Skip to main content Skip to office menu Skip to footer
Capital IconMinnesota Legislature

Office of the Revisor of Statutes

125A.08 SCHOOL DISTRICT OBLIGATIONS.
(a) As defined in this section, every district must ensure the following:
(1) all students with disabilities are provided the special instruction and services which are
appropriate to their needs. Where the individual education plan team has determined appropriate
goals and objectives based on the student's needs, including the extent to which the student
can be included in the least restrictive environment, and where there are essentially equivalent
and effective instruction, related services, or assistive technology devices available to meet
the student's needs, cost to the district may be among the factors considered by the team in
choosing how to provide the appropriate services, instruction, or devices that are to be made part
of the student's individual education plan. The individual education plan team shall consider
and may authorize services covered by medical assistance according to section 256B.0625,
subdivision 26
. The student's needs and the special education instruction and services to be
provided must be agreed upon through the development of an individual education plan. The plan
must address the student's need to develop skills to live and work as independently as possible
within the community. The individual education plan team must consider positive behavioral
interventions, strategies, and supports that address behavior for children with attention deficit
disorder or attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. By grade 9 or age 14, the plan must address the
student's needs for transition from secondary services to postsecondary education and training,
employment, community participation, recreation, and leisure and home living. In developing
the plan, districts must inform parents of the full range of transitional goals and related services
that should be considered. The plan must include a statement of the needed transition services,
including a statement of the interagency responsibilities or linkages or both before secondary
services are concluded;
(2) children with a disability under age five and their families are provided special instruction
and services appropriate to the child's level of functioning and needs;
(3) children with a disability and their parents or guardians are guaranteed procedural
safeguards and the right to participate in decisions involving identification, assessment including
assistive technology assessment, and educational placement of children with a disability;
(4) eligibility and needs of children with a disability are determined by an initial assessment
or reassessment, which may be completed using existing data under United States Code, title
20, section 33, et seq.;
(5) to the maximum extent appropriate, children with a disability, including those in public
or private institutions or other care facilities, are educated with children who are not disabled, and
that special classes, separate schooling, or other removal of children with a disability from the
regular educational environment occurs only when and to the extent that the nature or severity
of the disability is such that education in regular classes with the use of supplementary services
cannot be achieved satisfactorily;
(6) in accordance with recognized professional standards, testing and evaluation materials,
and procedures used for the purposes of classification and placement of children with a disability
are selected and administered so as not to be racially or culturally discriminatory; and
(7) the rights of the child are protected when the parents or guardians are not known or not
available, or the child is a ward of the state.
(b) For paraprofessionals employed to work in programs for students with disabilities, the
school board in each district shall ensure that:
(1) before or immediately upon employment, each paraprofessional develops sufficient
knowledge and skills in emergency procedures, building orientation, roles and responsibilities,
confidentiality, vulnerability, and reportability, among other things, to begin meeting the needs of
the students with whom the paraprofessional works;
(2) annual training opportunities are available to enable the paraprofessional to continue
to further develop the knowledge and skills that are specific to the students with whom the
paraprofessional works, including understanding disabilities, following lesson plans, and
implementing follow-up instructional procedures and activities; and
(3) a districtwide process obligates each paraprofessional to work under the ongoing direction
of a licensed teacher and, where appropriate and possible, the supervision of a school nurse.
History: Ex1959 c 71 art 1 s 17; 1961 c 559 s 2; 1961 c 690 s 1; 1965 c 241 s 1-3; 1967 c
872 s 1; 1969 c 981 s 2-5; 1971 c 689 s 1-3; 1973 c 683 s 1,2; 1975 c 162 s 41; 1975 c 321 s 2;
1975 c 432 s 8-10; 1976 c 211 s 1-6; 1976 c 271 s 13-18; 1977 c 447 art 3 s 1-4; 1977 c 449 s 12;
1978 c 733 s 1; 1978 c 764 s 3-5; 1978 c 793 s 61; 1979 c 334 art 2 s 1,2; art 3 s 2,3; 1980 c 509
s 30; 1981 c 358 art 1 s 1; art 3 s 2-7; 1982 c 424 s 28,29,130; 1982 c 548 art 3 s 1-3; 1983 c 247
s 55; 1983 c 258 s 13; 1983 c 314 art 1 s 22; art 3 s 1; 1984 c 463 art 3 s 1; 1984 c 654 art 5 s 58;
1Sp1985 c 12 art 3 s 2-8; 1986 c 444; 1987 c 384 art 2 s 24; 1987 c 398 art 3 s 2-14; 1988 c 486 s
2-5; 1988 c 629 s 24; 1988 c 718 art 3 s 1; art 6 s 2; 1989 c 209 art 2 s 1; 1989 c 329 art 3 s 1-3;
1991 c 265 art 3 s 1,2,38; art 11 s 1; 1991 c 292 art 6 s 58 subd 2; 1992 c 499 art 3 s 1-7; art 11 s
1; 1993 c 224 art 3 s 1-9; art 14 s 3; 1994 c 483 s 1; 1994 c 647 art 3 s 2-8,34; 1Sp1995 c 3 art 3
s 1-3; art 16 s 13; 1996 c 412 art 2 s 1,2; art 3 s 1-3; 1998 c 397 art 2 s 26,164; art 11 s 3; 1998 c
398 art 2 s 9; 1999 c 123 s 7; 1999 c 245 art 4 s 3; 2000 c 489 art 10 s 9,22; 1Sp2001 c 6 art 3 s 7

Official Publication of the State of Minnesota
Revisor of Statutes