You asked for a preliminary analysis and fiscal impact statement for the special education provision (§6) of HB 5584, An Act Concerning Revisions to Statutes Concerning Education.

ANALYSIS

Section 6 allows a parent or guardian of a special education student attending a public school to notify the district’s board of education that he will ask to place the child at a different school or facility that provides a State Department of Education (SDE)-approved special education program. It requires the board to place the child in an alternative program if the child does not, by his annual review, meet the goals set in his individualized education program (IEP). To be covered, the child must have a written IEP.

Under current law, parents can already ask for a different placement for their child requiring special education, if they believe the child’s program or the services he is receiving from a local school district are not appropriate. If the district disagrees, the special education law provides a due process procedure for resolving the matter. Although HB 5584 allows a parent to ask the local school board to place his child at a particular public or private school or facility, it does not specifically

require that the child move to the school or facility the parent asks for. As currently drafted, it requires only that the child’s existing program placement be changed.

The bill requires the SDE to adopt regulations that define criteria for unmet IEP goals for purposes of the program placement changes the bill requires. Its provisions do not apply to special education students enrolled in the Department of Correction’s Unified School District.

The special education provision takes effect July 1, 2004.

FISCAL IMPACT

There would be a likely cost to school districts; and in part, potentially the state, if students were allowed to choose a special education provider separate from their school district’s decision regarding special education services. Costs would occur, as there would be a loss of economies of scale in offering services. Larger school districts are able to benefit from economies of scale with regard to many offerings including special education. Parceling out individual students to programs that cannot or do not offer services that benefit from economies of scale will result in higher costs to the district. Should these higher costs reach levels that exceed the limits for special education excess costs, then, a cost would accrue to the state.

JL: nf