An Act To Amend the Special Education, School Health and School Nutrition Laws Regarding Scoliosis Screening, the School Lunch Program, Transitional Services, Gifted and Talented Education Programs and the Maine Mentoring Partnership Grant Program
Maine Legislature, Session 124, LD 0161
Committee: Education and Cultural Affairs
Sponsors: WEBSTER, MILLS, McFADDEN, STRANG BURGESS, SUTHERLAND, BOWMAN
Amends: 20-A MRSA §6452, 20-A MRSA §6662, 20-A MRSA §7801, 20-A MRSA §7802, 20-A MRSA §990, 34-B MRSA §3004, 34-B MRSA §5433

FIRST IlEGULAR SESSION-2009 
Legislative Document 
No. 161 
H.P.140 
House of Representatives, January 20,2009 
An Act To Amend the Special Education, School Health and School 
Nutrition Laws Regarding Scoliosis Screening, the School Lunch 
Program, Transitional Services, Gifted and Talented Education 
Programs and the Maine Mentoring Partnership Grant Program 
Submitted by the Department of Education pursuant to Joint Rule 204. 
Reference to the Committee on Education and Cultural Affairs suggested and ordered 
printed. 
Presented by Representative WEBSTER of Freeport. 
71/~Ad; 1/7· 71!ac~nc7{ 
MILLICENT M. MacFARLAND 
Clerk 
Cosponsored by Senator MILLS of Somerset and Representatives: McFADDEN of 
Delmysville, PETERSON ofRllmford, STRANG BURGESS of Cumberland, SUTHERLAND 
of Chapman, Senators: BOWMAN of York, DIAMOND ofCllmberland. 
PrilltccJ WI rccydt!L1 puper 
Be it enacted by the People ofthe State of Maine as follows: 
Sec. 1. 20-A MRSA §6452, as amended by PL 1989, c. 730 and PL 2003, c. 689, 
Pt. B, §§6 and 7, is repealed. 
Sec. 2. 20-A MRSA §6662, sub-§2, as enacted by PL 2005, c. 435, § 1, IS 
amended to read: 
2. Food and beverages outside school lunch programs. The depaJtment &Ita-I-l may 
adopt rules to establish standards for food and beverages sold or distributed on school 
grounds but outside of school meal programs. These standards must include maximum 
portion sizes, except for portion sizes for milk, that are consistent with single-serving 
standards established by the United States Food and Drug Administration. Rules adopted 
II 
pursuant to this subsection are major substantive routine technical rules as defined in 
Title 5, chapter 375, subchapter 2-A. 
Rules adopted pursuant to this subsection do not apply to food and beverages sold or 
offered at community events or fund-raisers held outside the hours of the normal school 
day. 
Sec. 3. 20-A MRSA §7801, first ~, as amended by PL 2007, c. 539, Pt. 1111, § I, 
is further amended to read: 
It is the purpose of this chapter to plan, coordinate and implement service for ~ 
students with handicaps disabilities, 14 years of age or older and under 26 years of age, 
who are in transition from school to the community. It is also the purpose of this chapter 
to provide for an efficient and streamlined system of services across state agencies to 
include local and private entities that effectively deliver a combination of services that 
meet the needs of~ 
students with handicaps disabilities by: 
Sec. 4. 20-A MRSA §7802, sub-§2, as enacted by PL 1985, c. 768, § 1, IS 
amended to read: 
2. Students with disabilities in transition. "Handicapped youths Students with 
disabilities in transition" are those ~ 
students with disabilities who have attained the 
age of 14 years and meet the eligibility criteria as defined in the United States 
Rehabilitation Act, Public Law 93-112, Section 504, as amended. 
Sec. 5. 20-A MRSA §7802, sub-§3, as amended by PL 2007, c. 539, Pt. 1111, §3, 
is further amended to read: 
3. 
Services. 
"Services" means those actIvItIes undertaken to provide special 
education, habilitation, rehabilitation, vocational and related services to handicapped 
persons students with disabilities in transition from school to community. These services 
may include, but are not limited to: 
A. 
Identification of all handicapped youth students with disabilities in transition in 
schools and in the community; 
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B. 
Referral to appropriate community services and information regarding their 
location; 
C. 
Technical assistance for student education and transition plan development and 
implementation; 
D. 
Program development and evaluation; 
E. 
Case management and student tracking; 
F. 
Family training, counseling and suppOIi; 
G. 
Employer training, counseling and support; 
H. 
Facilitation of interagency communication and collaboration; and 
I. 
Planning and conducting skill development training. 
Sec. 6. 20-A MRS A §7803-A, as amended by PL 2007, c. 539, Pt. JJJJ, §7, is 
fllIiher amended to read: 
§7803-A. Transition services 
Each school administrative unit shall provide an annual statement of the transition 
services needed by a handicapped youth student with a disability in transition enrolled in 
that unit. The statement of transition services must be provided to all handicapped youth 
students with disabilities in transition who are 16 years of age or older and enrolled in 
school and may be provided to younger students when the school administrative unit 
finds it necessary. When appropriate, a cooperative agreement among the Department of 
Education department, the Department of Health and Human Services, the Department of 
Corrections and the Department of Labor must be included as part of the annual statement 
describing the responsibilities of and coordination required by those agencies. 
