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August 13, 2008
TO: ACSA members and interested parties
FR: Adonai Mack, Legislative Advocate
RE: Special Education Legislation Update
Last week, two special education bills were heard in the
Senate Appropriation Committee that could change special
education policy in California. These two bills are AB 2717
(Leiber) and AB 2783 (Plescia). Through your efforts, and
the combined efforts of our education management colleagues
and SELPA directors, we were successful in stopping AB 2717
from moving out of committee. However, we still need your
help to stop AB 2783 from reaching the Governor's desk.
To refresh your memory, AB 2783 requires local education
agencies to decrease the timeline for assessing and making a
determination of special education eligibility for pupils
placed in rate classification levels (RCL) 12 through 14,
group homes or community treatment facilities. Specifically,
this bill decreases the timeline for the determination of
special education eligibility from 60 days to 20 working
days.
AB 2783 has moved out of the Senate Appropriations Committee
to the Senate Floor for a vote by the entire Senate. ASCA
is working to have the bill voted down on the Senate Floor
because of the huge cost to school districts and overall bad
education policy. Please take a moment to draft a letter
and/or call your own Senator to encourage them to vote NO on
AB 2783. Below is the language to ACSA's updated letter of
opposition for the bill and a sample letter to send to your
senator. Please feel free to use any part of my letter to
help in drafting your own correspondence. I encourage you
to do this sooner than later since we are unsure when the
bill will be heard. Remember, all letters should be written
to "your State Senator," State Capitol, Sacramento, CA
95814.
Please feel free to contact me should you have any questions
or need additional information. I can be reached at
amack@acsa.org or (916)
329-3821. While we may be successful stopping the bill on
the Senate Floor, your help is critical to ensure that
members of the Senate keep the bill from moving forward.
Thank you in advance for your help.
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August 13, 2008
The Honorable Senator __________
California State Senate
State Capitol, Room____
Sacramento, CA 95814
Subject: AB 2783 (Plescia) - OPPOSE
Dear Senator _________,
The *School district name* has reviewed Assembly Bill 2783
and must respectfully take a position of opposition to the
bill.
AB 2783 requires local education agencies to decrease the
timeline for assessing and making a determination of special
education eligibility for pupils placed in rate
classification levels (RCL) 12 through 14 group homes, or
community treatment facilities (CTFs) from 60 days to 20
administrative working days.
The U. S. Department of Education (USDE) considered a 20-day
expedited assessment process, but rejected this approach
because the 60-day time period provided adequate time to
conduct a thorough assessment. In general, a student placed
in a RCL 12-14 group home or CTF has already been identified
as needing special education services by the school
district. AB 2783 incorrectly assumes that children in
group homes and treatment facilities have not been properly
identified.
Further, reducing the time period for conducting an
assessment from 60 to 20 days is problematic. The existing
IEP process is extensive, involving among other
requirements, multiple notifications of affected parties,
participation of specified personnel and federal deadlines
for completion of the evaluations. There are currently 7,000
students residing in RCL Levels 12-14. Severing a third or
2,500 of those students through the decreased timeline
proposed by AB 2783 could cost school districts almost $5
million. The decrease in the timeline would increase the
numbers of staff and compress the time needed to provide a
quality assessment of the needs of these students.
For these reasons, I request your NO vote on AB 2783 when it
is heard before the Senate.
Sincerely,
Cc: Governor Schwarzenegger |
