|
rules definitions of "case study",
"staff conference", |
"individualized educational program", and "qualified
|
specialist" appropriate to each category of children with
|
disabilities as defined in
this Article. For purposes of |
determining the eligibility of children from
homes in which a |
language other than English is used, the State Board of
|
Education, no later than September 1, 1993, shall include in |
the rules
definitions for "qualified bilingual specialists" |
and "linguistically and
culturally appropriate individualized |
educational programs". In this
Section, "parent" includes a |
foster parent.
|
(b) No child shall be eligible for special education |
facilities except
with a carefully completed case study fully |
reviewed by professional
personnel in a multidisciplinary |
staff conference and only upon the
recommendation of qualified |
specialists or a qualified bilingual specialist, if
available. |
At the conclusion of the multidisciplinary staff conference, |
the
parent or guardian of the child shall be given a copy of |
the multidisciplinary
conference summary report and |
recommendations, which includes options
considered, and be |
informed of their right to obtain an independent educational
|
evaluation if they disagree with the evaluation findings |
conducted or obtained
by the school district. If the school |
district's evaluation is shown to be
inappropriate, the school |
district shall reimburse the parent for the cost of
the |
independent evaluation. The State Board of Education shall, |
|
with advice
from the State Advisory Council on Education of |
Children with
Disabilities on the
inclusion of specific |
independent educational evaluators, prepare a list of
|
suggested independent educational evaluators. The State Board |
of Education
shall include on the list clinical psychologists |
licensed pursuant to the
Clinical Psychologist Licensing Act. |
Such psychologists shall not be paid fees
in excess of the |
amount that would be received by a school psychologist for
|
performing the same services. The State Board of Education |
shall supply school
districts with such list and make the list |
available to parents at their
request. School districts shall |
make the list available to parents at the time
they are |
informed of their right to obtain an independent educational
|
evaluation. However, the school district may initiate an |
impartial
due process hearing under this Section within 5 days |
of any written parent
or guardian request for an independent |
educational evaluation to show that
its evaluation is |
appropriate. If the final decision is that the evaluation
is |
appropriate, the parent still has a right to an independent |
educational
evaluation, but not at public expense. An |
independent educational
evaluation at public expense must be |
completed within 30 days of a parent
or guardian written |
request unless the school district initiates an
impartial due |
process hearing or the parent or guardian or school district
|
offers reasonable grounds to show that such 30 day time period |
should be
extended. If the due process hearing decision |
|
indicates that the parent or
guardian is entitled to an |
independent educational evaluation, it must be
completed |
within 30 days of the decision unless the parent or guardian or
|
the school district offers reasonable grounds to show that such |
30 day
period should be extended. If a parent disagrees with |
the summary report or
recommendations of the multidisciplinary |
conference or the findings of any
educational evaluation which |
results therefrom, the school
district shall not proceed with a |
placement based upon such evaluation and
the child shall remain |
in his or her regular classroom setting.
No child shall be |
eligible for admission to a
special class for the educable |
mentally disabled or for the
trainable
mentally disabled except |
with a psychological evaluation
and
recommendation by a school |
psychologist. Consent shall be obtained from
the parent or |
guardian of a child before any evaluation is conducted.
If |
consent is not given by the parent or guardian or if the parent |
or
guardian disagrees with the findings of the evaluation, then |
the school
district may initiate an impartial due process |
hearing under this Section.
The school district may evaluate |
the child if that is the decision
resulting from the impartial |
due process hearing and the decision is not
appealed or if the |
decision is affirmed on appeal.
The determination of |
eligibility shall be made within 60 school days
from the date |
of referral by school authorities for evaluation by the
|
district or date of application for admittance by the parent or |
guardian
of the child. In those instances when students are |
|
referred for
evaluation with fewer than 60 pupil attendance |
days left in the school year,
the eligibility determination |
shall be made prior to the first day of the
following school |
year. After a child has been determined to be eligible for a
|
special education class, such child must be placed in the |
appropriate
program pursuant to the individualized educational |
program by or no
later than the beginning of the next school |
semester. The appropriate
program pursuant to the |
individualized educational program of students
whose native |
tongue is a language other than English shall reflect the
|
special education, cultural and linguistic needs. No later than |
September
1, 1993, the State Board of Education shall establish |
standards for the
development, implementation and monitoring |
of appropriate bilingual special
individualized educational |
programs. The State Board of Education shall
further |
incorporate appropriate monitoring procedures to verify |
implementation
of these standards. The district shall indicate |
to the parent or guardian and
the State Board of Education the |
nature of the services the child will receive
for the regular |
school term while waiting placement in the appropriate special
|
education class.
