HB-5323, As Passed House, June 10, 2008

SUBSTITUTE FOR

HOUSE BILL NO. 5323

A bill to amend 1976 PA 451, entitled

"The revised school code,"

by amending sections 1701, 1702, 1703, 1704, 1711, 1741, 1751, and

1761 (MCL 380.1701, 380.1702, 380.1703, 380.1704, 380.1711,

380.1741, 380.1751, and 380.1761), sections 1701, 1711, 1751, and

1761 as amended by 2008 PA 1, section 1703 as amended by 1995 PA

289, and section 1704 as added by 2000 PA 129.

THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF MICHIGAN ENACT:

Sec. 1701. The ~~superintendent of public~~ ~~instruction~~ state

board shall do all of the following:

(a) Require each intermediate school board to submit a plan

pursuant to section 1711, in accordance with special education

rules, to be approved by the ~~superintendent of public instruction~~

state board.

(b) Promulgate rules setting forth the requirements of the

plans and procedures for submitting them.

Sec. 1702. (1) If a local school district board claims the

existence of an emergency due to extreme financial conditions

because of insufficient operating funds or due to a severe

classroom shortage, which emergency the local school district

claims renders it unable to provide special education programs and

services in compliance with section 1751, the local school district

board shall apply in writing to the state board before July 1 of

the particular school year for approval to provide special

education programs or services ~~which~~ that do not comply with

section 1751. The state board may extend the filing date for good

cause.

(2) In its application the local school district board shall

demonstrate the need to provide noncomplying special education

programs and services and shall include the proposed programs and

services it is able to provide and the efforts to be undertaken to

alleviate the emergency. If the state board finds an emergency

exists in the local school district for the school year, the state

board may approve the providing of noncomplying special education

programs or services and prescribe conditions for those programs

and services.

(3) If the state board determines that a local school district

is not providing special education programs and services in

compliance with section 1751, and the local school district has not

obtained prior approval from the state board, the state board shall

give the local school district board written notice of the

noncompliance. Unless the local school district board submits proof

of compliance or of an unforeseen emergency within 30 days after

receipt of the notice, the state board shall direct the

intermediate school board of which the local school district is

constituent to provide complying programs or services. The state

board shall direct the intermediate school board to provide only

those programs or services which the state board determines the

local school district is not providing in compliance with section

1751.

(4) Special education programs or services ~~which~~ that the

state board directs an intermediate school district to provide

shall be funded as if provided by the local school district and the

local school district board shall contribute to the intermediate

school district the unreimbursed cost of the programs or services.

Sec. 1703. (1) Special education personnel shall meet the

qualifications and requirements of rules promulgated by the state

board.

(2) Curriculum, eligibility of specific persons for special

education programs and services and for each particular program or

service, review procedures regarding the placement of persons in

the programs or services, size of classes, size of programs,

quantity and quality of equipment, supplies and housing, adequacy

of methods of instruction, and length and content of school day

shall be in accordance with rules promulgated by the state board

relative to special education programs and services.

(3) Not later than September 30, 1996, the state board shall

~~conduct~~ complete a review of all rules promulgated by the state

board or department pertaining to special education. The review

shall consider at least all of the following:

(a) The need to eliminate unnecessary separation and

duplication between regular education and special education

facilities, staff, programs, services, and pupils.

(b) Potential benefits from coordination between all relevant

federal, state, regional, and local organization services,

including public and private organization services, for pupils with

special needs, and encouragement of the provision of comprehensive

necessary services delivered by the most appropriate organization

or person in the most cost-effective and programmatically effective

manner.

and processes relating to identification of need and provision of

services to special needs pupils, avoidance of barriers and cost

and other penalties or discouragements to effective programming,

and avoidance of requirements as to staff or program criteria that

are not research based; allowing and encouraging reasonably

flexible, workable, and, if appropriate, cooperatively operated

comprehensive services, including reasonable endorsement or other

qualification categories for personnel, to be delivered to pupils

with related or similar special needs, as may be consistent with

research.

(d) A goal of providing educational and training services in a

manner that maximizes for the benefit of the pupil the combination

of the provisions of this act and federal law relating to

inclusion, while avoiding, to the degree reasonably possible,

requiring by rule an overall increase in a program or service

beyond that required before December 23, 1978.

Sec. 1704. (1) This section shall be known and may be cited as

the "blind pupil's Braille literacy law".

