HB3862 103RD GENERAL ASSEMBLY

LRB103 30315 RJT 56743 b

103RD GENERAL ASSEMBLY
State of Illinois
2023 and 2024
HB3862

Introduced 2/17/2023, by Rep. Harry Benton

SYNOPSIS AS INTRODUCED:

105 ILCS 5/14-6.01

from Ch. 122, par. 14-6.01

Amends the Children with Disabilities Article of the School Code. Provides that school boards shall ensure that the Individualized Education Program process is transparent for all students and the families of students. Provides that school boards shall adopt a policy to ensure equitable and clear access to the Individualized Education Program process.

A BILL FOR

AN ACT concerning education.

Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois, represented in the General Assembly:

Section 5. The School Code is amended by changing Section 14-6.01 as follows:

(105 ILCS 5/14-6.01) (from Ch. 122, par. 14-6.01)

Sec. 14-6.01. Powers and duties of school boards. School boards of one or more school districts establishing and maintaining any of the educational facilities described in this Article shall, in connection therewith, exercise similar powers and duties as are prescribed by law for the establishment, maintenance, and management of other recognized educational facilities. Such school boards shall include only eligible children in the program and shall comply with all the requirements of this Article and all rules and regulations established by the State Board of Education. Such school boards shall accept in part-time attendance children with disabilities of the types described in Sections 14-1.02 through 14-1.07 who are enrolled in nonpublic schools. A request for part-time attendance must be submitted by a parent or guardian of the child with a disability and may be made only to those public schools located in the district where the child attending the nonpublic school resides; however, nothing in this Section shall be construed as prohibiting an agreement between the district where the child resides and another public school district to provide special educational services if such an arrangement is deemed more convenient and economical. Special education and related services must be provided in accordance with the student's IEP no later than 10 school attendance days after notice is provided to the parents pursuant to Section 300.503 of Title 34 of the Code of Federal Regulations and implementing rules adopted by the State Board of Education. Transportation for students in part time attendance shall be provided only if required in the child's individualized educational program on the basis of the child's disabling condition or as the special education program location may require.

School boards shall ensure that the Individualized Education Program process is transparent for all students and the families of students. School boards shall adopt a policy to ensure equitable and clear access to the Individualized Education Program process.

Beginning with the 2019-2020 school year, a school board shall post on its Internet website, if any, and incorporate into its student handbook or newsletter notice that students with disabilities who do not qualify for an individualized education program, as required by the federal Individuals with Disabilities Education Act and implementing provisions of this Code, may qualify for services under Section 504 of the federal Rehabilitation Act of 1973 if the child (i) has a physical or mental impairment that substantially limits one or more major life activities, (ii) has a record of a physical or mental impairment, or (iii) is regarded as having a physical or mental impairment. Such notice shall identify the location and phone number of the office or agent of the school district to whom inquiries should be directed regarding the identification, assessment, and placement of such children. The notice shall also state that any parent who is deaf or does not typically communicate using spoken English and who participates in a Section 504 meeting with a representative of a local educational agency shall be entitled to the services of an interpreter.

For a school district organized under Article 34 only, beginning with the 2019-2020 school year, the school district shall, in collaboration with its primary office overseeing special education, publish on the school district's publicly available website any proposed changes to its special education policies, directives, guidelines, or procedures that impact the provision of educational or related services to students with disabilities or the procedural safeguards afforded to students with disabilities or their parents or guardians made by the school district or school board. Any policy, directive, guideline, or procedural change that impacts those provisions or safeguards that is authorized by the school district's primary office overseeing special education or any other administrative office of the school district must be published on the school district's publicly available website no later than 45 days before the adoption of that change. Any policy directive, guideline, or procedural change that impacts those provisions or safeguards that is authorized by the school board must be published on the school district's publicly available website no later than 30 days before the date of presentation to the school board for adoption. The school district's website must allow for virtual public comments on proposed special education policy, directive, guideline, or procedural changes that impact the provision of educational or related services to students with disabilities or the procedural safeguards afforded to students with disabilities or their parents or guardians from the date of the notification of the proposed change on the website until the date the change is adopted by the school district or until the date the change is presented to the school board for adoption. After the period for public comment is closed, the school district must maintain all public comments for a period of not less than 2 years from the date the special education change is adopted. The public comments are subject to the Freedom of Information Act. The school board shall, at a minimum, advertise the notice of the change and availability for public comment on its website. The State Board of Education may add additional reporting requirements for the district beyond policy, directive, guideline, or procedural changes that impact the provision of educational or related services to students with disabilities or the procedural safeguards afforded to students with disabilities or their parents or guardians if the State Board determines it is in the best interest of the students enrolled in the district receiving special education services.

School boards shall immediately provide upon request by any person written materials and other information that indicates the specific policies, procedures, rules and regulations regarding the identification, evaluation or educational placement of children with disabilities under Section 14-8.02 of the School Code. Such information shall include information regarding all rights and entitlements of such children under this Code, and of the opportunity to present complaints with respect to any matter relating to 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 Public 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 Public Law 94-142, as amended, 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 exercising rights or entitlements under this Code. For a school district organized under Article 34 only, the school district must make the entirety of its special education Procedural Manual and any other guidance documents pertaining to special education publicly available, in print and on the school district's website, in both English and Spanish. Upon request, the school district must make the Procedural Manual and other guidance documents available in print in any other language and accessible for individuals with disabilities.

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.

No student with a disability or, in a school district organized under Article 34 of this Code, child with a learning disability may be denied promotion, graduation or a general diploma on the basis of failing a minimal competency test when such failure can be directly related to the disabling condition of the student. For the purpose of this Act, "minimal competency testing" is defined as tests which are constructed to measure the acquisition of skills to or beyond a certain defined standard.

Effective July 1, 1966, high school districts are financially responsible for the education of pupils with disabilities who are residents in their districts when such pupils have reached age 15 but may admit children with disabilities into special educational facilities without regard to graduation from the eighth grade after such pupils have reached the age of 14 1/2 years. Upon a pupil with a disability attaining the age of 14 1/2 years, it shall be the duty of the elementary school district in which the pupil resides to notify the high school district in which the pupil resides of the pupil's current eligibility for special education services, of the pupil's current program, and of all evaluation data upon which the current program is based. After an examination of that information the high school district may accept the current placement and all subsequent timelines shall be governed by the current individualized educational program; or the high school district may elect to conduct its own evaluation and multidisciplinary staff conference and formulate its own individualized educational program, in which case the procedures and timelines contained in Section 14-8.02 shall apply.

(Source: P.A. 101-515, eff. 8-23-19; 102-1072, eff. 6-10-22.)