Senate Bill sb0768c1

    Florida Senate - 2005                            CS for SB 768

    By the Committee on Children and Families; and Senators Lynn
    and King




    586-1926-05

  1                      A bill to be entitled

  2         An act relating to instruction for exceptional

  3         students; amending s. 1003.57, F.S.; providing

  4         guidelines for determining the residency of a

  5         student who receives instruction as an

  6         exceptional student with a disability;

  7         requiring the student's placing authority or

  8         parent to pay the cost of such instruction,

  9         facilities, and services; providing

10         responsibilities of the Department of

11         Education; providing responsibilities of

12         residential facilities that educate exceptional

13         students with disabilities; providing

14         applicability; amending s. 1003.58, F.S.;

15         correcting a cross-reference; creating s.

16         1003.575, F.S.; requiring the Department of

17         Education to develop an individual education

18         plan form for use in developing and

19         implementing individual education plans for

20         exceptional students; requiring school

21         districts to use the form; providing an

22         effective date.

23  

24  Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida:

25  

26         Section 1.  Section 1003.57, Florida Statutes, is

27  amended to read:

28         1003.57  Exceptional students instruction.--

29         (1)  Each district school board shall provide for an

30  appropriate program of special instruction, facilities, and

31  

                                  1

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






    Florida Senate - 2005                            CS for SB 768
    586-1926-05




 1  services for exceptional students as prescribed by the State

 2  Board of Education as acceptable, including provisions that:

 3         (a)(1)  The district school board provide the necessary

 4  professional services for diagnosis and evaluation of

 5  exceptional students.

 6         (b)(2)  The district school board provide the special

 7  instruction, classes, and services, either within the district

 8  school system, in cooperation with other district school

 9  systems, or through contractual arrangements with approved

10  private schools or community facilities that meet standards

11  established by the commissioner.

12         (c)(3)  The district school board annually provide

13  information describing the Florida School for the Deaf and the

14  Blind and all other programs and methods of instruction

15  available to the parent of a sensory-impaired student.

16         (d)(4)  The district school board, once every 3 years,

17  submit to the department its proposed procedures for the

18  provision of special instruction and services for exceptional

19  students.

20         (e)(5)  A No student may not be given special

21  instruction or services as an exceptional student until after

22  he or she has been properly evaluated, classified, and placed

23  in the manner prescribed by rules of the State Board of

24  Education. The parent of an exceptional student evaluated and

25  placed or denied placement in a program of special education

26  shall be notified of each such evaluation and placement or

27  denial. Such notice shall contain a statement informing the

28  parent that he or she is entitled to a due process hearing on

29  the identification, evaluation, and placement, or lack

30  thereof. Such hearings shall be exempt from the provisions of

31  ss. 120.569, 120.57, and 286.011, except to the extent that

                                  2

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






    Florida Senate - 2005                            CS for SB 768
    586-1926-05




 1  the State Board of Education adopts rules establishing other

 2  procedures and any records created as a result of such

 3  hearings shall be confidential and exempt from the provisions

 4  of s. 119.07(1). The hearing must be conducted by an

 5  administrative law judge from the Division of Administrative

 6  Hearings of the Department of Management Services. The

 7  decision of the administrative law judge shall be final,

 8  except that any party aggrieved by the finding and decision

 9  rendered by the administrative law judge shall have the right

10  to bring a civil action in the circuit court. In such an

11  action, the court shall receive the records of the

12  administrative hearing and shall hear additional evidence at

13  the request of either party. In the alternative, any party

14  aggrieved by the finding and decision rendered by the

15  administrative law judge shall have the right to request an

16  impartial review of the administrative law judge's order by

17  the district court of appeal as provided by s. 120.68.

18  Notwithstanding any law to the contrary, during the pendency

19  of any proceeding conducted pursuant to this section, unless

20  the district school board and the parents otherwise agree, the

21  student shall remain in his or her then-current educational

22  assignment or, if applying for initial admission to a public

23  school, shall be assigned, with the consent of the parents, in

24  the public school program until all such proceedings have been

25  completed.

26         (f)(6)  In providing for the education of exceptional

27  students, the district school superintendent, principals, and

28  teachers shall utilize the regular school facilities and adapt

29  them to the needs of exceptional students to the maximum

30  extent appropriate. Segregation of exceptional students shall

31  occur only if the nature or severity of the exceptionality is

                                  3

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






    Florida Senate - 2005                            CS for SB 768
    586-1926-05




 1  such that education in regular classes with the use of

 2  supplementary aids and services cannot be achieved

 3  satisfactorily.

