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I.  PREAMBLE
Special education parents have found that they have little say in the direction and implementation of public education programs for their children, despite school districts’ assertions that parents are equal participants in the Individualized Education Plan process for their children. Meanwhile, special education children fail to receive the free appropriate public education to which they are entitled.  This was well documented by the National Council on Disability in their report, Back to School on Civil Rights. 

Oregon has one of the nation’s highest dropout rates.  The teen suicide rate is at epidemic proportions.  Statistically, people with learning disabilities are over-represented in the corrections system.  We believe that these problems are directly related to a lack of support for special education.

Lack of support for special education is also highly destructive to families of special needs children.  The time those families spend on overcoming red tape is time spent away from work, away from volunteering in the community, and away from those families’ typically developing children.  Rules need to be clearly defined so that these families can avoid endless empty legal processes during prolonged multiple meetings.  It is hard enough raising a special needs child; Oregon should not burden these families with additional red tape.

The intent of this bill is true enforcement of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) and the original legislative intent behind that law: to really improve the education of children with special needs.  Oregon is proud of its general education students and how it provides an excellent education for them.  It is therefore time that Oregon also provided the maximum feasible benefit to its special education students.  Not only does Oregon have a moral and ethical duty to do so; it’s also the fiscally responsible thing to do.  Money spent now on special education will mean less money spent later on providing support for special needs adults. Oregon should do everything it can to ensure that its special needs children grow up to be tax payers, and not tax burdens.

II. ASSESSMENT

A. Parents will be fully informed, starting at the time of their child’s assessment for a disability, and continuing throughout the time the child is in special education. 

B. When a parent, or a Local Education Agency (LEA, such as an Educational Service District or a local school district,) requests that a child be assessed for a disability, the LEA will inform parents regarding treatment options for that disability.  Information on treatment options will include but not be limited to:

1. Methodologies

2. Therapies

3. Environmental settings including information on the physical size of the classroom, number of students in the classroom, where that classroom is in the school building, and other information about the classroom setting.

4. Teacher training specific to that disability

5. Educational aide training specific to that disability

6. Numbers of students in each placement within that LEA.

7. Evaluations of the efficacy of those options, from sources independent of the LEA and the ODE.  These sources can include NICHY, NIH, ABA, IDA, OSERS and the Learning Disabilities Association (LDA.)

C.  At least 72 hours prior to a meeting to discuss the results of a child’s assessment, the LEA will provide parents with:

1. A statement of the child’s present level of performance, which clearly states the child’s needs, including but not limited to the child’s neurological, physical, educational, and emotional needs.

2. How the general treatment options discussed under II.B.(1-7) will be individualized for their child. 

3. Information on other disabilities revealed through the assessment.

D. To enable other parent groups, professionals outside of the school district, school boards, and others, the opportunity to evaluate an LEA’s program, the LEA will publish on the LEA’s web page, and make available in printed form, all items listed in sub-sections II.B.1-7, listed above.

E. Physicians, psychologists, and other educational experts who give evaluations for disabilities must give recommendations for treatments of those disabilities.   LEAs will accept those evaluations.  LEAs will make no distinction between medical and “educational” diagnoses of a disability.  A medical diagnosis will be sufficient to trigger services.

F. In order to prevent unacceptable behaviors at school, all special education students who exhibit unacceptable behaviors will undergo a complete Functional Behavioral Assessment.  The assessment will be conducted by experts with specialized training in doing assessments in the area of the child’s disability.  The assessment must identify what the cause of the behavior is, and identify strategies for helping prevent the behaviors from happening again.  If it is determined that the behaviors are a manifestation of the child’s disability, then a Behavior Intervention Plan will be developed immediately for that child.  Except for certain situations as prescribed in IDEA, no special education student will be excluded from school for more then 10 days during a school year, unless a Functional Behavior Assessment has been completed that shows the behavior is not a manifestation of the child’s disability.  If a student is excluded from school for more then 10 days without it being shown the behavior is not a manifestation of the disability, then the parents will have the right for immediate unilateral placement of the child, at LEA expense.  Exclusions from school will include:

1. student being prevented from attending school for any reason concerning behavior

2. a student being sent home prior to the end of the school day concerning behavior

3. a student being confined to a part of the school building that is not the regular placement for this child for more then 25% of the day as a result of a behavior.
   
   

III. STRONG, EFFECTIVE PROGRAMS

Special education is too often used as a scapegoat for children with discipline problems in public schools.  Instead of blaming the child, or blaming the child’s parents, the blame instead should be on inappropriate programs that do not support the child in mainstream classrooms.  Special needs children need strong, effective programs.

A.   A key element for special needs children to be able to access strong effective programs is getting funding for those programs.  Currently the ODE gives LEAs twice the basic unit of support (“twice basic”) for educating children with special needs.  Parents of special needs children will receive these funds directly to pay for private and/or home programs on request.  Parents  can claim dollar-for-dollar refundable Oregon tax credits for any additional costs of their special needs child’s home or private programs greater than the twice basic.  Should the ODE funding formula for special needs children change, parents will be  receive the greater of the general or special education support that the ODE provides LEAs.

