OLR Bill Analysis

sSB 884

AN ACT CONCERNING OUT-OF-STATE EDUCATIONAL PLACEMENTS

SUMMARY:

This bill requires any local or regional school board that places a child up to age 21 in an out-of-state residential facility for special education to enter into a written agreement with the facility when the child is placed. The agreement must establish clear standards for the child's care and treatment, which, at a minimum, must include monthly written reports about that care and treatment. These reports must also lay out goals and expectations for the child's treatment and progress. They must be sent to the school board representative overseeing the child's placement. The agreement must require the facility to report promptly to the board allegations of abuse or neglect of the child or any other child in the facility. The board must ensure that the facility begins a discharge plan within two weeks of the child's placement. The same requirements already apply to state agencies that place children in out-of-state facilities.

The bill requires school boards and state agencies to send a representative to visit the child at least twice a year to assess his well-being.

Finally, the bill requires the State Department of Education to establish a data base to track children school boards place in out-of-state facilities. It requires boards to report monthly to the department on the placement, plan, and progress of each child in such facilities.

EFFECTIVE DATE: July 1, 2003

BACKGROUND

Related Bill

sSB 1127 (File 344) repeals a section of statute (CGS § 17a-93) that defines child for the purposes of this bill as a person up to age 18 unless he or she is a full-time student, in which case, up to age 21. sSB 1127 defines child as a person up to age 16, unless otherwise specified. If both bills were to pass, this bill (sSB 884) and the existing law covering state agencies would apply to children only up to age 16.

COMMITTEE ACTION

Select Committee on Children

Joint Favorable Change of Reference

Education Committee

Joint Favorable Substitute Change of Reference

Appropriations Committee

Joint Favorable Report