HR 5591 IH,
107th CONGRESS, 2d Session,
H. R. 5591
To provide relief to
teachers, administrators, and related services
providers from an excessive paperwork
burden, and to reduce time spent by
teachers on non-instructional activities, as required
under the Individuals
with Disabilities Education Act.
IN THE HOUSE OF
REPRESENTATIVES
OCTOBER 9, 2002
Mr. KELLER (for
himself, Mr. BOEHNER, and Mr. CASTLE) introduced the
following bill; which was referred to
the Committee on Education and the
Workforce
A BILL
To provide relief to
teachers, administrators, and related services
providers from an excessive paperwork
burden, and to reduce time spent by
teachers on non-instructional activities, as required
under the Individuals
with Disabilities Education Act.
Be it enacted by the
Senate and House of Representatives of the United
States of America in Congress
assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT
TITLE.
This Act may be cited
as the `IDEA Paperwork Reduction Act of 2002'.
SEC. 2. STRATEGIC
PROPOSALS TO REDUCE THE PAPERWORK BURDEN UNDER THE
INDIVIDUALS WITH DISABILITIES
EDUCATION ACT.
Not later than 6
months after the date of the enactment of this Act, the
Secretary of Education shall submit to
the Committee on Education and the
Workforce of the House of Representatives and the
Committee on Health,
Education, Labor, and Pensions of the Senate a report
that details such regulatory proposals
as the Secretary deems advisable for
reducing the paperwork burden on
teachers, administrators, and related
services providers under the
Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, and reducing the
non-instructional time spent by
teachers in order to comply with the
requirements of the Individuals with Disabilities Education
Act.
SEC. 3. SIMPLIFIED
AND STREAMLINED NOTICES.
(a) IN GENERAL- Not
later than 6 months after the date of the enactment of
this Act, the Secretary of
Education shall identify, develop, and
disseminate simplified and streamlined model documents for
individualized education
programs (IEPs), procedural safeguards notices, and prior
written notice reporting
requirements incorporating relevant Federal statutory and
regulatory requirements under the Individuals with
Disabilities Education Act.
(b) DISSEMINATION AND
TRAINING- In carrying out subsection (a), the
Secretary shall disseminate and
provide training and technical assistance on
the model IEPs, procedural safeguard notices, and prior
written notice
reporting requirements to all State and local educational
agencies, parent training centers, and
other appropriate entities.
SEC. 4. 3-YEAR
INDIVIDUALIZED EDUCATION PROGRAMS.
Notwithstanding part
B of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, a
State that receives funds under
part B of that Act may permit local
educational agencies in the State, with the informed, written
consent of the
parents of a child with a disability, to carry out the
following:
(1) Develop a 3-year
IEP (in lieu of an annual IEP) for the child, with IEP
goals coinciding with natural
transition points for the child, including
annual goals for measuring progress that are tied to the
general education
curriculum content standards as well as other annual
goals, such as life skills,
self-advocacy, social skills, desired
post-school outcomes, and other goals
deemed appropriate for the child by the IEP Team.
(2) Comprehensively
review and revise the IEP consistent with applicable
provisions of law, but at natural
transition points for the child as opposed
to annually.
(3) Provide for a
streamlined annual IEP review meeting focusing on the
child's current levels of performance
and progress toward meeting the
measurable annual goals, and, based on that review, determine if
any additions or modifications to the
special education and related services are
needed to enable the child to
meet the measurable annual goals set out in
the IEP.
(4) Consistent with
the performance-reporting requirements under the
Individuals with Disabilities Education
Act--
(A) regularly inform
the parents of the child of the extent to which their
child is progressing toward meeting
the goals of the IEP (including
measurable annual goals and 3-year IEP goals coinciding with
natural transition points for the
child); and
(B) inform the
parents of the extent to which that progress is sufficient to
enable the child to achieve the
measurable annual goals by the end of the
school year, as well as the 3-year
IEP goals coinciding with
natural transition points for the child.
(5) If the child is
making sufficient progress toward meeting each of the
measurable annual goals of the IEP
by the end of the school year and such
progress continues to be deemed sufficient to enable the
child to attain the
3-year IEP goals coinciding with natural transition
points for the child, the IEP Team
shall not be required to conduct a
comprehensive annual review and
revision of the IEP but shall instead conduct a
streamlined annual IEP review
process in intervening years between natural transition points
(at which time
the comprehensive review would be required), unless the
child's parents or teacher request a
more comprehensive review and revision
of the IEP.
(6) If the child is
not making sufficient progress toward attaining each of
the measurable annual goals of the
IEP by the end of the school year and
such lack of progress is deemed insufficient to enable
the child to attain
the 3-year IEP goals coinciding with natural transition
points for the child, an IEP review
meeting shall take place to determine
if any additions or modifications to
the special education and related services are
needed to enable the child to
meet the measurable annual goals set out in the IEP.
SEC. 5. PAPERWORK
REDUCTION DEMONSTRATION PROGRAM.
(a) PILOT PROGRAM-
The Secretary is authorized to grant waivers of paperwork
requirements under the
Individuals with Disabilities Education Act for a
period of time not to exceed 4 years with respect to not
more than 10 States
based on proposals submitted by States for addressing
reduction of paperwork and non-
instructional time spent fulfilling statutory and
regulatory requirements.
