1.1                          A bill for an act 
  1.2             relating to education; providing for notice of 
  1.3             transitional goals to parents of students with 
  1.4             disabilities; modifying the definition of eligible 
  1.5             institution for student grants; appropriating money; 
  1.6             amending Minnesota Statutes 1996, sections 120.17, 
  1.7             subdivision 3a; and 136A.101, subdivision 4. 
  1.8   BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF MINNESOTA: 
  1.9      Section 1.  Minnesota Statutes 1996, section 120.17, 
  1.10  subdivision 3a, is amended to read: 
  1.11     Subd. 3a.  [SCHOOL DISTRICT OBLIGATIONS.] Every district 
  1.12  shall ensure that: 
  1.13     (1) all students with disabilities are provided the special 
  1.14  instruction and services which are appropriate to their needs.  
  1.15  Where the individual education plan team has determined 
  1.16  appropriate goals and objectives based on the student's needs, 
  1.17  including the extent to which the student can be included in the 
  1.18  least restrictive environment, and where there are essentially 
  1.19  equivalent and effective instruction, related services, or 
  1.20  assistive technology devices available to meet the student's 
  1.21  needs, cost to the school district may be among the factors 
  1.22  considered by the team in choosing how to provide the 
  1.23  appropriate services, instruction, or devices that are to be 
  1.24  made part of the student's individual education plan.  The 
  1.25  student's needs and the special education instruction and 
  1.26  services to be provided shall be agreed upon through the 
  2.1   development of an individual education plan.  The plan shall 
  2.2   address the student's need to develop skills to live and work as 
  2.3   independently as possible within the community.  By grade 9 or 
  2.4   age 14, the plan shall address the student's needs for 
  2.5   transition from secondary services to post-secondary education 
  2.6   and training, employment, community participation, recreation, 
  2.7   and leisure and home living.  In developing the plan, districts 
  2.8   must inform parents of the full range of transitional goals and 
  2.9   related services that should be considered.  The plan must 
  2.10  include a statement of the needed transition services, including 
  2.11  a statement of the interagency responsibilities or linkages or 
  2.12  both before secondary services are concluded; 
  2.13     (2) children with a disability under age five and their 
  2.14  families are provided special instruction and services 
  2.15  appropriate to the child's level of functioning and needs; 
  2.16     (3) children with a disability and their parents or 
  2.17  guardians are guaranteed procedural safeguards and the right to 
  2.18  participate in decisions involving identification, assessment 
  2.19  including assistive technology assessment, and educational 
  2.20  placement of children with a disability; 
  2.21     (4) to the maximum extent appropriate, children with a 
  2.22  disability, including those in public or private institutions or 
  2.23  other care facilities, are educated with children who are not 
  2.24  disabled, and that special classes, separate schooling, or other 
  2.25  removal of children with a disability from the regular 
  2.26  educational environment occurs only when and to the extent that 
  2.27  the nature or severity of the disability is such that education 
  2.28  in regular classes with the use of supplementary services cannot 
  2.29  be achieved satisfactorily; 
  2.30     (5) in accordance with recognized professional standards, 
  2.31  testing and evaluation materials, and procedures utilized for 
  2.32  the purposes of classification and placement of children with a 
  2.33  disability are selected and administered so as not to be 
  2.34  racially or culturally discriminatory; and 
  2.35     (6) the rights of the child are protected when the parents 
  2.36  or guardians are not known or not available, or the child is a 
  3.1   ward of the state. 
  3.2      Sec. 2.  Minnesota Statutes 1996, section 136A.101, 
  3.3   subdivision 4, is amended to read: 
  3.4      Subd. 4.  [ELIGIBLE INSTITUTION.] "Eligible institution" 
  3.5   means a post-secondary educational institution located in this 
  3.6   state or in a state with which the office has entered into a 
  3.7   higher education reciprocity agreement on state student aid 
  3.8   programs that either (1) is operated by this state, or (2) is 
  3.9   operated publicly or privately and, as determined by the office, 
  3.10  maintains academic standards substantially equivalent to those 
  3.11  of comparable institutions operated in this state.  An entity 
  3.12  that coordinates post-secondary programs with separate 
  3.13  residential programs is an eligible institution. 
  3.14     Sec. 3.  [APPROPRIATION.] 
  3.15     $....... is appropriated to the department of children, 
  3.16  families, and learning from the general fund in fiscal year 1999 
  3.17  for a grant to the Minnesota Life College.  This grant is only 
  3.18  available after the college has applied for certification under 
  3.19  Minnesota Statutes, chapter 268A.