TITLE: Relating to determining a child's eligibility for a school district's special education program on the basis of a visual impairment.

SUMMARY: Relating to determining a child's eligibility for a school district's special education program on the basis of a visual impairment.

FULL TEXT:
AN ACT relating to determining a child's eligibility for a school district's special education program on the basis of a visual impairment. BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS: SECTION 1. Section 30.002, Education Code, is amended by adding Subsections (c-1) and (c-2) to read as follows: (c-1) To implement Subsection (c)(1) and to determine a child's eligibility for a school district's special education program on the basis of a visual impairment, the full individual and initial evaluation of the student required by Section 29.004 must, in accordance with commissioner rule: (1) include an orientation and mobility evaluation conducted: (A) by a person who is appropriately certified as an orientation and mobility specialist, as determined under commissioner rule; and (B) in a variety of lighting conditions and in a variety of settings, including in the student's home, school, and community and in settings unfamiliar to the student; and (2) provide for a person who is appropriately certified as an orientation and mobility specialist to participate, as part of a multidisciplinary team, in evaluating data on which the determination of the child's eligibility is based. (c-2) The scope of any reevaluation by a school district of a student who has been determined, after the full individual and initial evaluation, to be eligible for the district's special education program on the basis of a visual impairment shall be determined, in accordance with 34 C.F.R. Sections 300.122 and 300.303 through 300.311, by a multidisciplinary team that includes, as provided by commissioner rule, a person described by Subsection (c-1)(1)(A). SECTION 2. (a) Not later than January 1, 2014, the commissioner of education shall adopt rules necessary to implement Subsections (c-1) and (c-2), Section 30.002, Education Code, as added by this Act. (b) Not later than the beginning of the 2014-2015 school year, Subsections (c-1) and (c-2), Section 30.002, Education Code, as added by this Act, shall be implemented. SECTION 3. This Act takes effect immediately if it receives a vote of two-thirds of all the members elected to each house, as provided by Section 39, Article III, Texas Constitution.