October 17, 2007, Introduced by Reps. Miller, Moss, Hopgood, Polidori, Angerer, Rick Jones, Hammel, Vagnozzi, Bieda, Meisner, Alma Smith, Accavitti, Corriveau, Sak, LeBlanc, Knollenberg, Hoogendyk, David Law, Meltzer, Emmons, Amos, Opsommer, Stahl, Donigan, Lemmons, Sheen, Leland, Gonzales, McDowell, Wenke, Palsrok, Clack, Cushingberry, Ebli, Kathleen Law, Young, Sheltrown, Condino, Constan, Dean, Warren, Pastor, Gillard, Farrah, Mayes, Bennett, Tobocman, Meadows, Bauer, Wojno, Espinoza, Hammon, Steil, LaJoy, Hansen, Moolenaar, Scott, Jackson and Virgil Smith and referred to the Committee on Education.
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), 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 state board shall do all of the following:
(a) Develop, establish, and continually evaluate and modify in
cooperation with intermediate school boards, a state plan for
special education which shall provide for the delivery of special
education programs and services designed to develop the maximum
potential of every handicapped person. The plan shall coordinate
all special education programs and services.
(b) Require each intermediate school board to submit a plan
pursuant to section 1711, in accordance with the state plan, to be
approved by the state board.
(c) 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.
(c) The advisability of simplification of rules or regulations
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.
(c) "Individualized educational planning committee" means that
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 which shall provide for the delivery of special education
programs and services designed to develop the maximum potential of
each handicapped person 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 state board for its 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.
(c) Employ or engage special education personnel in accordance
with the intermediate school district plan, and appoint a director
of special education meeting the qualifications and requirements of
the rules promulgated by the 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 handicapped person under 26
years of age, who is a resident of 1 of its constituent districts
and who has not completed a normal course of study and graduated
from high school, and the special education programs or services in
which the handicapped person 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 handicapped person
is a resident shall be the rules promulgated by the state board
notwithstanding the provisions of section 1148. The records shall
be maintained in accordance with rules promulgated by the state
board.
(g) Have the authority to place in appropriate special
education programs or services a handicapped person 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 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 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
handicapped persons provide competence to judge same handicapped
persons and who in good faith believes that a person under 26 years
of age examined by the professional is or may be handicapped, and
immediately evaluate the person pursuant to rules promulgated by
the 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 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 handicapped person 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
school
for the blind , the Michigan school for the and deaf, the
department
of mental community health, the department of social
human
services, or any combination thereof
of them, for delivery of
the special education programs or services, or with an agency
approved by the 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.
(c) The contribution to be made by the sending local school
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 state board.
(d) Other matters which the parties deem 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 or seek reimbursement from a handicapped person or
person otherwise liable for the care of the handicapped person 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 has 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 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.