Looks Like They Failed Again

 Looks Like They Failed Again

 

The Maryland legislature ends its session on April 10.   There are two bills before the legislature that are particularly important to special ed.

Looks like the bill shifting the burden of proof for hearings regarding the provision of a free appropriate education (FAPE) for children with disabilities will once again fail.  It has crossed over to the other house but seems stalled in committee before the session will end.   Many years ago the burden of proof that the proposed program was appropriate to the child’s needs was on the school system.  That made sense because both federal and state law require the school system to provide FAPE.  However, in those days parents won about 95% of the cases.  So the legislature in its wisdom changed the law to say the party requesting the change in placement had the burden of proof.  In practice this change meant that parents would now have the burden of proof since they were the ones almost always dissatisfied with their child’s placement.   Since the change, parents have won only about 4% of the cases.  A bill before the Maryland legislature would change the law back to what it used to be.  There was great hope that this time the law would pass, but given where it is stalled that does not seem likely.

The second bill that is important to special education schools is the one that would do two things.  The first is change the name of the non-public special education schools to alternative special education placements.   This change makes sense since the designation “non-public” is very confusing.   These schools are private in their governance but subject to all of the Maryland regulations for providing special education to children with disabilities.   They also have their tuition set by the Maryland State Department of Education.

The other good news about this bill is that it would require teachers in non-public special education schools to be paid equally with teachers in public schools.  This change also makes sense since these teachers and other related services personnel must meet the same standards as public school teachers but are often paid much less.  A pay equity bill was passed several years ago but was not funded by Governor Hogan.

This bill has crossed into the second chamber and is now on 3^rd reading in the House of Delegates.   Whether there is enough time left for it to return to the Senate for final passage is anyone’s guess.  And we don’t know what the Governor will do.

Not many people will be surprised if our elected representatives fail again.