|
If the child is deaf, hard of hearing, blind, or visually |
impaired and
he or she might be eligible to receive services |
from the Illinois School for
the Deaf or the Illinois School |
for the Visually Impaired, the school
district shall notify the |
parents or guardian, in writing, of the existence of
these |
|
schools
and the services
they provide and shall make a |
reasonable effort to inform the parents or guardian of the |
existence of other, local schools that provide similar services |
and the services that these other schools provide. This |
notification
shall
include without limitation information on |
school services, school
admissions criteria, and school |
contact information.
|
In the development of the individualized education program |
for a student who has a disability on the autism spectrum |
(which includes autistic disorder, Asperger's disorder, |
pervasive developmental disorder not otherwise specified, |
childhood disintegrative disorder, and Rett Syndrome, as |
defined in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental |
Disorders, fourth edition (DSM-IV, 2000)), the IEP team shall |
consider all of the following factors: |
(1) The verbal and nonverbal communication needs of the |
child. |
(2) The need to develop social interaction skills and |
proficiencies. |
(3) The needs resulting from the child's unusual |
responses to sensory experiences. |
(4) The needs resulting from resistance to |
environmental change or change in daily routines. |
(5) The needs resulting from engagement in repetitive |
activities and stereotyped movements. |
(6) The need for any positive behavioral |
|
interventions, strategies, and supports to address any |
behavioral difficulties resulting from autism spectrum |
disorder. |
(7) Other needs resulting from the child's disability |
that impact progress in the general curriculum, including |
social and emotional development. |
This amendatory Act of the 95th General Assembly does not |
create any new entitlement to a service, program, or benefit, |
but must not affect any entitlement to a service, program, or |
benefit created by any other law.
|
If the student may be eligible to participate in the |
Home-Based Support
Services Program for Mentally Disabled |
Adults authorized under the
Developmental Disability and |
Mental Disability Services Act upon becoming an
adult, the |
student's individualized education program shall include plans |
for
(i) determining the student's eligibility for those |
home-based services, (ii)
enrolling the student in the program |
of home-based services, and (iii)
developing a plan for the |
student's most effective use of the home-based
services after |
the student becomes an adult and no longer receives special
|
educational services under this Article. The plans developed |
under this
paragraph shall include specific actions to be taken |
by specified individuals,
agencies, or officials.
|
(c) In the development of the individualized education |
program for a
student who is functionally blind, it shall be |
presumed that proficiency in
Braille reading and writing is |
|
essential for the student's satisfactory
educational progress. |
For purposes of this subsection, the State Board of
Education |
shall determine the criteria for a student to be classified as
|
functionally blind. Students who are not currently identified |
as
functionally blind who are also entitled to Braille |
instruction include:
(i) those whose vision loss is so severe |
that they are unable to read and
write at a level comparable to |
their peers solely through the use of
vision, and (ii) those |
who show evidence of progressive vision loss that
may result in |
functional blindness. Each student who is functionally blind
|
shall be entitled to Braille reading and writing instruction |
that is
sufficient to enable the student to communicate with |
the same level of
proficiency as other students of comparable |
ability. Instruction should be
provided to the extent that the |
student is physically and cognitively able
to use Braille. |
Braille instruction may be used in combination with other
|
special education services appropriate to the student's |
educational needs.
The assessment of each student who is |
functionally blind for the purpose of
developing the student's |
individualized education program shall include
documentation |
of the student's strengths and weaknesses in Braille skills.
|
Each person assisting in the development of the individualized |
education
program for a student who is functionally blind shall |
receive information
describing the benefits of Braille |
instruction. The individualized
education program for each |
student who is functionally blind shall
specify the appropriate |
|
learning medium or media based on the assessment
report.
|
(d) To the maximum extent appropriate, the placement shall |
provide the
child with the opportunity to be educated with |
children who are not
disabled; provided that children with
|
disabilities who are recommended to be
placed into regular |
education classrooms are provided with supplementary
services |
to assist the children with disabilities to benefit
from the |
regular
classroom instruction and are included on the teacher's |
regular education class
register. Subject to the limitation of |
the preceding sentence, placement in
special classes, separate |
schools or other removal of the disabled child
from the regular |
educational environment shall occur only when the nature of
the |
severity of the disability is such that education in the
|
regular classes with
the use of supplementary aids and services |
cannot be achieved satisfactorily.
