H. R. 5—31
in meeting the requirements of this part to be used
to assist in the provision of special education and
related services to children with disabilities under this
part.
‘‘(C) POLICY.—In implementing this paragraph, a State
may adopt a policy that includes a requirement that local
educational agencies in the State make an ongoing good-
faith effort to recruit and hire appropriately and adequately
trained personnel to provide special education and related
services to children with disabilities, including, in a
geographic area of the State where there is a shortage
of such personnel, the most qualified individuals available
who are making satisfactory progress toward completing
applicable course work necessary to meet the standards
described in subparagraph (B)(i), consistent with State law,
and the steps described in subparagraph (B)(ii) within three
years.
‘‘(16) PERFORMANCE GOALS AND INDICATORS.—The State—
‘‘(A) has established goals for the performance of
children with disabilities in the State that—
‘‘(i) will promote the purposes of this Act, as stated
in section 601(d); and
‘‘(ii) are consistent, to the maximum extent appro-
priate, with other goals and standards for children
established by the State;
‘‘(B) has established performance indicators the State
will use to assess progress toward achieving those goals
that, at a minimum, address the performance of children
with disabilities on assessments, drop-out rates, and
graduation rates;
‘‘(C) will, every two years, report to the Secretary and
the public on the progress of the State, and of children
with disabilities in the State, toward meeting the goals
established under subparagraph (A); and
‘‘(D) based on its assessment of that progress, will
revise its State improvement plan under subpart 1 of part
D as may be needed to improve its performance, if the
State receives assistance under that subpart.
‘‘(17) PARTICIPATION IN ASSESSMENTS.—
‘‘(A) IN
GENERAL.—Children with disabilities are
included in general State and district-wide assessment pro-
grams, with appropriate accommodations, where necessary.
As appropriate, the State or local educational agency—
‘‘(i) develops guidelines for the participation of
children with disabilities in alternate assessments for
those children who cannot participate in State and
district-wide assessment programs; and
‘‘(ii) develops and, beginning not later than July
1, 2000, conducts those alternate assessments.
‘‘(B) REPORTS.—The State educational agency makes
available to the public, and reports to the public with
the same frequency and in the same detail as it reports
on the assessment of nondisabled children, the following:
‘‘(i) The number of children with disabilities
participating in regular assessments.
‘‘(ii) The number of those children participating
in alternate assessments.
H. R. 5—32
‘‘(iii)(I) The performance of those children on regu-
lar assessments (beginning not later than July 1, 1998)
and on alternate assessments (not later than July 1,
2000), if doing so would be statistically sound and
would not result in the disclosure of performance
results identifiable to individual children.
‘‘(II) Data relating to the performance of children
described under subclause (I) shall be disaggregated—
‘‘(aa) for assessments conducted after July 1,
1998; and
‘‘(bb) for assessments conducted before July
1, 1998, if the State is required to disaggregate
such data prior to July 1, 1998.
‘‘(18) SUPPLEMENTATION
OF
STATE, LOCAL, AND
OTHER
FEDERAL FUNDS.—
‘‘(A) EXPENDITURES.—Funds paid to a State under this
part will be expended in accordance with all the provisions
of this part.
‘‘(B) PROHIBITION AGAINST COMMINGLING.—Funds paid
to a State under this part will not be commingled with
State funds.
‘‘(C) PROHIBITION AGAINST SUPPLANTATION AND CONDI-
TIONS FOR WAIVER BY SECRETARY.—Except as provided in
section 613, funds paid to a State under this part will
be used to supplement the level of Federal, State, and
local funds (including funds that are not under the direct
control of State or local educational agencies) expended
for special education and related services provided to chil-
dren with disabilities under this part and in no case to
supplant such Federal, State, and local funds, except that,
where the State provides clear and convincing evidence
that all children with disabilities have available to them
a free appropriate public education, the Secretary may
waive, in whole or in part, the requirements of this
subparagraph if the Secretary concurs with the evidence
provided by the State.
‘‘(19) MAINTENANCE OF STATE FINANCIAL SUPPORT.—
‘‘(A) IN
GENERAL.—The State does not reduce the
amount of State financial support for special education
and related services for children with disabilities, or other-
wise made available because of the excess costs of educating
those children, below the amount of that support for the
preceding fiscal year.
‘‘(B) REDUCTION OF FUNDS FOR FAILURE TO MAINTAIN
SUPPORT.—The Secretary shall reduce the allocation of
funds under section 611 for any fiscal year following the
fiscal year in which the State fails to comply with the
requirement of subparagraph (A) by the same amount by
which the State fails to meet the requirement.
‘‘(C) WAIVERS FOR EXCEPTIONAL OR UNCONTROLLABLE
CIRCUMSTANCES.—The Secretary may waive the require-
ment of subparagraph (A) for a State, for one fiscal year
at a time, if the Secretary determines that—
‘‘(i) granting a waiver would be equitable due to
exceptional or uncontrollable circumstances such as
a natural disaster or a precipitous and unforeseen
decline in the financial resources of the State; or
H. R. 5—33
‘‘(ii) the State meets the standard in paragraph
(18)(C) of this section for a waiver of the requirement
to supplement, and not to supplant, funds received
under this part.