(2) The ~~department~~ state board shall adopt Braille reading and

writing standards for teachers of blind and visually impaired

pupils and shall disseminate these standards to all local school

districts, intermediate school districts, and teacher preparation

programs. These standards shall be included in the rules governing

special education programs and services. In establishing these

standards, the ~~department~~ state board shall consider the standards

adopted by the national library service for the blind and

physically handicapped of the United States library of congress.

(3) When a local or intermediate school district receives

information from the department, or information that is approved by

the department from a consumer organization that advocates for the

blind, describing the benefits of instruction in Braille reading

and writing, the local or intermediate school district shall

provide this information to each person on the blind pupil's

individualized educational planning committee.

(4) The department shall accept and respond to requests from

local and intermediate school districts and shall work with

textbook publishers to obtain electronic file format versions of

textbooks or Braille versions of textbooks, or both. The department

may also, on behalf of local and intermediate school districts,

request and arrange for converting an electronic file format

version of a textbook to a Braille version. The department shall

process and make these requests in a timely manner.

(5) Upon request, a publisher of a textbook that is adopted

for instructional use by a school district shall furnish the

department with an electronic version of the textbook if the

textbook is for a literary subject or, for a textbook for a

nonliterary subject, if the technology is available to convert the

textbook directly to a format compatible with Braille translation

software. A publisher shall not charge a price for this electronic

version that exceeds the price it charges for the print or

electronic media version of the textbook.

(6) A local or intermediate school district or an

individualized educational planning committee shall not deny a

pupil the opportunity for instruction in Braille reading and

writing solely because the pupil has some remaining vision.

(7) Instruction for blind pupils shall be consistent with the

goals and standards established by this state for all pupils.

(8) As used in this section:

(a) "Blind pupil" means a pupil who is determined to manifest

1 or more of the following:

(i) A visual acuity of 20/200 or less in the better eye after

routine refractive correction.

(ii) A field of vision that is limited so that the widest

diameter of the visual field subtends an angle not greater than 20

degrees.

(iii) A medically indicated expectation of visual deterioration

that is expected to result in 1 or both of the conditions described

in subparagraphs (i) and (ii).

(b) "Individualized education program" means that term as

defined in section 614 of part B of title VI of the individuals

with disabilities education act, Public Law 91-230, 20 ~~U.S.C.~~ USC

1414, or in R 340.1701A of the Michigan administrative code.

term as defined in R 340.1701A of the Michigan administrative code

or an individualized education program team as defined in section

614 of part B of title VI of the individuals with disabilities

education act, Public Law 91-230, 20 ~~U.S.C.~~ USC 1414.

(d) "Textbook" includes a text published in electronic media

that is used for instructional purposes.

Sec. 1711. (1) The intermediate school board shall do all of

the following:

(a) Develop, establish, and continually evaluate and modify in

cooperation with its constituent districts, a plan for special

education that provides for the delivery of special education

programs and services designed to develop the maximum potential of

each student with a disability of whom the intermediate school

board is required to maintain a record under subdivision (f). The

plan shall coordinate the special education programs and services

operated or contracted for by the constituent districts and shall

be submitted to the ~~superintendent of public~~ ~~instruction~~ state

board for approval.

(b) Contract for the delivery of a special education program

or service, in accordance with the intermediate school district

plan in compliance with section 1701. Under the contract the

intermediate school board may operate special education programs or

services and furnish transportation services and room and board.

with the intermediate school district plan, and appoint a director

of special education meeting the qualifications and requirements of

the rules promulgated by the ~~superintendent of public instruction~~

state board.

(d) Accept and use available funds or contributions from

governmental or private sources for the purpose of providing

special education programs and services consistent with this

article.

(e) Lease, purchase, or otherwise acquire vehicles, sites,

buildings, or portions thereof, and equip them for its special

education staff, programs, and services.

(f) Maintain a record of each student with a disability under

26 years of age, who is a resident of 1 of its constituent

districts and who has not graduated from high school, and the

special education programs or services in which the student with a

disability is participating on the fourth Friday after Labor day

and Friday before Memorial day. The sole basis for determining the

local school district in which a student with a disability is a

resident shall be the rules promulgated by the ~~superintendent of~~

~~public instruction~~ state board notwithstanding the provisions of

section 1148. The records shall be maintained in accordance with

rules promulgated by the ~~superintendent of public~~ ~~instruction~~ state

board.

