An Act To Improve Efficiency and Effectiveness of Early Intervention and Early Childhood Special Education for Children from Birth to Eight Years of Age through Improved Oversight, Accountability and Interagency Coordination l3
Maine Legislature, Session 123, LD 1850
Committee Amendment CA_A_S267 (Senate)
Amends: 20-A MRSA §7209

COMMITTEE AMENDMENT "A " to S.P. 666, L.D. 1850, Bill, "An Act To 
Improve Efficiency and Effectiveness of Early Intervention and Early Childhood Special 
Education for Children from Birth to Eight Years of Age through Improved Oversight, 
Accountability and Interagency Coordination" 
l3 
Amend the bill by striking out everything after the enacting clause and before the 
summary and inserting the following: 
'PART A 
Sec. A-I. 20-A MRSA §7209, sub-§4, ~, as enacted by PL 2005, c. 662, Pt. A, 
§30, is amended to read: 
B. 
To develop statewide policies and procedures for carrying out federal and state 
laws and rules relating to child find, early intervention services and the provision of a 
free, appropriate public education to children from birth to under 6 years of age; and 
Sec. A-2. 20-A MRSA §7209, sub-§4, ,C, as enacted by PL 2005, c. 662, Pt. A, 
§30, is amended to read: 
C. 
To provide training in federal and state laws, regulations, rules and policies 
relating to child find as provided in 20 United States Code, Section 1412 (a) (3), early 
intervention services and the provision of a free, appropriate public education to 
children from birth to under 6 years of age and to conduct regular file reviews to 
determine compliance with federal and state laws, regulations, rules and policies and 
conduct training and provide technical assistance where deficiencies are foundo;; and 
Sec. A-3. 20-A MRSA §7209, sub-§4, ~, is enacted to read: 
D. To report annually to the council and to the ioint standing committee of the 
Legislature having jurisdiction over education and cultural affairs on the performance 
of the Child Development Services System. This report may include information on 
any expansions of the connections of child find and service delivery with school 
administrative units, with the Department of Health and Human Services and with 
COMMITTEE AMENDMENT 
COMMITTEE AMENDMENT ",.4 " to S.P. 666, L.D. 1850 
medical providers. This report may include information on any expansion of the 
connection of child find with nurse midwives. This report may include information 
on the number of children screened in the programs in Title 22, sections 1532, 8824 
and 8943, the number of such children referred to the Child Development Services 
System who were found eligible for early intervention and the number of such 
children referred to the Child Development Services System who were found 
ineligible for early intervention. This report may also include information on annual 
performance over at least a 5-year period of each individual regional site and of the 
entire Child Development Services System; may benchmark performance against 
state and national standards; may include information about performance in child 
find, service delivery, service coordination, eligibility and exit data for children 
leaving the Child Development Services System; and may describe strategies that the 
Child Development Services System has undertaken to maximize the usage of a 
broad base of community resources including private providers, public schools, 
resources from other agencies and other available resources serving children and 
families. The report must be publicly posted on the website of the department. 
Sec. A-4. 20-A MRSA §7209, sub-§8, ~, as enacted by PL 2005, c. 662, Pt. A, 
§30, is amended to read: 
F. 
Coordinate with eligible families the development of individualized family 
service plans for children with disabilities from birth to 2 years of age or coordinate 
an individualized education program for a child 3 years of age to under 6 years of age 
unless an individualized family service plan is preferred; and 
Sec. A-S. 20-A MRSA §7209, sub-§8, ~G, as enacted by PL 2005, c. 662, Pt. A, 
§30, is amended to read: 
G. 
Designate local personnel for training to commit funds for free, appropriate 
public education. Personnel who commit funds for free, appropriate public education 
must be trained and certified by the state intermediate educational unit established 
under subsection 3. The board of directors of a regional site shall determine and 
designate which trained and certified p~rsonnel may commit funds~; and 
Sec. A-6. 20-A MRSA §7209, sub-§8,~, is enacted to read: 
I 
H. Ensure that children from birth until 6 years of age who are referred to the Child 
Development Services System also receive appropriate referrals for support outside 
of the system, including appropriate public and private programmatic resources, 
regardless of the child's eligibility for early intervention or free, appropriate public 
education. 
PARTB 
Sec. B-1. Training and support to regional site boards. The Department of 
Education shall develop and present to the Joint Standing Committee on Education and 
Cultural Affairs and to the state interagency coordinating council described in the federal 
Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, 20 United States Code, Section 1441 a plan 
for improving training and support to Child Development Services System regional site 
COMMITTEE AMENDMENT 
COMMITTEE AMENDMENT" It" to S.P. 666, L.D. 1850 . 
boards of directors. The Department of Education shall present the plan no later than 7 
days after the effective date of this Act. 
Sec. B-2. Unmet needs monitoring. To assess the continued provision of free, 
appropriate public education to children after transition to public school, the Department 
of Education shall develop a plan to review unmet needs in school administrative units 
monthly or bimonthly and implement a pilot plan among no fewer than 6 school 
administrative units, including a mix of small, medium and large districts. 
The 
department shall, no later than January 31, 2008, present the pilot plan to the Joint 
Standing Committee on Education and Cultural Affairs. 
