BILL ANALYSIS
SB 1432
Page 1
Date of Hearing: June 30, 2010
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON EDUCATION
Julia Brownley, Chair
SB 1432 (Hancock) - As Amended: June 22, 2010
SENATE VOTE : 30-0
SUBJECT : School facilities: individuals with exceptional needs
SUMMARY : Requires school districts or county offices of
education (COE) to certify that a school facility project
includes or will be able to accommodate specified facilities to
support the education of individuals with exceptional needs.
Specifically, this bill :
1)Requires the governing board of each applicant school district
and COE to ensure that school facilities for pupils who are
individuals with exceptional needs are designed to support the
policy goal of the least restrictive environment as it
pertains to elementary and secondary school facilities that
will serve the pupils of the community.
2)Specifies that as a condition of approval of a project by the
California Department of Education (CDE), an applicant school
district or COE shall do one of the following:
a) Demonstrate that each has conferred with the other
regarding the need for special education facilities within
the project application and certify that the project
includes the necessary classrooms, toilet rooms, and
medical therapy facilities for pupils who are individuals
with exceptional needs with due consideration for
identifying and planning for the least restrictive
environment that supports the education of these pupils;
or,
b) Demonstrate that each has conferred with the other
regarding the need for special education facilities within
the project application and certify that the project site
has dedicated acreage of sufficient size and in an
appropriate location to support the construction of
classrooms, toilet rooms, and medical therapy facilities in
the future by the district or the COE.
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3)Specifies that if the project does not include facilities and
supporting infrastructure for individuals with exceptional
needs or the dedicated acreage, the applicant school district
or COE shall certify that the district and the COE have
conferred and determined that, consistent with the facility
plans of the school district or COE, there are no special
education facilities needs for the project.
EXISTING LAW :
1)Requires, under the Leroy F. Greene School Facilities Act of
1998, the State Allocation Board (SAB) to allocate to
applicant school districts, prescribed per-unhoused-pupil
state funding for construction and modernization of school
facilities, including hardship funding, and supplemental
funding for site development and acquisition. (Education Code
(EC) 17070.35)
2)Prohibits the SAB from apportioning funds to any school
district unless the applicant school district has certified to
the SAB that it has obtained the written approval of the CDE
that the site selection and the building plans and
specifications comply with the standards adopted by the CDE.
(EC 17070.50)
3)Authorizes the SAB to adopt regulations for per-unhoused
special education pupil grants. (EC 17072.10)
4)Defines "individuals with exceptional needs" as persons who
are identified by an individualized education program team as
a child with a disability, whose impairment requires
instruction and services which cannot be provided with
modification of the regular school program in order to ensure
that the individual is provided a free appropriate public
education, are within a specified age category, and meet
eligibility criteria established by the state board of
education. (EC 56026)
5)Establishes the right of individuals with exceptional needs to
receive a free appropriate public education and ensures the
right to special instruction and related services needed to
meet their individual and unique needs, in conformity with
federal law and regulations. (EC 56040)
6)Specifies that in accordance with federal law, each public
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agency shall ensure the following to address the least
restrictive environment for individuals with exceptional
needs:
a) To the maximum extent appropriate, individuals with
exceptional needs are educated with children who are
nondisabled; and,
b) Special classes, separate schooling, or other removal of
individuals with exceptional needs from the regular
educational environment occurs only if the nature or
severity of the disability is such that education in the
regular classes with the use of supplementary aids and
services cannot be achieved satisfactorily. (EC 56040.1)
FISCAL EFFECT : According to the Senate Appropriations
Committee, pursuant to Senate Rule 28.8, negligible state costs.
COMMENTS : Background . SB 50 (Leroy Greene), Chapter 407,
Statutes of 1998, establishes the current School Facility
Program (SFP) and provides specific amounts for per-pupil grants
for the construction and modernization of school facilities.
The grant levels are multiplied by the number of unhoused pupils
(the net of 5 year projected need subtracted by existing pupil
seats) for new construction and per pupil for modernization to
determine a district's allocations. School facilities grants
for special education pupils are stipulated in SAB regulations
rather than in statute. These grant levels, based on
recommendations by the Legislative Analyst Office in 1999, are
higher than the new construction per-unhoused-pupil grants in
order to provide accommodations such as enhanced electrical and
plumbing fixtures and more accessible doors and grab bars. The
grants are not based on grade levels and instead are allocated
according to whether a pupil's disability is severe ($24,550 per
pupil) or non-severe ($16,418 per pupil). The grants increase
according to the annual inflation adjustments. Regulations
adopted by the SAB also authorize a supplemental grant for the
area of therapy rooms used by pupils that are severely disabled
individuals with exceptional needs.