The placement of limited |
English proficiency students with disabilities shall
be in |
non-restrictive environments which provide for integration |
with
non-disabled peers in bilingual classrooms. By January |
1993 and annually
thereafter, school districts shall report |
data on students from non-English
speaking backgrounds |
receiving special education and related services in
public and |
private facilities as prescribed in Section 2-3.30. If there
is |
a disagreement between parties involved regarding the special |
education
placement of any child, either in-state or |
out-of-state, the placement is
subject to impartial due process |
procedures described in Article 10 of the
Rules and Regulations |
|
to Govern the Administration and Operation of Special
|
Education.
|
(e) No child who comes from a home in which a language |
other than English
is the principal language used may be |
assigned to any class or program
under this Article until he |
has been given, in the principal language
used by the child and |
used in his home, tests reasonably related to his
cultural |
environment. All testing and evaluation materials and |
procedures
utilized for evaluation and placement shall not be |
linguistically, racially or
culturally discriminatory.
|
(f) Nothing in this Article shall be construed to require |
any child to
undergo any physical examination or medical |
treatment whose parents or
guardian object thereto on the |
grounds that such examination or
treatment conflicts with his |
religious beliefs.
|
(g) School boards or their designee shall provide to the |
parents or
guardian of a child prior written notice of any |
decision (a) proposing
to initiate or change, or (b) refusing |
to initiate or change, the
identification, evaluation, or |
educational placement of the child or the
provision of a free |
appropriate public education to their child, and the
reasons |
therefor. Such written notification shall also inform the
|
parent or guardian of the opportunity to present complaints |
with respect
to any matter relating to the educational |
placement of the student, or
the provision of a free |
appropriate public education and to have an
impartial due |
|
process hearing on the complaint. The notice shall inform
the |
parents or guardian in the parents' or guardian's native |
language,
unless it is clearly not feasible to do so, of their |
rights and all
procedures available pursuant to this Act and |
federal law 94-142; it
shall be the responsibility of the State |
Superintendent to develop
uniform notices setting forth the |
procedures available under this Act
and federal law 94-142 to |
be used by all school boards. The notice
shall also inform the |
parents or guardian of the availability upon
request of a list |
of free or low-cost legal and other relevant services
available |
locally to assist parents or guardians in initiating an
|
impartial due process hearing. Any parent or guardian who is |
deaf, or
does not normally communicate using spoken English, |
who participates in
a meeting with a representative of a local |
educational agency for the
purposes of developing an |
individualized educational program shall be
entitled to the |
services of an interpreter.
|
(h) A Level I due process hearing, hereinafter
referred as |
the hearing, shall be conducted upon the request
of the parents |
or guardian or local school board by an impartial
hearing |
officer appointed as follows: If the request is made through
|
the local school district, within 5 school days of receipt of |
the
request, the local school district shall forward the |
request to the
State Superintendent. Within 5 days after |
receiving this request of
hearing, the State Board of Education |
shall provide a list of 5
prospective, impartial hearing |
|
officers. The State Board of Education,
by rule or regulation, |
shall establish criteria for determining which persons
can be |
included on such a list of prospective hearing officers. No one
|
on the list may be a resident of the school district. No more |
than 2 of the 5
prospective hearing officers shall be gainfully |
employed by or administratively
connected with any school |
district, or any joint agreement or cooperative
program in |
which school districts participate. In addition, no more than 2 |
of
the 5 prospective hearing officers shall be gainfully |
employed by or
administratively connected with private |
providers of special education
services. The State Board of |
Education shall actively recruit applicants for
hearing |
officer positions. The board and the parents or guardian or |
their legal
representatives within 5 days shall alternately |
strike one name from the list
until only one name remains. The |
parents or guardian shall have the right to
proceed first with |
the striking. The per diem allowance for the hearing officer
|
shall be established and paid by the State Board of Education. |
The hearing
shall be closed to the public except that the |
parents or guardian may require
that the hearing be public. The |
hearing officer shall not be an employee of the
school |
district, an employee in any joint agreement or cooperative |
program in
which the district participates, or any other agency |
or organization that is
directly involved in the diagnosis, |
education or care of the student or the
State Board of |
Education. All impartial hearing officers shall be adequately
|
|
trained in federal and state law, rules and regulations and |
