AB 2785: Special education: English learners: manual.

Existing law requires local educational agencies to actively and systematically seek out all individuals with exceptional needs, from birth to 21 years of age, inclusive, including children not enrolled in public school programs, who reside in a school district or are under the jurisdiction of a special education local plan area or a county office of education.

This bill would require the State Department of Education, on or before July 1, 2018, to develop a manual providing guidance to local educational agencies on identifying, assessing, supporting, and reclassifying English learners who may qualify for special education services and pupils with disabilities who may be classified as English learners, as specified, with the goal of providing guidance, for voluntary use by local educational agencies, charter schools, and the state special schools on evidence-based and promising practices for the identification, assessment, support, and reclassification of those pupils and to promote a collaborative approach among general education teachers, special education teachers, school administrators, paraprofessionals, other involved personnel, and parents in determining the most appropriate academic placements and services for these pupils. The bill would require the department to post the manual on its Internet Web site and on its professional development Internet Web site. In developing the manual, the bill would require the department to review manuals and other resources produced on this topic by local educational agencies, special education administrators, other organizations, other states, and the federal government, and to establish and consult with a stakeholder group comprised of specified experts and practitioners. As part of implementing these provisions, the bill would require the department, with input from the stakeholder group, to develop a plan for the dissemination of the manual and the means of providing professional development on the content of the manual, as specified, but would condition the actual implementation of the plan on an appropriation for that purpose in the annual Budget Act or another enacted statute. The bill would require the department to submit the plan to the State Board of Education, the Department of Finance, the Legislative Analysts Office, the California Collaborative for Educational Excellence, the Advisory Commission on Special Education, and the appropriate policy and fiscal committees of the Legislature on or before July 1, 2018. The bill would state the intent of the Legislature that its provisions be funded with federal funds, to the extent permissible.