the State Board of Education to students
135	who reside in residential care facilities operated by the
136	Department of Children and Family Services.
137	(3)  The district school board shall have full and complete
138	authority in the matter of the assignment and placement of such
139	students in educational programs. The parent of an exceptional
140	student shall have the same due process rights as are provided
141	under s. 1003.57(1)(e) s. 1003.57(5).
142
143	Notwithstanding the provisions herein, the educational program
144	at the Marianna Sunland Center in Jackson County shall be
145	operated by the Department of Education, either directly or
146	through grants or contractual agreements with other public or
147	duly accredited educational agencies approved by the Department
148	of Education.
149	Section 3.  This act shall take effect July 1, 2004.

CODING: Words stricken are deletions; words underlined are additions.