03/06/03 0414s

08may03... 1316h

5jun03... 1652h

2003 SESSION

03-0833

04/10

SENATE BILL 85-FN

COMMITTEE: Education

ANALYSIS

This bill revises the dates and procedures for the disbursement of catastrophic aid payments to school districts and revises the definition of "educationally disabled child."

This bill is a request of the department of education.

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Explanation: Matter added to current law appears in bold italics.

Matter removed from current law appears [in brackets and struckthrough.]

Matter which is either (a) all new or (b) repealed and reenacted appears in regular type.

03/06/03 0414s

08may03... 1316h

5jun03... 1652h

03-0833

04/10

STATE OF NEW HAMPSHIRE

In the Year of Our Lord Two Thousand Three

Be it Enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General Court convened:

215:1 Special Education; Definitions. Amend RSA 186-C:2, I to read as follows:

I. "Educationally disabled child" means any person 3 years of age or older but less than 21 years of age who has been identified and evaluated by a school district according to the provisions of RSA 186-C:7 and determined to be mentally retarded, hearing impaired, speech or language impaired or both, visually impaired including blindness, seriously emotionally disturbed, orthopedically impaired, otherwise severely health impaired, deaf-blind, multi-disabled, traumatic brain injured, autistic, or as having specific learning disabilities, who because of such impairment, needs special education or special education and educationally related services. "Educationally disabled child" shall [not] include a child [aged] ages 18 [through] to 21, [ who, in the educational placement prior to his or her incarceration in an adult correctional facility was not actually identified as being a child with a disability or did not have an individualized education program] who was identified as an educationally disabled child and received services in accordance with an individualized education plan but who left school prior to his or her incarceration, or was identified as an educationally disabled child but did not have an individualized education plan in his or her last educational institution.

215:2 Special Education; State Aid. Amend RSA 186-C:18, VI to read as follows:

VI. The state board of education shall distribute through the commissioner:

(a) Catastrophic aid payments under paragraph III on or before January 1[. School], provided that school districts shall annually submit their catastrophic costs for the immediately preceding school year to the state board of education by [June 30] July 31 [of each fiscal year]. The state board of education shall then verify the cost and distribute the appropriate amounts for the previous [fiscal] year on or before January 1 of each [fiscal] year.

(b) Aid to statewide special education programs under paragraph IV [before June 30].

215:3 Special Education; Policy and Purpose. Amend RSA 186-C:1 to read as follows:

186-C:1 Policy and Purpose. It is hereby declared to be the policy of the state that all children in New Hampshire be provided with equal educational opportunities. It is the purpose of this chapter to ensure that the state board of education and the school districts of the state provide a free and appropriate public education for all educationally disabled children.

215:4 Effective Date. This act shall take effect 60 days after its passage.

(Approved: Enacted in accordance with Article 44, Part II, N.H. Constitution, without signature of the Governor, July 1, 2003)

(Effective Date: August 30, 2003)