RESOLUTION

WHEREAS, the federal Individuals with Disabilities Education Act mandates that students with disabilities receive "free appropriate public education," or special education and related services in conformance with each student's individualized education program, at no cost, at each preschool, elementary, and secondary school in the State; and

WHEREAS, the Act defines "special education" as specially-designed instruction to meet the unique needs of a child with a disability which includes instruction in physical education; and

WHEREAS, the Act defines "related services" as transportation and the developmental, corrective, or other support services which may be necessary to assist a child in benefiting from special education, which could include speech-language pathology and audiology services, psychological services, physical and occupational therapy, recreation, counseling services, orientation and mobility services, certain medical services, school health services, social work services, and parent counseling and training; and

WHEREAS, Hawaii and other school districts charge students for the provision of certain services and programs; and

WHEREAS, the Act does not preclude incidental fees for specially-designed instruction as long as they are also normally charged to nondisabled students or their parents as a part of the regular education program; now, therefore,

BE IT RESOLVED by the Senate of the Twenty-third Legislature of the State of Hawaii, Regular Session of 2006, the House of Representatives concurring, that the Board of Education and the Department of Education are requested to communicate to parents, students, the community, advocates for students, stakeholders, the Legislature, and the Governor, how the State is carrying out and evaluating its mandate of "free appropriate public education" for students with disabilities; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Legislative Reference Bureau conduct a comparative study focusing on costs and fees charged for high school students by Hawaii and other selected school districts for regular and special education student transportation, school lunch, textbooks and other educational materials such as workbooks, art, music, enrichment programs, athletic programs, uniforms, equipment, and after-school programs; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Legislative Reference Bureau is requested to indicate in its study whether any services or programs such as transportation services, school lunch, or athletic programs are not provided by the school district; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Department of Education is requested to assist the Legislative Reference Bureau by, among other things, providing relevant information requested by the Bureau, assisting the Bureau in identifying school districts in other jurisdictions that may be considered most comparable to Hawaii, and by providing contact information for school districts in other jurisdictions; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Department of Education and the Legislative Reference Bureau are requested to submit their respective reports to the Legislature no later than twenty days prior to the convening of the Regular Session of 2007; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that certified copies of this Concurrent Resolution be transmitted to the Superintendent of the Department of Education, the Chair of the Board of Education, and the Acting Director of the Legislative Reference Bureau.

Report Title:

Free Appropriate Public Education; Individuals with Disabilities Education Act