case law regarding
special education. The State Board of |
Education shall use resources from within
and outside the |
agency for the purposes of conducting this training. The
|
impartial hearing officer shall have the authority to require |
additional
information or evidence where he or she deems it |
necessary to make a complete
record and may order an |
independent evaluation of the child, the cost of said
|
evaluation to be paid by the local school district. Such |
hearing shall not be
considered adversary in nature, but shall |
be directed toward bringing out all
facts necessary for the |
impartial hearing officer to render an informed
decision. The |
State Board of Education shall, with the advice and approval of
|
the Advisory Council on Education of Children with
|
Disabilities, promulgate rules and
regulations to establish |
the qualifications of the hearing officers and the
rules and |
procedure for such hearings. The school district shall present
|
evidence that the special education needs of the child have |
been appropriately
identified and that the special education |
program and related services proposed
to meet the needs of the |
child are adequate, appropriate and available. Any
party to the |
hearing shall have the right to: (a) be represented by counsel |
and
be accompanied and advised by individuals with special |
knowledge or training
with respect to the problems of
children |
with disabilities at the party's own expense; (b) present |
evidence
and confront
and cross-examine witnesses; (c) |
|
prohibit the introduction of any
evidence at the hearing that |
has not been disclosed to that party at
least 5 days before the |
hearing; (d) obtain a written or electronic
verbatim record of |
the hearing; (e) obtain written findings of fact and
a written |
decision. The student shall be allowed to attend the hearing
|
unless the hearing officer finds that attendance is not in the |
child's
best interest or detrimental to the child. The hearing |
officer shall
specify in the findings the reasons for denying |
attendance by the student.
The hearing officer, or the State |
Superintendent in connection with State
level hearings, may |
subpoena and compel the attendance of witnesses and
the |
production of evidence reasonably necessary to the resolution |
of the
hearing. The subpoena may be issued upon request of any |
party. The State
Board of Education and the school board shall |
share equally the costs of
providing a written or electronic |
record of the proceedings. Such record
shall be transcribed and |
transmitted to the State Superintendent no later
than 10 days |
after receipt of notice of appeal. The hearing
officer shall |
render a decision and shall submit a copy of the findings
of |
fact and decision to the parent or guardian and to the local |
school
board within 10 school days after the conclusion of the |
hearing. The hearing
officer may continue the hearing in order |
to obtain additional information,
and, at the conclusion of the |
hearing, shall issue a decision based on the
record which |
specifies the special education and related services which
|
shall be provided to the child in accordance with the child's |
|
needs.
The hearing officer's decision shall be binding upon the |
local school board
and the parent unless such decision is |
appealed pursuant to the
provisions of this Section.
|
(i) Any party aggrieved by the decision may appeal the |
hearing officer's
decision to the State Board of Education and |
shall serve copies
of the notice of such appeal on the State |
Superintendent and on all other
parties. The review referred to |
in this Section shall be known as the
Level II review. The |
State Board
of Education shall provide a list of 5 prospective, |
impartial reviewing
officers. No reviewing officer shall be an |
employee of the State Board of
Education or gainfully employed |
by or administratively connected with the
school district, |
joint agreement or cooperative program which is a party
to this |
review. Each person on the list shall be accredited by a |
national
arbitration organization. The per diem allowance for |
the review officers
shall be paid by the State Board of |
Education and may not exceed $250. All
reviewing officers on |
the list provided by the State Board of Education
shall be |
trained in federal and state law, rules and regulations and |
case
law regarding special education. The State Board of |
Education shall use
resources from within and outside the |
agency for the purposes of conducting
this training. No one on |
the list may be a resident of the
school district. The board |
and the parents or guardian or other legal
representatives |
within 5 days shall alternately strike one name from the
list |
until only one name remains. The parents or guardian shall have |
|
the
right to proceed first with the striking. The reviewing |
officer so
selected shall conduct an impartial review of the |
Level I
hearing and may issue subpoenas requiring the |
attendance of witnesses at
such review. The parties to the |
appeal shall be afforded the opportunity to
present oral |
argument and additional evidence at the review. Upon completion |
of
the review the reviewing officer shall render a decision and |
shall provide a
copy of the decision to all parties.
|
(j) No later than 30 days after receipt of notice of |
appeal,
a final decision shall be reached and a copy mailed to |
each of the parties.