Sec. B-3. Data linkage. The Maine Education Policy Research Institute in the 
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University of Maine System shall deliver a report on or before January 31, 2008 to the 
Joint Standing Committee on Education and Cultural Affairs on necessary technical and 
legal advances that would enable data linkage to facilitate research projects that would 
involve linkage of personally identifiable health and MaineCare data and personally 
identifiable education data in a way that would be in compliance with federal privacy law 
and regulation, including the federal Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act of 1974, 
United States Code, Section 1232g (2006) and the federal Health Insurance Portability 
and Accountability Act of 1996, 42 United States Code, Sections 1320d to 1320d-8 
(2006). The institute may consult with the Office of the Attorney General and with the 
Office of Policy and Legal Analysis for advice on identifying which, if any, state laws, 
rules or policies would have to be changed to enable or facilitate such studies within the 
bounds of federal law and regulation. This report must include a design of a pilot study 
to test the technical advances outlined in this section and must also investigate the 
possibility of data linkage for assessing the effectiveness and efficiency of delivery of 
early intervention, education and health and human services to individuals with 
disabilities. 
The report may describe data linkage with a broad range of research 
questions. 
The report may address how to use data linkage studies to assess the 
effectiveness and efficiency of delivery of early intervention, education and health and 
human services to individuals with disabilities, including the number of case managers 
per child. A goal of such work is that the Department of Education and the Department 
of Health and Human Services work together to determine how data systems can be 
designed to facilitate analysis of data across departments. 
Sec. B-4. Transition policy. The Department of Education shall develop, in 
consultation with school administrative units and Child Development Services System 
regional sites, a policy that articulates a consistent method for transition of children from 
the Child Development Services System to school administrative units. This policy must 
articulate the transmittal of records of children both previously and currently served by 
the Child Development Services System. 
Sec. B-5. 
Interagency agreement. 
The Department of Education and the 
Department of Health and Human Services shall revise the interdepartmental agreement. 
The agreement must articulate the responsibilities for appropriate referrals to the Child 
Development Services System from the metabolic screening program under the Maine 
Revised Statutes, Title 22, section 1532, from the newborn hearing screening program 
under Title 22, section 8824 and from the central registry for birth defects under Title 22, 
section 8943. The agreement must also articulate clear definitions of the roles and 
COMMITTEE AMENDMENT 
COMMITTEE AMENDMENT" A" to S.P. 666, L.D. 1850 
responsibilities of the respective departments and their regional service delivery systems 
in implementing a high-quality early childhood system consistent with the requirements 
of Parts Band C of the federal Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, 20 United 
States Code, Section 1400 et seq., as amended.' 
SUMMARY 
This amendment strikes and replaces the bill to implement certain .recommendations 
of the Subcommittee To Study Early Childhood Special Education, which was 
established by Public Law 2005, chapter 662 to study early intervention and early 
childhood special education services for children from birth to 8 years of age. The 
amendment accomplishes the following recommendations of the subcommittee. 
1. It assigns to the Child Development Services System the responsibility for service 
coordination for eligible children from birth until 5 years of age, for child find for 
children from birth until 5 years of age, for appropriate referrals to support services and 
programs outside of the system that are appropriate for children and families referred to 
the system and for ensuring that eligible children from birth until 5 years of age receive 
early intervention or free, appropriate public education as well as referrals to other 
programs and services based upon child and family needs. 
2. It expands connections of federally mandated child find and service delivery with 
school administrative units, with programs of the Department of Health and Human 
Services and with medical and other providers of services to children from birth until 5 
years of age. 
3. It requires the Department of Education and the Department of Health and Human 
Services to develop a revised interagency agreement to address mutual support for 
children with special needs from birth to 8 years of age; to assign responsibility for 
appropriate referrals from the Department of Health and Human Services to early 
intervention and special education services, including referrals to the Child Development 
Services System from the metabolic abnormality detection program, the newborn hearing 
program and the birth defects registry; to include components of a high-quality early 
childhood services system consistent with the requirements of Parts B and C of the 
federal Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, 20 United States Code, Section 1400 
et seq., as amended. 
4. 
It requires the Child Development Services System to report annually to 
legislative, advisory and governing bodies about the performance of the system, including 
information on the performance of individual regional sites and of the system. 
5. It requires the Department of Education to develop and present to the Legislature 
and to the interagency coordinating council described in the federal Individuals with 
Disabilities Education Act, 20 United States Code, Section 1441 a plan for improving 
training and support to Child Development Services System regional site boards of 
directors. 
6. It requires the Maine Education Policy Research Institute in the University of 
Maine System to explore and report to the Joint Standing Committee on Education and 
Cultural Affairs on necessary technical and legal advances that would enable data linkage 
of individually identifiable health and education data in a way that would be consistent 
COMMITTEE AMENDMENT 
COMMITTEE AMENDMENT" A " to S.P. 666, L.D. 1850 
with federal laws and regulations on privacy while facilitating research projects on such 
matters as effectiveness, efficiency and cost-effectiveness of service delivery. 
FISCAL ~OTE REQURED 
, 
(Se~ ,attached) 
COMMITTEE AMENDMENT 
Approved: 06/09/07 
~ac-
LD 1850 
LR 2513(02) 
An Act To Improve Efficiency and Effectiveness of Early Intervention and Early Childhood Special 
Education for Children from Birth to Eight Years of Age through Improved Oversight, Accountability 
and Interagency Coordination 
Fiscal Detail and Notes 
Fiscal Note for Bill as Amended by Committee Amendment 'fo1 " 
Committee: Education and Cultural Affairs 
Fiscal Note Required: Yes 
Fiscal Note 
Minor cost increase - General Fund 
Additional costs to the Department of Education, the Department of Health and Human Services, and the Maine 
Education Policy Research Institute at the University of Maine System can be absorbed within existing budgeted 
resources. 
LR2513(02) - Fiscal Note - Page 1 of 1