 4         (g)(7)  In addition to the services agreed to in a

 5  student's individual education plan, the district school

 6  superintendent shall fully inform the parent of a student

 7  having a physical or developmental disability of all available

 8  services that are appropriate for the student's disability.

 9  The superintendent shall provide the student's parent with a

10  summary of the student's rights.

11         (2)(a)  An exceptional student with a disability who

12  resides in a residential facility and receives special

13  instruction or services is considered a resident of the state

14  in which the student's parent or guardian is a resident. The

15  cost of such instruction, facilities, and services for a

16  nonresident student with a disability shall be provided by the

17  placing authority in the student's state of residence, such as

18  a public school entity, other placing authority, or parent. A

19  nonresident student with a disability may not be reported by

20  any school district for FTE funding in the Florida Education

21  Finance Program.

22         (b)  The Department of Education shall provide to each

23  school district a statement of the specific limitations of the

24  district's financial obligation for exceptional students with

25  disabilities under federal and state law. The department shall

26  also provide to each school district technical assistance as

27  necessary for developing a local plan to impose on a student's

28  home state the fiscal responsibility for educating a

29  nonresident exceptional student with a disability.

30         (c)  The Department of Education shall develop a

31  process by which a school district must, before providing

                                  4

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






    Florida Senate - 2005                            CS for SB 768
    586-1926-05




 1  services to an exceptional student with a disability who

 2  resides in a residential facility in this state, review the

 3  residency of the student. The residential facility, not the

 4  district, is responsible for billing and collecting from a

 5  nonresidential student's home state payment for the student's

 6  educational and related services.

 7         (d)  This subsection applies to any nonresident student

 8  with a disability who resides in a residential facility and

 9  who receives instruction as an exceptional student with a

10  disability in any type of residential facility in this state,

11  including, but not limited to, a private school, a group home

12  facility as defined in s. 393.063, an intensive residential

13  treatment program for children and adolescents as defined in

14  s. 395.002, a facility as defined in s. 394.455, an

15  intermediate care facility for the developmentally disabled or

16  ICF/DD as defined in s. 393.063 or s. 400.960, or a community

17  residential home as defined in s. 419.001.

18         Section 2.  Subsection (3) of section 1003.58, Florida

19  Statutes, is amended to read:

20         1003.58  Students in residential care facilities.--Each

21  district school board shall provide educational programs

22  according to rules of the State Board of Education to students

23  who reside in residential care facilities operated by the

24  Department of Children and Family Services.

25         (3)  The district school board shall have full and

26  complete authority in the matter of the assignment and

27  placement of such students in educational programs. The parent

28  of an exceptional student shall have the same due process

29  rights as are provided under s. 1003.57(1)(e) s. 1003.57(5).

30  

31  

                                  5

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






    Florida Senate - 2005                            CS for SB 768
    586-1926-05




 1  Notwithstanding the provisions herein, the educational program

 2  at the Marianna Sunland Center in Jackson County shall be

 3  operated by the Department of Education, either directly or

 4  through grants or contractual agreements with other public or

 5  duly accredited educational agencies approved by the

 6  Department of Education.

 7         Section 3.  Section 1003.575, Florida Statutes, is

 8  created to read:

 9         1003.575  Individual education plans for exceptional

10  students.--The Department of Education shall develop an

11  individual education plan (IEP) form for use in developing and

12  implementing individual education plans for exceptional

13  students. The IEP form must have a streamlined format and, to

14  provide for the use of an existing IEP form when a student

15  transfers from one school district to another, the IEP form

16  developed by the department shall be used in each school

17  district in the state.

18         Section 4.  This act shall take effect July 1, 2005.

19  

20          STATEMENT OF SUBSTANTIAL CHANGES CONTAINED IN
                       COMMITTEE SUBSTITUTE FOR
21                         Senate Bill 768

22                                 

23  Requires the Department of Education to develop a form for an
    Individual Education Plan which must be used by school
24  districts for exceptional students.

25  Clarifies that an exceptional student with a disability who
    resides in a residential facility and receives special
26  services is considered a resident of the state in which the
    student's parent or guardian is a resident.
27  
    Clarifies that students addressed by the bill are exceptional
28  students with disabilities who live in residential facilities,
    not all exceptional students.
29  

30  

31  

                                  6

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