B.   Another key element for special needs children to be able to access strong effective programs is to allow their parents full participation in the IEP process.  District imposed rules which limit parents’ ability to be an equal partner at IEP meetings are therefore prohibited.

C.  Representatives of government agencies have told parents in Oregon that if the parents relinquish custody of their child with a disability, or say that they will, then that child will be eligible for additional programs, services, or funding.  This practice will cease and desist.  If a child would have been eligible for a program if the parents had relinquished custody, then the child will be eligible for the program.

D.  LEAs will provide a true continuum of options for special needs students:

1. LEAs will allow parents to bring in experts and aides of the parents’ choosing, paid for by parents or other agencies.  Costs for these experts will be eligible for funding under II(A) of this bill.

2. Placements will be truly tailored to individual needs of students.  If tailored options are not available, LEAs will create them.  LEAs will not tell parents that child does not need a particular placement simply because the LEA does not provide that placement.

3. LEAs will implement programs designed by parents.

4. Interventions will be based on information from NIH; NICHY; ABA - Autism Special Interest Group; other states’ on autism, dyslexia, ADHD, and other disability task forces; IDE; IDA; OSERS; LDA; and recognized top professionals in the fields of specific disabilities.

5. LEAs will provide training for parents to support caring for their children at home.  This training will address pressing issues like feeding problems, assaultive and self-injurious behavior, and escapes or wandering.

E.   To ensure that parents are aware of available effective programs:

1. There will be a check box on the first page of the IEP form, in at least 16 point bold-face type, which asks the parents if the school district can release their names, addresses, phone numbers, and email addresses to parent disability and advocacy groups.  The form will provide space for the parents to provide this information.  The form will state that providing this information is optional.   If the parents choose this option, their information will be forwarded to all organizations listed under provisions of III.E.2.

2. There will be a list of parent advocacy organizations on the first page of the IEP, along with addresses, phone numbers, email and Internet URLs for those organizations.  The ODE will maintain this list.  Parent advocacy organizations can be on the list by request.  ODE will impose no other requirements for membership on this list.

3. Provisions of this section will take effect on passage of this bill.  Existing blank IEP forms without this information will be destroyed.

F.   Medical insurance companies operating in Oregon will cover costs for treatment of biologically based medical disorders, including disabilities and mental/neurological illnesses, as medical conditions.  Coverage will be similar to the California Mental Illness Parity Law.  The list of disabilities covered will include but not be limited to:

1. Autism spectrum disorders, including pervasive developmental disorder (PDD) and Aspergers syndrome.

2. Central auditory processing disorder

3. Cerebral palsy

4. Down syndrome

5. Dyslexia

6. Dyspraxia

7. Fetal Alcohol Syndrome (FAS)

8. Medically fragile students

9. Retts syndrome

10. neurologically based disorders
    

Medical insurance coverage will include but not be limited to:

1. adaptive technology

2. coverage for special diets

3. emotional counseling

4. nutritional supplements for a disability

5. occupational therapy

6. physical therapy

7. speech therapy

8. visual therapy

9. other treatments found effective for disabilities
   
   

IV. ACCOUNTABILITY

A.  The Secretary of State Audits Division will mandate a standardized budget format that will include administrative costs, teacher costs, and maintenance costs for LEAs.  LEAs will publish their budgets in this standardized format.  This standardized format will enable one LEA budget to be compared to another, quickly and easily.  For special education, the standards will include provisions for:

1. How much money is spent for special education legal fees.  This will help parents, school boards, and legislators to answer the question, “Would it be less expensive to fund programs which children need, or to wage an expensive legal battle?”

2. How much money is spent on IEP meetings.  Time for all personnel attending an IEP meeting will be included in the cost of that IEP meeting, and will be separately accounted for.  Parents have reported that they have attended IEP meetings at which a dozen LEA personnel also attended.  Costs for holding these meetings and paying for everyone’s time are estimated at over $1000/hour.  During those meetings, the LEA personnel would spend an hour to argue over an element of a child’s program which would cost $100.  Tracking how much was spent on IEP meetings would also help parents, school boards, and legislators help in answering the questions such as,  “how much are we spending on fighting parents, and would it be less expensive to fund programs which children need?” or “are our psychologists, OTs, SLPs, or other professionals spending too much time in IEP meetings and not enough time helping children?”

3. Recording any time spent by staff not providing direct services to children as administrative costs.

4. Whether special education uses more than the “twice basic” extra funding provided by the state.

5. Ensuring that special education funding stays within special education, and is not used in an LEA’s general funds.

B.  To ensure that special needs students are being met, the Associate Superintendent in charge of ODE’s Office of Special Education will be elected in a general election.  The Special Education Associate Superintendent will have the same term and be elected at the same time the State Superintendent of Public Instruction.

C.  There will be objective assessment of special education student progress, based on data collection rather than on “teacher observations”.  That is, a child sleeping through the day will not get a good report for that day because that child did not cause a problem that day.

