Florida Senate - 2013                              CS for SB 150
       
       
       
       By the Committee on Education; and Senators Altman, Garcia, and
       Bean
       
       
       
       581-02637-13                                           2013150c1
    1                        A bill to be entitled                      
    2         An act relating to deaf and hard-of-hearing students;
    3         amending s. 1003.55, F.S.; requiring that a student’s
    4         language and communication needs, including certain
    5         opportunities, be considered in the development of an
    6         individual education plan for a deaf or hard-of
    7         hearing student; requiring the Department of Education
    8         to develop a model communication plan to be used in
    9         the development of an individual education plan for
   10         deaf or hard-of-hearing students; requiring the
   11         department to disseminate the model communication plan
   12         to each school district and provide technical
   13         assistance; providing an effective date.
   14  
   15  Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida:
   16  
   17         Section 1. Subsection (6) is added to section 1003.55,
   18  Florida Statutes, to read:
   19         1003.55 Instructional programs for blind or visually
   20  impaired students and deaf or hard-of-hearing students.—
   21         (6)(a) In developing an individual education plan for a
   22  deaf or hard-of-hearing student, the individual education plan
   23  team must consider the student’s language and communication
   24  needs, opportunities for direct communication with peers and
   25  professional personnel in the student’s language and
   26  communication mode, and the student’s academic level and full
   27  range of needs, including opportunities for direct instruction
   28  in the student’s language and communication mode.
   29         (b) The Department of Education, in coordination with the
   30  Florida School for the Deaf and the Blind and with input from
   31  education stakeholders, shall develop a model communication plan
   32  that shall be used during the development of a student’s
   33  individual education plan. The model communication plan shall be
   34  adopted in rule by the State Board of Education and made
   35  available online to all school districts no later than December
   36  31, 2013. The department shall provide technical assistance for
   37  using the model communication plan.
   38         Section 2. This act shall take effect July 1, 2013.