A reviewing officer may grant specific |
extensions of time beyond the 30-day
deadline at the request of |
either party. If a Level II hearing is
convened the final |
decision of a Level II hearing officer shall occur no
more than |
30 days following receipt of a notice of appeal, unless an
|
extension of time is granted by the hearing officer at the |
request of
either party. The State Board of Education shall |
establish rules and
regulations delineating the standards to be |
used in determining whether the
reviewing officer shall grant |
such extensions. Each hearing and each review
involving oral |
argument must be conducted at a time and place which are
|
reasonably convenient to the parents and the child involved.
|
(k) Any party aggrieved by the decision of the reviewing |
officer, including
the parent or guardian, shall have the right |
to bring a civil action with
respect to the complaint presented |
pursuant to this Section, which action may
be brought in any |
|
circuit court of competent jurisdiction within 120 days after
a |
copy of the decision is mailed to the party as provided in |
subsection (j).
The civil action provided above shall not be |
exclusive of any rights or causes
of action otherwise |
available. The commencement of a civil action under
subsection |
(k) of this Section shall operate as a supersedeas. In any |
action
brought under this Section the court shall receive the |
records of the
administrative proceedings, shall hear |
additional evidence at the request of a
party, and basing its |
decision on the preponderance of the
evidence shall grant such |
relief as the court determines is appropriate.
In any instance |
where a school district willfully disregards applicable
|
regulations or statutes regarding a child covered by this |
Article, and which
disregard has been detrimental to the child, |
the school district shall be
liable for any reasonable |
attorney's fees incurred by the parent or guardian
in |
connection with proceedings under this Section.
|
(l) During the pendency of any proceedings conducted |
pursuant to this
Section, unless the State Superintendent of |
Education, or the school
district and the parents or guardian |
otherwise agree, the student shall
remain in the then current |
educational placement of such student, or if
applying for |
initial admission to the school district, shall, with the
|
consent of the parents or guardian, be placed in the school |
district
program until all such proceedings have been |
completed. The costs for any
special education and related |
|
services or placement incurred following 60
school days after |
the initial request for evaluation shall be borne by
the school |
district if such services or placement are in accordance with
|
the final determination as to the special education and related |
services
or placement which must be provided to the child, |
provided however that
in said 60 day period there have been no |
delays caused by the child's parent
or guardian.
|
(m) Whenever (i) the parents or guardian of a child of the |
type
described in
Section 14-1.02 are not known or are |
unavailable
or (ii) the child is a ward of
the State
residing |
in a residential facility, a person
shall be assigned to serve |
as surrogate parent for the child in matters
relating to the |
identification, evaluation, and educational placement of
the |
child and the provision of a free appropriate public education |
to
the child. Surrogate parents shall be assigned by the State
|
Superintendent of Education. The State Board of Education shall
|
promulgate rules and regulations establishing qualifications |
of such
persons and their responsibilities and the procedures |
to be followed in
making such assignments. Such surrogate |
parents shall not be employees of the
school district, an |
agency created by joint agreement under Section
10-22.31, an |
agency involved in the education or care of the student, or
the |
State Board of Education.
For a child who is a ward of the |
State residing in a residential facility,
the
surrogate
parent |
may be an employee of a nonpublic agency that provides only
|
non-educational
care.
Services of any person assigned as |
|
surrogate
parent shall terminate if the parent or guardian |
becomes available
unless otherwise requested by the parents or |
guardian. The assignment
of a person as surrogate parent at no |
time supersedes, terminates, or
suspends the parents' or |
guardian's legal authority relative to the
child. Any person |
participating in good faith as surrogate parent on behalf
of |
the child before school officials or a hearing officer shall |
have
immunity from civil or criminal liability that otherwise |
might result by
reason of such participation, except in cases |
of willful and wanton
misconduct.
|
(n) At all stages of the hearing the hearing officer shall |
require that
interpreters be made available by the local school |
district for persons who
are deaf or for persons whose normally |
spoken language is other than English.
|
(o) Whenever a person refuses to comply with any subpoena |
issued under
this Section, the circuit court of the county in |
which such hearing is
pending, on application of the State |
Superintendent of Education or the
party who requested issuance |
of the subpoena may compel obedience by
attachment proceedings |
as for contempt, as in a case of disobedience of the
|
requirements of a subpoena from such court for refusal to |
testify therein.
|
(Source: P.A. 93-282, eff. 7-22-03; 94-376, eff. 7-29-05.)
|
Section 99. Effective date. This Act takes effect January |
1, 2008.
|