D.   Regression is when a child loses skills or knowledge.  Special education children are usually already behind in these areas when compared to their same age peers.  When a special education child regresses, he or she falls even further behind those peers.  Furthermore, when a special education child makes no progress, he or she also falls further behind those peers.  Therefore:

1. Any regression is not acceptable.

2. If a child regresses, that child’s parents will be entitled to a unilateral private placement at LEA expense.

3. Regression will include children making no progress, as evidenced by the IEP containing the same goals from one year to the next.

E.   As an incentive to keep special education students in school, extra funding for special education students will be pro-rated based on days of attendance.  LEAs will notify the ODE if a special needs student is not in attendance.  Parents will also be able to notify ODE that a special needs student is not in school, and in a private or home placement, through an ODE provided 800 number.

F.   Training and certification for educational assistants and other staff is a key element to a special needs child’s program.  Therefore:

1. Certification will be based on research-based best practices.

2. Training and certification will be specific to diagnosis, rather than “moderate” or “severe” disability.

3. There will be a payment differential based on specialized training and certification.

4. Parents will be informed of specific qualifications of staff.

5. Parents will be given control in choosing educational aides who will work with their children

6. A grandfathering clause will allow time to train staff, with specific deadlines.

G. Annual Special Education Satisfaction Survey

1. The Secretary of State Audits Division will convene an annual task force of special education parents to design a Special Education Satisfaction Survey.  The task force will represent the entire range of parents of special education students.  The task force will be comprised of parents currently living in Oregon, and who formerly lived in Oregon and now reside elsewhere in the United States, and who:

   1. Have or had children in special education programs run by LEAs with LEA personnel in Oregon, or

   2. Have or had children in programs run by independent private special education providers, under contract with an LEA, in Oregon, or

   3. Have or had children in programs run by independent special education private providers, not under contract with an LEA, in Oregon.  That is, parents “self-funding” programs, and parents who are home schooling their special needs children.

2. The Secretary of State Audits Division will send the Special Education Satisfaction Survey to all parents in categories listed under subsection 1(a-c) of this section, annually.  The Audits Division will independently develop and maintain the list of parent recipients for the survey.  The Audits Division will develop the recipient list using data from the following sources:        

   1. a.       ODE

   2. b.        LEAs

   3. c.        Independent private special education providers

   4. d.        Home school associations

   5. e.        parents themselves.  To qualify to be included in the survey, parents must be able to show that they qualify under subsection 1(a-c) of this section

3. The Secretary of State Audits Division will collect the survey results.

4. The Secretary of State Audits Division will publish these results on its web page, and make them available in a printed form on request.

H. Outcome Data. When the ODE fails to educate a special needs child, that child is at risk of becoming an adult who will be involved with the Department of Corrections, Developmental Disabilities, or other human services agencies in Oregon.  Or, that child can become an adult who is not generating as much income, and therefore, as much tax revenue, as he or she might otherwise.  Therefore, the Secretary of State Audits Division will gather data on outcomes for special needs children who attended special education programs, as defined under IV.G.1(a-c).  This outcome data will include the percentage of special education students:

1. Who have college degrees

2. Who graduated from high school with a regular diploma

3. Who graduated from high school with a so-called “modified” or IEP diploma.

4. Who got no high school diploma, i.e., dropped out.

5. Who were withdrawn from LEA programs and put into private or home programs, where those programs are under contract to the LEA

6. Who were withdrawn from LEA programs and put into private or home programs, where those programs were not under contract to the LEA

7. Who are or have been incarcerated

8. Who are employed

9. Who are living independently

10. Who are living in group homes

11. Who are living with parents or other relatives

I. Enforcement of IDEA

1. Independent hearing officers or administrative law judges, or other independent process without conflict of interest.

2. Enforce childfind.  Autism will be identified by age 3.  Other learning disabilities will be identified by at least the end of grade 1, if not before.

3. Accept out of district IEPs.  Inform parents that if an IEP meeting is called, the out of district IEP will no longer apply.

4. Settlements will not require parents to sign away all future legal rights.

5. IDEA encourages mediation.  ODE will further encourage mediation by forcing LEAs to follow mediation agreements.

J. There will be zero tolerance for deceit, abuse, harassment, or alteration of evaluation data by LEAs.  There will be zero tolerance for retaliation by LEAs against parents, teachers, or other professionals who, do not agree with the administrator’s opinions regarding a special needs child’s program.  Violations will result in sanctions for the administrators in that LEA.  Sanctions will include reprimands, suspension, or revocation of administrative licenses for the administrators involved.  Enforcement will be by the Teachers Standards and Practices Commission (TSPC.)

K. Conflict of interest disclosure.  LEA personnel participating in IEPs, assessing or evaluating children, or in any way helping determine a child’s placement or educational program will disclose to parents any conflicts of interest regarding proposed placements for that child.  This includes, but is not limited to, fiduciary conflicts of interest, such as contracts with the LEA; family members who are employed or consult with the LEA, with similar programs in other LEAs, with the proposed placement program, or with the evaluation agency.  Provisions will be similar to other Oregon Public Officials such as Planning Commissioners, City Counsel members, or State Legislators.

Note: there were many contributors to this bill.  Seth Alford edited this.  Seth can be reached at setha@aracnet.com.

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