NYS State Ed Dept. recommends important changes to special education laws and regulations

State Ed. continues to push the Board of Regents to make changes to the special education regulations. In a memo dated February 1, 2011, State Ed. recommends, inter alia, the following:
        * “Simplify and clarify some of the requirements for service provision and billing for students with disabilities who are residents of the State attending nonpublic schools located in the State and are dually enrolled in public schools for purposes of special education and receive services pursuant to an individualized education service program (IESP) developed by the CSE of the school district of location in the same manner and with the same contents as an IEP.” (I note that in the effort to “simplify and clarify”, it is entirely unclear what State Ed. proposes here).
        * “Reduce the two year statute of limitations on commencement of an impartial hearing to the federal standard of one year.” (This one is crystal clear, but buried in the long list of recommendations and not highlighted in the introductory summary paragraphs).
        * “Eliminate requirements that go beyond federal law of having the school psychologist and an additional parent member as members of the CSE and the requirement for a physician to be a member of the CSE if requested by the school or parent 3 days before the meeting.”
        * Eliminate sub-CSEs
        * “Eliminate the requirement that an individual evaluation include specific assessments to be conducted as part of the initial evaluation: physical examination, individual psychological evaluation, social history, observation, other appropriate evaluations and functional behavioral assessment (FBA) when behavior impedes learning.”
        * “Eliminate the requirements that BOEs have plans and policies for appropriate declassification of students with disabilities – regular consideration for declassifying students when appropriate and the provision of educational and support services upon declassification.” (Again, State Ed. speaks of the need to “simplify and clarify” and yet, it is unclear what State Ed. is recommending).
        * “Eliminate the requirement that the CSE/CPSE must provide a copy of the State's handbook for parents of students with disabilities or a locally approved handbook when a student is referred for special education.”
        * “Eliminate the requirement that membership of the CPSE includes an additional parent member and a municipality representative, except that the parent can decline the participation of the additional parent member and the attendance of the municipality representative is not required for a quorum.”
        * “Eliminate the requirement that the parent selects the preschool evaluator from list of approved evaluators.” (Is state ed. proposing that the parent no longer selects the evaluator or just that the evaluator would no longer have to be selected from the list?)
        * “ Repeal procedures for the appointment of students to State‐ supported schools.”
        * “Phase out Academic Intervention Services while phasing in Response to Intervention programs”
       
and the biggie “Eliminate the requirement that school districts observe Conservation Day”.

Amendments to New York State Special Education Regulations

The following are the most significant of the amendments to the New York State special education regulations, effective December 8, 2010. For full text of the amendments, see here.

1. Part 200.13 previously required that “Instructional services shall be provided to meet the individual language needs of a student with autism for a minimum of 30 minutes daily in groups not to exceed two, or 60 minutes daily in groups not to exceed six.” It is amended to now require that “Instructional services shall be provided to meet the individual language needs of a student with autism.”
2. Part 200.6 has eliminated the minimum level of speech services for students with disabilities determined to need speech and language services. Previously, there was a 2x30 per week minimum requirement.
3. Part 200.6 has been amended to allow for more than 12 students with disabilities in an integrated co-taught class.