HB 0849

CS

CHAMBER ACTION

1	The Choice & Innovation Committee recommends the following:
2
3	Council/Committee Substitute
4	Remove the entire bill and insert:
5	A bill to be entitled
6	An act relating to public K-12 education; amending s.
7	1003.57, F.S.; providing guidelines for determining the
8	residency of a student who receives special instruction,
9	facilities, or services as an exceptional student;
10	requiring the parent or the placing authority in a
11	parent's state of residence to pay the cost of such
12	instruction, facilities, and services; providing
13	responsibilities of the Department of Education; providing
14	responsibilities of residential facilities that educate
15	exceptional students; providing applicability; defining
16	the term "parent" for purposes of the section; creating s.
17	1003.575, F.S.; requiring the Department of Education to
18	develop an individual education plan form for use in
19	developing and implementing individual education plans for
20	exceptional students; requiring use of the form by school
21	districts; amending s. 1003.58, F.S.; correcting a cross
22	reference; providing an 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 amended
27	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	services for exceptional students as prescribed by the State
32	Board of Education as acceptable, including provisions that:
33	(a)(1)  The district school board provide the necessary
34	professional services for diagnosis and evaluation of
35	exceptional students.
36	(b)(2)  The district school board provide the special
37	instruction, classes, and services, either within the district
38	school system, in cooperation with other district school
39	systems, or through contractual arrangements with approved
40	private schools or community facilities that meet standards
41	established by the commissioner.
42	(c)(3)  The district school board annually provide
43	information describing the Florida School for the Deaf and the
44	Blind and all other programs and methods of instruction
45	available to the parent of a sensory-impaired student.
46	(d)(4)  The district school board, once every 3 years,
47	submit to the department its proposed procedures for the
48	provision of special instruction and services for exceptional
49	students.
50	(e)(5)  No student be given special instruction or services
51	as an exceptional student until after he or she has been
52	properly evaluated, classified, and placed in the manner
53	prescribed by rules of the State Board of Education. The parent
54	of an exceptional student evaluated and placed or denied
55	placement in a program of special education shall be notified of
56	each such evaluation and placement or denial. Such notice shall
57	contain a statement informing the parent that he or she is
58	entitled to a due process hearing on the identification,
59	evaluation, and placement, or lack thereof. Such hearings shall
60	be exempt from the provisions of ss. 120.569, 120.57, and
61	286.011, except to the extent that the State Board of Education
62	adopts rules establishing other procedures and any records
63	created as a result of such hearings shall be confidential and
64	exempt from the provisions of s. 119.07(1). The hearing must be
65	conducted by an administrative law judge from the Division of
66	Administrative Hearings of the Department of Management
67	Services. The decision of the administrative law judge shall be
68	final, except that any party aggrieved by the finding and
69	decision rendered by the administrative law judge shall have the
70	right to bring a civil action in the circuit court. In such an
71	action, the court shall receive the records of the
72	administrative hearing and shall hear additional evidence at the
73	request of either party. In the alternative, any party aggrieved
74	by the finding and decision rendered by the administrative law
75	judge shall have the right to request an impartial review of the
76	administrative law judge's order by the district court of appeal
77	as provided by s. 120.68. Notwithstanding any law to the
78	contrary, during the pendency of any proceeding conducted
79	pursuant to this section, unless the district school board and
80	the parents otherwise agree, the student shall remain in his or
81	her then-current educational assignment or, if applying for
82	initial admission to a public school, shall be assigned, with
83	the consent of the parents, in the public school program until
84	all such proceedings have been completed.
85	(f)(6)  In providing for the education of exceptional
86	students, the district school superintendent, principals, and
87	teachers shall utilize the regular school facilities and adapt
88	them to the needs of exceptional students to the maximum extent
89	appropriate. Segregation of exceptional students shall occur
90	only if the nature or severity of the exceptionality is such
91	that education in regular classes with the use of supplementary
92	aids and services cannot be achieved satisfactorily.
93	(g)(7)  In addition to the services agreed to in a
94	student's individual education plan, the district school
95	superintendent shall fully inform the parent of a student having
96	a physical or developmental disability of all available services
97	that are appropriate for the student's disability. The
98	superintendent shall provide the student's parent with a summary
99	of the student's rights.
100	(2)(a)  A student who receives special instruction,
101	facilities, or services as an exceptional student is considered
102	a resident of the state in which the student's parent is a
103	resident. The cost of such instruction, facilities, and services
104	for a nonresident student shall be provided by the parent or the
105	placing authority in the parent's state of residence, such as a
106	public school entity or other placing authority. Nonresident
107	students may not be reported by any school district for FTE
108	funding in the Florida Education Finance Program.
109	(b)  The Department of Education shall provide to each
110	school district a statement of the specific limitations of the
111	school district's financial obligation for exceptional students
112	under federal and state law. The department shall also provide
113	to each school district technical assistance as necessary for
114	developing a local plan to impose on the parent or the placing
115	authority in the parent's state of residence the fiscal
116	responsibility for educating a nonresident exceptional student.
117	(c)  The Department of Education shall develop a process by
118	which a school district must review the residency of each
119	exceptional student who lives in a residential facility in this
120	state prior to providing services. The residential facility, not
121	the school district, is responsible for billing and collecting
122	from a nonresident student's parent or placing authority payment
123	for the student's educational and related services.
124	(d)  This subsection applies to any nonresident student who
125	receives instruction as an exceptional student in any type of
126	educational facility in this state, including, but not limited
127	to, a public school, a private school, a group home facility as
128	defined in s. 393.063, an intensive residential treatment
129	program for children and adolescents as defined in s. 395.002, a
130	facility as defined in s. 394.455, an intermediate care facility
131	for the developmentally disabled or ICF/DD as defined in s.
132	393.063 or s. 400.960, or a community residential home as
133	defined in s. 419.001.
134	(3)  For purposes of this section, the term "parent" is
135	defined as either or both parents of a student or any guardian
136	of a student.
137	Section 2.  Section 1003.575, Florida Statutes, is created
138	to read:
139	1003.575  Individual education plans for exceptional
140	students.--The Department of Education shall develop an
141	individual education plan (IEP) form for use in developing and
142	implementing individual education plans for exceptional
143	students. The IEP form shall have a streamlined format and, to
144	provide for the use of an existing IEP form when a student
145	transfers from one school district to another, the IEP form
146	developed by the department shall be used in each school
147	district in the state.
148	Section 3.  Subsection (3) of section 1003.58, Florida
149	Statutes, is amended to read:
150	1003.58  Students in residential care facilities.--Each
151	district school board shall provide educational programs
152	according to rules of the State Board of Education to students
153	who reside in residential care facilities operated by the
154	Department of Children and Family Services.
155	(3)  The district school board shall have full and complete
156	authority in the matter of the assignment and placement of such
157	students in educational programs. The parent of an exceptional
158	student shall have the same due process rights as are provided
159	under s. 1003.57(1)(e)(5).
160
161	Notwithstanding the provisions herein, the educational program
162	at the Marianna Sunland Center in Jackson County shall be
163	operated by the Department of Education, either directly or
164	through grants or contractual agreements with other public or
165	duly accredited educational agencies approved by the Department
166	of Education.
167	Section 4.  This act shall take effect July 1, 2005.

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