(g) Have the authority to place in appropriate special

education programs or services a student with a disability for whom

a constituent district is required to provide special education

programs or services under section 1751.

(h) Investigate special education programs and services

operated or contracted for by the intermediate school board or

constituent district boards and report in writing failures to

comply with the provisions of a contract, statute, or rule

governing the special education programs and services or with the

intermediate school district plan, to the local school district

board and to the ~~superintendent of public instruction~~ state board.

(i) Operate the special education programs or services or

contract for the delivery of special education programs or services

by local school district boards, in accordance with section 1702,

as if a local school district under section 1751. The contract

shall provide for items stated in section 1751 and shall be

approved by the ~~superintendent of public instruction~~ state board.

The intermediate school board shall contract for the

transportation, or room and board, or both, or persons

participating in the program or service as if a local school

district board under sections 1756 and 1757.

(j) Receive the report of a parent or guardian or, with the

consent of a parent or guardian, receive the report of a licensed

physician, registered nurse, social worker, or school or other

appropriate professional personnel whose training and relationship

to students with a disability provide competence to judge them and

who in good faith believes that a person under 26 years of age

examined by the professional is or may be a student with a

disability, and immediately evaluate the person pursuant to rules

promulgated by the ~~superintendent of public~~ ~~instruction~~ state

board. A person making or filing this report or a local school

district board shall not incur liability to a person by reason of

filing the report or seeking the evaluation, unless lack of good

faith is proven.

(k) Evaluate pupils in accordance with section 1311.

(2) The intermediate school board may expend up to 10% of the

annual budget but not to exceed $12,500.00, for special education

programs approved by the intermediate school board without having

to secure the approval of the ~~superintendent of public instruction~~

state board.

Sec. 1741. An intermediate school board operating or

contracting for the operation of special education programs or

services may carry pupils in membership in the same manner as a

local school district and ~~shall be~~ is entitled to its proportionate

share of state school aid available for these programs. Membership

shall be calculated on the basis provided in rules promulgated by

the state board.

Sec. 1751. (1) The board of a local school district shall

provide special education programs and services designed to develop

the maximum potential of each student with a disability in its

district on record under section 1711 for whom an appropriate

educational or training program can be provided in accordance with

the intermediate school district special education plan, in either

of the following ways or a combination ~~thereof~~ of them:

(a) Operate the special education program or service.

(b) Contract with its intermediate school board, another

intermediate school board, another local school district board, an

adjacent school district board in a bordering state, the Michigan

schools for the deaf and blind, the department of community health,

the department of human services, or any combination ~~thereof~~ of

them, for delivery of the special education programs or services,

or with an agency approved by the ~~superintendent of public~~

~~instruction~~ state board for delivery of an ancillary professional

special education service. The intermediate school district of

which the local school district is constituent shall be a party to

each contract even if the intermediate school district does not

participate in the delivery of the program or services.

(2) A local school district contract for the provision of a

special education program or service shall provide specifically

for:

(a) Special education buildings, equipment, and personnel

necessary for the operation of the subject program or service.

(b) Transportation or room and board, or both, for persons

participating in the programs or services as required under

sections 1756 and 1757.

district if the program or service is to be operated by another

party to the contract. The contribution shall be in accordance with

rules promulgated by the ~~superintendent of public~~ ~~instruction~~ state

board.

(d) Other matters the parties consider appropriate.

(3) Each program or service operated or contracted for by a

local school district shall be in accordance with the intermediate

school district's plan established pursuant to section 1711.

(4) A local school district may provide additional special

education programs and services not included in, or required by,

the intermediate school district plan.

(5) This section shall be construed to allow operation of

programs by departments of state government without local school

district contribution.

Sec. 1761. The board of a local school district shall not

solicit nor seek reimbursement from a student with a disability or

another person otherwise liable for the care of the student with a

disability for cost of a special education program or service

attributable to the expense for room and board. The board of a

local school district shall have the right to reimbursement for

room and board in an amount which may be paid reasonably by the

person in accordance with rules promulgated by the ~~superintendent~~

~~of public instruction~~ state board.

Enacting section 1. This amendatory act is intended to

transfer back to the state board of education certain powers,

duties, and functions that were transferred to the superintendent

of public instruction by Executive Reorganization Order No. 1996-7,

MCL 388.994.