BILL NUMBER: AB 2721	AMENDED
	BILL TEXT

	AMENDED IN SENATE  JULY 15, 2010
	AMENDED IN SENATE  JUNE 9, 2010
	AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY  APRIL 27, 2010
	AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY  APRIL 8, 2010

INTRODUCED BY   Assembly Member Blakeslee

                        FEBRUARY 19, 2010

   An act to add and repeal Section 56510 of the Education Code,
relating to special education.


	LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST


   AB 2721, as amended, Blakeslee. Special education disputes:
report.
   Existing law establishes the right of individuals with exceptional
needs to a free appropriate public education and ensures the right
to special education and related services. Existing law requires that
a pupil with exceptional needs be accommodated through the creation
and implementation of an individualized education  plan
  program  . Existing law establishes procedural
safeguards under state and federal law to be established and
maintained by agencies that provide education and related services to
children who are individuals with exceptional needs, including
procedural requirements for parties to special education disputes.
   This bill would require the Superintendent of Public Instruction,
in consultation with specified other entities, to prepare a report
identifying options for reducing administrative and legal costs borne
by local educational agencies  and parents  resulting from
disputes and litigation over the adequacy and administration of
individualized education  plans   programs 
. This bill would require the  superintendent  
Superintendent  to submit an interim report to the Legislature
by July 1, 2011, and a final report to the Legislature by December 1,
2011. The provisions of this bill would be repealed on December 1,
2015.
   Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: yes.
State-mandated local program: no.


THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:

  SECTION 1.  Section 56510 is added to the Education Code, to read:
   56510.  (a) The Superintendent, in consultation with the Secretary
for Education, the state board, the Department of Finance, each
house of the California Legislature, local educational agencies or
their representatives, school counselors, elementary and secondary
education teachers, teachers of pupils with special needs,
representatives from special education local plan areas, parents and
advocates of pupils with special needs, representatives of governing
boards of local educational agencies, and others deemed appropriate
by the Superintendent, shall prepare a report identifying options for
reducing administrative and legal costs borne by local educational
agencies  and parents  resulting from disputes and
litigation over the adequacy and administration of individualized
education  plans   programs  . The report
shall include all of the following:
   (1) The protections afforded to every pupil under state and
federal law that establish the right of individuals with exceptional
needs to a free appropriate public education, and the right to a fair
hearing when an individualized education  plan 
 program  provided by the local educational agency is
disputed by a pupil's representative.
   (2) Regulations, policies, and practices that may reduce the
frequency of litigation, and the associated administrative and legal
costs borne by local educational agencies  and parents  .
   (3) The current cost and budgetary implications of special
education litigation borne by local educational agencies across the
state.
   (4) Recommendations to improve the development, approval,
administration, and monitoring of individualized education 
plans   programs  so that funding allocated to
local educational agencies is spent more efficiently on pupil
education, and expenditures on administrative and legal costs
associated with resolving individualized education  plan
  program  disputes are reduced.
   (5) Possible roles and responsibilities of other departments or
agencies to reduce the cost of litigation borne by local educational
agencies.
   (6) Strategies for increasing the use and effectiveness of
alternative dispute resolution and other litigation alternatives.
   (b) The Superintendent shall use existing state resources and
federal funds to prepare the interim and final reports.
   (c) The Superintendent shall submit an interim report to the
Legislature on the status of the final report and any preliminary
recommendations no later than July 1, 2011. The Superintendent shall
submit a final report with recommendations to the Legislature and the
Governor no later than December 1, 2011.
   (d) (1)  A report to be submitted pursuant to this section shall
be submitted in compliance with Section 9795 of the Government Code.
   (2) Pursuant to Section 10231.5 of the Government Code, this
section is repealed on December 1, 2015.