Existing law requires all school facilities purchased or newly
constructed for use by individuals with exceptional needs to be
designed and located on the schoolsite so as to maximize
interaction between those pupil and other pupils and requires a
local governing board to ensure that school facilities for
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individuals with exceptional needs are integrated with other
school facilities. These requirements can be waived by the
Superintendent of Public Instruction if a school district or
county superintendent of schools submits a written request that
documents the reasons it is unable to comply.
As a condition for funding, the SFP requires local educational
agencies to receive approval from the CDE, to ensure that the
selected site and school specifications are safe and meet the
school's education plan, and the Division of State Architect, to
ensure that the architectural design plans meet fire, life and
safety requirements; Field Act requirements; and access
requirements under the Americans with Disability Act specified
in law and in state regulations (Title 24/California Building
Standards Code).
This bill requires the applicant school district or the COE to,
as a condition of CDE approval, demonstrate that each has
conferred with the other on the facilities needs of special
education pupils for a project, and certify one of the
following:
1)That the project includes the necessary classrooms, toilet
rooms and medical therapy facilities with due consideration
for identifying and planning for the least restrictive
environment that supports the education of pupils who are
individuals with exceptional needs; or,
2)That the project site has dedicated acreage of sufficient size
and in an appropriate location to support the construction of
classrooms, toilet rooms, and medical therapy facilities in
the future by the district or the COE.
If the project does not include facilities and supporting
infrastructure for individuals with exceptional needs or the
dedicated acreage, this bill requires a school district to
certify that the district and the COE have conferred and
determined that consistent with the facility plans of the school
district or COE, there are no special education facilities needs
for the project.
What's the problem ? According to the sponsor, the Coalition for
Adequate Housing (C.A.S.H.), "All agencies - state and local -
involved in the planning and provision of public school
facilities need to collaborate to ensure that the requirement to
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house special education students in the least restrictive
environment is met. Too often, state and local jurisdictions
work in 'silos' with little dialogue about their collective
needs or the impact of their projects on each other. SB 1432
(Hancock) would in essence spur a much-needed dialogue among and
between the local and state agencies required to serve
individuals with exceptional needs."
The CDE's school facilities and special education staff has
convened a workgroup to evaluate facilities needs of individuals
with exceptional needs. The workgroup has met two times and
issues regarding least restrictive environments requirements and
the lack of communication between districts and COEs have
arisen. The CDE has also observed that facilities for
individuals with exceptional needs are becoming less integrated
and more isolated.
What does "least restrictive environment" mean ? In the
education code, "least restrictive environment" means educating
individuals with exceptional needs with children who are
nondisabled; separating individuals with exceptional needs from
the regular educational environment through special classes or
separate schooling occurs only education cannot be
satisfactorily achieved even with the use of supplementary aids
and services. Title 5 of the California Code of Regulations
establishes standards for new schools to ensure educational
appropriateness and promotion of school safety, which includes
standards for special education classrooms and areas. The
standards require special day classrooms to be distributed
throughout the campus with age appropriate regular education
classrooms. The standards also specify minimum square footage
for resource specialist programs and speech and language
programs; and specify that support space includes, but is not
limited to, speech specialist area, psychologist, counseling
offices and conference area.
This bill is not inconsistent with existing requirements
regarding joint use and career technical education facilities.
However, this bill is more stringent than those provisions,
which simply require a school district to certify that it has
considered joint use projects with other governmental entities
(EC 17070.90) and provide written confirmation that career
technical education facilities are adequately met within the
district (EC 17070.95 and 17070.955). This bill requires a
school district or COE to certify that the project includes
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specified special education facilities or has set aside acreage
for future construction of the facilities.
This bill requires a district or COE to demonstrate that each
has conferred with the other regarding special education
facilities needs. It is unclear how school districts and COEs
will comply with that requirement. Staff recommends striking
"demonstrate" and instead require "written confirmation or
documentation" that a school district or COE has conferred with
the other.
Special education needs vary depending on the severity and type
of disability. Instead of requiring applicant districts or COEs
to certify that a school facility project includes necessary
classrooms, toilet rooms, and medical therapy facilities, staff
recommends broadening the facilities to require a project to
include appropriate facilities for individuals with exceptional
needs, which may include, but not be limited to, necessary
classrooms, toilet rooms, and medical therapy facilities.
REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION :
Support
Coalition for Adequate School Housing (sponsor)
California School Nurses Association
County School Facilities Consortium
Opposition
None on file
Analysis Prepared by : Sophia Kwong Kim / ED. / (916) 319-2087