‘‘(D) SUBSEQUENT
YEARS.—If, for any year, a State
fails to meet the requirement of subparagraph (A), includ-
ing any year for which the State is granted a waiver
under subparagraph (C), the financial support required
of the State in future years under subparagraph (A) shall
be the amount that would have been required in the
absence of that failure and not the reduced level of the
State’s support.
‘‘(E) REGULATIONS.—
‘‘(i) The Secretary shall, by regulation, establish
procedures (including objective criteria and consider-
ation of the results of compliance reviews of the State
conducted by the Secretary) for determining whether
to grant a waiver under subparagraph (C)(ii).
‘‘(ii) The Secretary shall publish proposed regula-
tions under clause (i) not later than 6 months after
the date of the enactment of the Individuals with
Disabilities Education Act Amendments of 1997, and
shall issue final regulations under clause (i) not later
than 1 year after such date of enactment.
‘‘(20) PUBLIC PARTICIPATION.—Prior to the adoption of any
policies and procedures needed to comply with this section
(including any amendments to such policies and procedures),
the State ensures that there are public hearings, adequate
notice of the hearings, and an opportunity for comment avail-
able to the general public, including individuals with disabilities
and parents of children with disabilities.
‘‘(21) STATE ADVISORY PANEL.—
‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—The State has established and main-
tains an advisory panel for the purpose of providing policy
guidance with respect to special education and related serv-
ices for children with disabilities in the State.
‘‘(B) MEMBERSHIP.—Such advisory panel shall consist
of members appointed by the Governor, or any other official
authorized under State law to make such appointments,
that is representative of the State population and that
is composed of individuals involved in, or concerned with,
the education of children with disabilities, including—
‘‘(i) parents of children with disabilities;
‘‘(ii) individuals with disabilities;
‘‘(iii) teachers;
‘‘(iv) representatives of institutions of higher
education that prepare special education and related
services personnel;
‘‘(v) State and local education officials;
‘‘(vi) administrators of programs for children with
disabilities;
‘‘(vii) representatives of other State agencies
involved in the financing or delivery of related services
to children with disabilities;
‘‘(viii) representatives of private schools and public
charter schools;
H. R. 5—34
‘‘(ix) at least one representative of a vocational,
community, or business organization concerned with
the provision of transition services to children with
disabilities; and
‘‘(x) representatives from the State juvenile and
adult corrections agencies.
‘‘(C) SPECIAL
RULE.—A majority of the members of
the panel shall be individuals with disabilities or parents
of children with disabilities.
‘‘(D) DUTIES.—The advisory panel shall—
‘‘(i) advise the State educational agency of unmet
needs within the State in the education of children
with disabilities;
‘‘(ii) comment publicly on any rules or regulations
proposed by the State regarding the education of chil-
dren with disabilities;
‘‘(iii) advise the State educational agency in
developing evaluations and reporting on data to the
Secretary under section 618;
‘‘(iv) advise the State educational agency in
developing corrective action plans to address findings
identified in Federal monitoring reports under this
part; and
‘‘(v) advise the State educational agency in
developing and implementing policies relating to the
coordination of services for children with disabilities.
‘‘(22) SUSPENSION AND EXPULSION RATES.—
‘‘(A) IN
GENERAL.—The State educational agency
examines data to determine if significant discrepancies are
occurring in the rate of long-term suspensions and expul-
sions of children with disabilities—
‘‘(i) among local educational agencies in the
State; or
‘‘(ii) compared to such rates for nondisabled chil-
dren within such agencies.
‘‘(B) REVIEW
AND
REVISION
OF
POLICIES.—If such
discrepancies are occurring, the State educational agency
reviews and, if appropriate, revises (or requires the affected
State or local educational agency to revise) its policies,
procedures, and practices relating to the development and
implementation of IEPs, the use of behavioral interven-
tions, and procedural safeguards, to ensure that such
policies, procedures, and practices comply with this Act.
‘‘(b) STATE
EDUCATIONAL
AGENCY
AS
PROVIDER
OF
FREE
APPROPRIATE PUBLIC EDUCATION OR DIRECT SERVICES.—If the State
educational agency provides free appropriate public education to
children with disabilities, or provides direct services to such chil-
dren, such agency—
‘‘(1) shall comply with any additional requirements of
section 613(a), as if such agency were a local educational
agency; and
‘‘(2) may use amounts that are otherwise available to such
agency under this part to serve those children without regard
to section 613(a)(2)(A)(i) (relating to excess costs).
‘‘(c) EXCEPTION FOR PRIOR STATE PLANS.—
‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—If a State has on file with the Secretary
policies and procedures that demonstrate that such State meets