HB 0849

1	A bill to be entitled
2	An act relating to public K-12 education; amending s.
3	1003.57, F.S.; providing guidelines for determining the
4	residency of a student who receives instruction as an
5	exceptional student; requiring the parent or the placing
6	authority in a student's state of residence to pay the
7	cost of such instruction, facilities, and services;
8	providing responsibilities of the Department of Education;
9	providing responsibilities of residential facilities that
10	educate exceptional students; providing applicability;
11	creating s. 1003.575, F.S.; requiring the Department of
12	Education to develop an individual education plan form for
13	use in developing and implementing individual education
14	plans for exceptional students; requiring use of the form
15	by school districts; amending s. 1003.58, F.S.; correcting
16	a cross reference; providing an effective date.
17
18	Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida:
19
20	Section 1.  Section 1003.57, Florida Statutes, is amended
21	to read:
22	1003.57  Exceptional students instruction.--
23	(1)  Each district school board shall provide for an
24	appropriate program of special instruction, facilities, and
25	services for exceptional students as prescribed by the State
26	Board of Education as acceptable, including provisions that:
27	(a)(1)  The district school board provide the necessary
28	professional services for diagnosis and evaluation of
29	exceptional students.
30	(b)(2)  The district school board provide the special
31	instruction, classes, and services, either within the district
32	school system, in cooperation with other district school
33	systems, or through contractual arrangements with approved
34	private schools or community facilities that meet standards
35	established by the commissioner.
36	(c)(3)  The district school board annually provide
37	information describing the Florida School for the Deaf and the
38	Blind and all other programs and methods of instruction
39	available to the parent of a sensory-impaired student.
40	(d)(4)  The district school board, once every 3 years,
41	submit to the department its proposed procedures for the
42	provision of special instruction and services for exceptional
43	students.
44	(e)(5)  No student be given special instruction or services
45	as an exceptional student until after he or she has been
46	properly evaluated, classified, and placed in the manner
47	prescribed by rules of the State Board of Education. The parent
48	of an exceptional student evaluated and placed or denied
49	placement in a program of special education shall be notified of
50	each such evaluation and placement or denial. Such notice shall
51	contain a statement informing the parent that he or she is
52	entitled to a due process hearing on the identification,
53	evaluation, and placement, or lack thereof. Such hearings shall
54	be exempt from the provisions of ss. 120.569, 120.57, and
55	286.011, except to the extent that the State Board of Education
56	adopts rules establishing other procedures and any records
57	created as a result of such hearings shall be confidential and
58	exempt from the provisions of s. 119.07(1). The hearing must be
59	conducted by an administrative law judge from the Division of
60	Administrative Hearings of the Department of Management
61	Services. The decision of the administrative law judge shall be
62	final, except that any party aggrieved by the finding and
63	decision rendered by the administrative law judge shall have the
64	right to bring a civil action in the circuit court. In such an
65	action, the court shall receive the records of the
66	administrative hearing and shall hear additional evidence at the
67	request of either party. In the alternative, any party aggrieved
68	by the finding and decision rendered by the administrative law
69	judge shall have the right to request an impartial review of the
70	administrative law judge's order by the district court of appeal
71	as provided by s. 120.68. Notwithstanding any law to the
72	contrary, during the pendency of any proceeding conducted
73	pursuant to this section, unless the district school board and
74	the parents otherwise agree, the student shall remain in his or
75	her then-current educational assignment or, if applying for
76	initial admission to a public school, shall be assigned, with
77	the consent of the parents, in the public school program until
78	all such proceedings have been completed.
79	(f)(6)  In providing for the education of exceptional
80	students, the district school superintendent, principals, and
81	teachers shall utilize the regular school facilities and adapt
82	them to the needs of exceptional students to the maximum extent
83	appropriate. Segregation of exceptional students shall occur
84	only if the nature or severity of the exceptionality is such
85	that education in regular classes with the use of supplementary
86	aids and services cannot be achieved satisfactorily.
87	(g)(7)  In addition to the services agreed to in a
88	student's individual education plan, the district school
89	superintendent shall fully inform the parent of a student having
90	a physical or developmental disability of all available services
91	that are appropriate for the student's disability. The
92	superintendent shall provide the student's parent with a summary
93	of the student's rights.
94	(2)(a)  A student who receives special instruction,
95	facilities, or services as an exceptional student is considered
96	a resident of the state in which the student's parent is a
97	resident. The cost of such instruction, facilities, and services
98	for a nonresident student shall be provided by the parent or the
99	placing authority in the student's state of residence, such as a
100	public school entity or other placing authority. Nonresident
101	students may not be reported by any school district for FTE
102	funding in the Florida Education Finance Program.
103	(b)  The Department of Education shall provide to each
104	school district a statement of the specific limitations of the
105	school district's financial obligation for exceptional students
106	under federal and state law. The department shall also provide
107	to each school district technical assistance as necessary for
108	developing a local plan to impose on the parent or the placing
109	authority in the student's state of residence the fiscal
110	responsibility for educating a nonresident exceptional student.
111	(c)  The Department of Education shall develop a process by
112	which a school district must review the residency of each
113	exceptional student who lives in a residential facility in this
114	state prior to providing services. The residential facility, not
115	the school district, is responsible for billing and collecting
116	from a nonresident student's parent or placing authority payment
117	for the student's educational and related services.
118	(d)  This subsection applies to any nonresident student who
119	receives instruction as an exceptional student in any type of
120	educational facility in this state, including, but not limited
121	to, a public school, a private school, a group home facility as
122	defined in s. 393.063, an intensive residential treatment
123	program for children and adolescents as defined in s. 395.002, a
124	facility as defined in s. 394.455, an intermediate care facility
125	for the developmentally disabled or ICF/DD as defined in s.
126	393.063 or s. 400.960, or a community residential home as
127	defined in s. 419.001.
128	Section 2.  Section 1003.575, Florida Statutes, is created
129	to read:
130	1003.575  Individual education plans for exceptional
131	students.--The Department of Education shall develop an
132	individual education plan (IEP) form for use in developing and
133	implementing individual education plans for exceptional
134	students. The IEP form shall have a streamlined format and, to
135	provide for the use of an existing IEP form when a student
136	transfers from one school district to another, the IEP form
137	developed by the department shall be used in each school
138	district in the state.
139	Section 3.  Subsection (3) of section 1003.58, Florida
140	Statutes, is amended to read:
141	1003.58  Students in residential care facilities.--Each
142	district school board shall provide educational programs
143	according to rules of the State Board of Education to students
144	who reside in residential care facilities operated by the
145	Department of Children and Family Services.
146	(3)  The district school board shall have full and complete
147	authority in the matter of the assignment and placement of such
148	students in educational programs. The parent of an exceptional
149	student shall have the same due process rights as are provided
150	under s. 1003.57(1)(e)(5).
151
152	Notwithstanding the provisions herein, the educational program
153	at the Marianna Sunland Center in Jackson County shall be
154	operated by the Department of Education, either directly or
155	through grants or contractual agreements with other public or
156	duly accredited educational agencies approved by the Department
157	of Education.
158	Section 4.  This act shall take effect July 1, 2005.

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