1.1                          A bill for an act
  1.2             relating to education; safe schools; precluding 
  1.3             disruptive students from participating in the open 
  1.4             enrollment program; providing for the burden of proof 
  1.5             in certain cases; requiring pupils returning from 
  1.6             incarceration to attend up to a year of alternative 
  1.7             instruction; requiring the state board to restrict 
  1.8             certain behavioral disability criteria to conform to 
  1.9             federal standards; providing for attempted telephone 
  1.10            notice to a parent or guardian of a suspended pupil in 
  1.11            certain cases; amending Minnesota Statutes 1994, 
  1.12            sections 120.062, subdivision 7; 127.281; and 127.30, 
  1.13            subdivision 2; proposing coding for new law in 
  1.14            Minnesota Statutes, chapter 127. 
  1.15  BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF MINNESOTA: 
  1.16     Section 1.  Minnesota Statutes 1994, section 120.062, 
  1.17  subdivision 7, is amended to read: 
  1.18     Subd. 7.  [BASIS FOR DECISIONS.] The school board must 
  1.19  adopt, by resolution, specific standards for acceptance and 
  1.20  rejection of applications.  Standards may include the capacity 
  1.21  of a program, class, grade level, or school building or a 
  1.22  previous disciplinary proceeding that resulted in the expulsion 
  1.23  or exclusion of a student for being willfully engaged in 
  1.24  dangerous or assaultive behavior; or for being convicted of or 
  1.25  adjudicated for committing a felony.  Standards may not include 
  1.26  previous academic achievement, athletic or other extracurricular 
  1.27  ability, disabling conditions, or proficiency in the English 
  1.28  language, or previous disciplinary proceedings.  
  1.29     Sec. 2.  Minnesota Statutes 1994, section 127.281, is 
  1.30  amended to read: 
  2.1      127.281 [EXCLUSION AND EXPULSION OF PUPILS WITH A 
  2.2   DISABILITY.] 
  2.3      (a) When a pupil who has an individual education plan is 
  2.4   excluded or expelled under sections 127.26 to 127.39 for 
  2.5   misbehavior that is not a manifestation of the pupil's disabling 
  2.6   condition, the district shall provide special education and 
  2.7   related services after a period of suspension, if suspension is 
  2.8   imposed.  The district shall initiate a review of the pupil's 
  2.9   individual education plan within ten days of the commencement of 
  2.10  an expulsion, exclusion, or a suspension of ten days or more. 
  2.11     (b) In a school zone, possessing a firearm or dangerous 
  2.12  weapon as defined in section 609.02, subdivision 6, is not a 
  2.13  manifestation of a pupil's disabling condition unless the pupil 
  2.14  can establish that it is such a manifestation.  The pupil has 
  2.15  the burdens of production and proof with respect to the 
  2.16  manifestation.  
  2.17     Sec. 3.  Minnesota Statutes 1994, section 127.30, 
  2.18  subdivision 2, is amended to read: 
  2.19     Subd. 2.  (a) A written notice containing the grounds for 
  2.20  suspension, a brief statement of the facts, a description of the 
  2.21  testimony, a readmission plan, and a copy of sections 127.26 to 
  2.22  127.39, shall be personally served upon the pupil at or before 
  2.23  the time the suspension is to take effect, and upon the pupil's 
  2.24  parent or guardian by certified mail within 48 hours of the 
  2.25  conference.  In the event a pupil is suspended without an 
  2.26  informal administrative conference on the grounds that the pupil 
  2.27  will create an immediate and substantial danger to surrounding 
  2.28  persons or property, the written notice shall be served either 
  2.29  personally or by certified mail upon the pupil and the pupil's 
  2.30  parent or guardian within 48 hours of the suspension.  Service 
  2.31  by certified mail is complete upon mailing. 
  2.32     (b) If a custodial parent or guardian of a suspended pupil 
  2.33  has officially filed, during the school year of the suspension, 
  2.34  a telephone number with the principal's office of the pupil's 
  2.35  school, a school official must try at least once to reach or 
  2.36  leave a message for that parent or guardian at that telephone 
  3.1   number before releasing the pupil to begin the suspension. 
  3.2      Sec. 4.  [127.392] [INCARCERATED STUDENTS.] 
  3.3      Notwithstanding sections 127.26 to 127.39, a student 
  3.4   released from a correctional institution or a juvenile services 
  3.5   program may be diverted from the general school population to a 
  3.6   substantive alternative instruction program for up to one year 
  3.7   if the school district, after consultation with the student's 
  3.8   parole officer, determines that the student poses a direct 
  3.9   threat to the safety of students or school personnel.  The 
  3.10  school district shall provide information to the pupil on the 
  3.11  processes available to appeal a decision to be diverted from the 
  3.12  general school program.  
  3.13     Sec. 5.  [RESTRICTING BEHAVIORAL CRITERIA.] 
  3.14     Within 90 days after the effective date of this act, the 
  3.15  state board of education must adopt an amendment to Minnesota 
  3.16  Rules, part 3525.1329, so that its definitions and criteria 
  3.17  conform with, but do not exceed, the minimal requirements of 
  3.18  Code of Federal Regulations, title 34, section 300.7, paragraph 
  3.19  (b), clause (9), for students having the disability defined as 
  3.20  "serious emotional disturbance."