(b) REPORT- The
Secretary shall include in the annual report of the
Department of Education (required to be transmitted to
Congress under section 426 of the
Department of Education Organization Act) information
related to the effectiveness of waivers granted under
subsection (a)--
(1) in reducing the
paperwork burden on teachers, administrators, and
related services providers under the
Individuals with Disabilities Education
Act, and non-instructional time spent by teachers in
compliance of the requirements of the
Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, including
any specific recommendations for
broader implementation; and
(2) in enhancing
longer term educational planning, improving positive
outcomes for children with disabilities,
promoting collaboration between IEP
Team members, and ensuring satisfaction of family
members, including any
specific recommendations for broader implementation.
SEC. 6. AMENDMENTS TO
THE INDIVIDUALS WITH DISABILITIES EDUCATION ACT.
(a) INDIVIDUALIZED
EDUCATION PROGRAMS-
(1) DEFINITIONS-
Section 614(d)(1) of the Individuals with Disabilities
Education Act (20 U.S.C. 1414(d)(1))
is amended--
(A) in subparagraph
(B), by striking clause (ii) and inserting the
following:
`(ii) a regular
education teacher of such child (if the child is, or may be,
participating the majority of the
school day in the regular education
environment), but such teacher shall not be required to
attend a meeting or
part of a meeting of the IEP Team involving issues not
related to the child's participation
in regular education, nor shall
multiple regular education teachers,
if the child has more than one regular education
teacher, be required to attend a meeting, or part of a
meeting, of the IEP Team;'; and
(B) by adding at the
end the following:
`(C) LEA DISCRETION-
(i)(I) The local educational agency shall have the
discretion to determine whether any
member of the IEP Team may be excused
from attending an IEP meeting, in whole or in part, when,
under the
circumstances, the attendance of the member is not necessary. An
IEP Team may obtain input prior to
an IEP meeting from any member whose attendance at
such meeting is not necessary as determined under
the preceding sentence.
`(II) The local
educational agency shall provide notice to the parent of the
child with a disability that an IEP
Team member will not attend an IEP
meeting as determined under subclause (I).
`(III) If the parent
of the child with a disability disagrees with the
determination of the local educational
agency under subclause (I) that an
IEP Team member will not attend an
IEP meeting, the parent may
request that the IEP Team member attend the IEP
meeting.
`(ii) An IEP meeting
at which the attendance of a regular education teacher
of a child with a disability is
necessary, or at which such attendance has
been requested by the child's parents, shall not be
scheduled at a time that
would require the absence of the regular education
teacher from the classroom during
instructional time.'.
(2) DEVELOPMENT OF
IEP- Section 614(d)(3) of such Act (20 U.S.C. 1414(d)(3))
is amended by adding at the end
the following:
`(D) WAIVER OF
MEETING- In making changes to a child's IEP, the parent of a
child with a disability and the
local education agency may waive the need
for an IEP meeting and instead develop a written document
to amend or modify
an existing IEP.
`(E) CONSOLIDATION
AND ALTERNATIVE MEANS REGARDING MEETINGS- To the extent
possible, the local educational
agency shall encourage consolidation of IEP
Team meetings for each child and shall permit all
participants in IEP Team
meetings to use alternative means of participating, such as
video conferencing and
conference calls.'.
(3) REVIEW AND
REVISION OF IEP- Section 614(d)(4)(B) of such Act (20 U.S.C.
1414(d)(4)(B)) is amended by
inserting before the period at the end the
following: `through consultation or through attendance at
IEP Team meetings
when it would not result in absence from the classroom
during instructional time'.
(b) CONSTRUCTION-
Section 614(e) of such Act (20 U.S.C. 1414(e)) is amended
by adding at the end the
following: `Nothing in this section shall be
construed to require that additional information be
included in a child's
IEP beyond what is explicitly required in this section.'.
(c) PROCEDURAL
SAFEGUARDS NOTICE- Section 615(d)(1) of such Act (20 U.S.C.
1415(d)(1)) is amended by
striking subparagraphs (B) and (C) and inserting
the following:
`(B) at the time
services are initially provided;
`(C) upon
registration of a complaint under subsection (b)(6) of this
section; and
`(D) upon request by
a parent.'.
SEC. 7. DEFINITIONS.
In this Act:
(1) CHILD WITH A
DISABILITY- The term `child with a disability' has the
meaning given the term in section
602 of the Individuals with Disabilities
Education Act.
(2) IEP TEAM- The
term `IEP Team' has the meaning given the term in section
614(d)(1)(B) of the Individuals
with Disabilities Education Act.
(3) INDIVIDUALIZED
EDUCATION PROGRAM- The term `individualized education
program' or `IEP' has the
meaning such term has in section 602 of the
Individuals with Disabilities Education Act.
(4) NATURAL
TRANSITION POINTS- The term `natural transition points' means
those periods that are close in
time to the transition of a child with a
disability from preschool to elementary grades, from
elementary grades to
middle or junior high school grades, from middle or
junior high school grades to high
school grades, and from high school
grades to postschool activities, but
in no case longer than 3 years.
(5) SECRETARY- The
term `Secretary' means the Secretary of Education.
(6) STATE- The term
`State' means each of the 50 States, the District of
Columbia, and the Commonwealth
of Puerto Rico.
