2020 -- H 7800 | |
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LC004631 | |
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STATE OF RHODE ISLAND | |
IN GENERAL ASSEMBLY | |
JANUARY SESSION, A.D. 2020 | |
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A N A C T | |
RELATING TO EDUCATION -- CHILDREN WITH DISABILITIES | |
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Introduced By: Representatives Blazejewski, Johnston, Azzinaro, Casey, and Bennett | |
Date Introduced: February 26, 2020 | |
Referred To: House Health, Education & Welfare | |
It is enacted by the General Assembly as follows: | |
1 | SECTION 1. Section 16-24-1 of the General Laws in Chapter 16-24 entitled "Children |
2 | With Disabilities [See Title 16 Chapter 97 - The Rhode Island Board of Education Act]" is hereby |
3 | amended to read as follows: |
4 | 16-24-1. Duty of school committee to provide special education. |
5 | (a) In any city or town where there is a child with a disability within the age range as |
6 | designated by the regulations of the state board of education who is functionally limited to such an |
7 | extent that normal educational growth and development is prevented, the school committee of the |
8 | city or town where the child resides shall provide the type of special education that will best satisfy |
9 | the needs of the child with a disability, as recommended and approved by the state board of |
10 | education in accordance with its regulations governing the education of children with disabilities. |
11 | (b) Notwithstanding any other federal or state law or regulation, the school committee |
12 | where a parentally placed child who has, or develops, a disability in private school resides, shall |
13 | provide the child with the same free and appropriate education as it provides to children in public |
14 | schools. These children and their parents or guardians shall have all the same rights and remedies |
15 | in the regulations of the board of education governing the education of children with disabilities |
16 | and as are provided in the federal Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, 20 U.S.C. § 1400 et |
17 | seq., as children in public school relative to initially determining eligibility, implementation, and/or |
18 | any other rights and remedies relative to any special education services the child may be eligible to |
19 | receive from the public school district. This shall include the rights and remedies set forth in |
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1 | subsections (a) through (j) of 29 U.S.C. § 1415, the section entitled "procedural safeguards." |
2 | Provided, however, that for purposes of subsection (b) of this section, the jurisdiction which the |
3 | Individuals with Disabilities Education Act confers on the district courts of the United States shall |
4 | be conferred on the superior courts of the state of Rhode Island. With respect to parentally placed |
5 | children in private schools and their parents or guardians, the superior courts of the state of Rhode |
6 | Island shall thus have jurisdiction, under the same standards as those set forth in 29 U.S.C. § |
7 | 1415(i), to hear civil actions brought by any party aggrieved by a decision rendered in an impartial |
8 | due process hearing, and to award attorneys' fees to a prevailing party who is a state educational |
9 | agency, a local educational agency, or the parent or guardian of a parentally placed child with a |
10 | disability. |
11 | (c) For the purpose of this statute, a parentally placed child who has, or develops, a |
12 | disability in private school is defined as a child enrolled or placed in a private school by the |
13 | unilateral decision of his or her parents and without consolation of the public school district, who |
14 | either has, or at some point while at the private school is diagnosed with, a learning disability. |
15 | Parents who unilaterally enroll their child in a private school are required to pay the tuition costs |
16 | related to the child's education that are unrelated to the child's disability, and the public school |
17 | district where the child resides is responsible for payment of the services related to the child's |
18 | disability as developed and determined in the child's individual education plan. |
19 | (d) For the purpose of this statute, a free and appropriate education is defined as special |
20 | education services and related services that: |
21 | (1) Are provided at public expense, under public supervision and direction, and without |
22 | charge; |
23 | (2) Meet all of the standards and requirements of the state of Rhode Island department of |
24 | education and requirements of the regulations of the board of education governing the education of |
25 | children with disabilities, which shall include initial evaluation and determination procedures; |
26 | (3) Include preschool, elementary school, or secondary school education in the state; and |
27 | (4) Are provided in conformity with an individualized education program that meets the |
28 | requirements of the regulations of the board of education governing the education of children with |
29 | disabilities. |
30 | (e) In those cases that an individual education plan has been adopted for a child and the |
31 | child moves to another town or city, the plan shall remain in effect until a new plan is adopted for |
32 | the child in the new town or city. |
33 | (f) A child with a disability as referenced in subsection (a) of this section shall have |
34 | available to them any benefits provided by this section up to their twenty-first birthday, in |
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1 | accordance with the student's individualized education program (IEP). Provided, in the event such |
2 | a child with a disability is enrolled in a postsecondary or transitional educational program as part |
3 | of the services provided to the child by the school committee or local education agency (LEA), and |
4 | such child reaches twenty-one (21) years of age during a school or program year, then the school |
5 | committee's or LEA's obligation to pay for the postsecondary or transitional program shall continue |
6 | through to the conclusion of the school or program's academic year, in accordance with the student's |
7 | individualized education program. Not later than sixty (60) calendar days prior to the child turning |
8 | twenty-one (21) years of age, the local educational agency (LEA) shall provide the child and the |
9 | parent or guardian with notice explaining the rights under this section that remain in effect at age |
10 | twenty-one (21). Further, not later than sixty (60) calendar days prior to the child turning twenty- |
11 | one (21) years of age, the state adult service agencies responsible for planning, funding and |
12 | providing services and supports for adults with developmental disabilities, including the state office |
13 | of rehabilitation services (ORS) and the state department of behavioral healthcare, developmental |
14 | disabilities and hospitals (BHDDH), shall provide the child and the parent or guardian with notice |
15 | of the obligations and responsibilities that the respective agency owes to eligible recipients along |
16 | with a level of funding and/or an individual support plan for the child twenty-one (21) years of age |
17 | to receive. This section shall not be used to delay or defer the obligation of a state agency |
18 | responsible for providing services to this population. |
19 | SECTION 2. This act shall take effect upon passage. |
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LC004631 | |
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EXPLANATION | |
BY THE LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL | |
OF | |
A N A C T | |
RELATING TO EDUCATION -- CHILDREN WITH DISABILITIES | |
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1 | This act would make explicit that parents and guardians of children with disabilities in |
2 | private school have the same rights and remedies as parents/guardians of children in public school. |
3 | This act would also provide a procedure in superior court to enforce these rights and remedies. |
4 | This act would take effect upon passage. |
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LC004631 | |
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