If a 
cooperating agency fails to provide agreed-upon services, the school administrative unit 
may notify the chair of the committee .. who may reconvene the cooperating agencies for 
the purposes of developing alternative strategies to meet the transition objectives. This 
section does not require any school administrative unit to provide noneducational services 
to students. 
Sec. 7. 20-A MRS A §7804, sub-§l-A, as amended by PL 2007, c. 539, Pt. JJJJ, 
§8, is fUliher amended to read: 
1-A. Grants. The committee, as established in section 7803, may provide funds to 
support the effective delivery of regional services to handicapped youth students with 
disabilities in transition by coordinating existing programs, when possible, and 
establishing a mechanism for ongoing coordination of programs for handicapped youths 
students with disabilities in transition at a local or regional level, including local 
educational agencies, community mental health centers, regional mental retardation 
services, regional rehabilitation programs and other public and private agencies as 
appropriate. Each project must establish a method to identify unserved and underserved 
handicapped youths students with disabilities in transition and develop services for these 
ye-utIts students. 
Sec. 8. 20-A MR.SA §7804, sub-§2, as amended by PL 2007, c. 539, Pt. JJJJ, §8, 
is further amended to read: 
2. Rules. The committee shall adopt rules that, among other provisions, require that 
existing resources for providing services to handicapped youths students with disabilities 
in transition be exhausted prior to using grants funds to provide services. 
Sec. 9. 20-A MR.SA §8102, as amended by PL 2003, c. 477, §§7 and 8, is further 
amended to read: 
§8102. Grants to school administrative units 
The department may, from federal or other funds available to: it, grant funds to' a 
school administrative unit to undertake provide gifted and talented education programs. 
A grant must be made on the basis of the requirements of the department. 
1. 
Guidefines for the identification of gifted and talented students. The 
commissioner sflaU may adopt or amend' rnEes for the IdentIfication of gifted and talented 
students and for gifted and talented education programs. 
2. 
Programs for gifted and talented students. 
A school administrative unit 
requesting funds to undertake provide a gifted and talented education program shall 
develop a proposed program of identification and education in accordance with 
guidelines established by the commissioner. 
~ime limits. The followine: limits aDo Iv. 
A. 
On or before June 30th tl 
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denartment its nFOnosed nF02'ra~. 1e school admmlstrative unit shall submit to the 
B. 
By September 1 st, the commissioner shall not!f)' the school administrative unit 
whether the nrenDsal has been funded for the foIlOWII12: fiscal vear. 
4. Technical assistance. The commissioner may provide technical assistance to a 
school administrative unit for planning for gifted and talented education programs. 
Sec. 10. 20-A MRS A §8l04, as amended by PL 2003, c. 477, §§10 and 11, is 
repealed. 
Sec. 11. 20-A MRS A §8l05 is enacted to read: 
§8105. Rules 
The commissioner may adopt or amend rules to implement this chapter, including the 
identification of students, needs and resource assessment and program planning, 
development and implementation. 
Rules adopted pursuant to this section are routine 
technical rules as defined by Title 5, chapter 375, subchapter 2-A. 
Sec. 12. 20-A MRSA §990l, as enacted by PL 2005, c. 639, ,§ 1, is repealed. 
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Sec. 13. 34-B MRSA §3004, sub-§3, <;[D, as enacted by PL 1985, c. 768, §5, is 
amended to read: 
D. 
Participate in the coordination of services for persons with chronic mental 
illnesses with local transitional services coordination projects for handicapped youth 
students with disabilities, as established in Title 20-A, chapter 308, assigning 
appropriate regional staff and resources as available and necessary in each region to 
be served by a project. 
Sec. 14. 34-B MRSA §5433, sub-§5, as enacted by PL 1985, c. 768, §7, IS 
amended to read: 
5. Transitional services coordination projects. Participate in the coordination of 
services fOi mentally retarded persons with local transitional services coordination 
projects for handicapped youths students with disabilities, as established in Title 20-A, 
chapter 308, assigning appropriate regional staff and resources as available and necessary 
in each region to be served by a project. 
Sec. 15. Maine Revised Statutes headnote amended; revision clause. In 
the Maine Revised Statutes, Title 20-A, chapter 308, in the chapter headnote, the words 
"transitional services coordination projects for handicapped persons" are amended to read 
"transitional services coordination projects for students with disabilities" and the Revisor 
of Statutes shall implement this revision when updating, publishing or republishing the 
statutes. 
SUMMARY 
This bill makes the following changes to the education laws. 
I. It repeals the requirement for scoliosis screening of students in schools. 
2. It aligns foods outside of the school meal program with school nutrition standards 
and school lunch and milk program statutes and rules. 
It changes the rule-making 
provisions, allowing but not requiring the Department of Education to adopt rules in order 
to complete alignment with current Department of Education rules Chapter 5 I. 
3. It changes references to "handicapped youths" to "students with disabilities" in 
statutes pertaining to transitional services for students with disabilities. 
4. It repeals outdated funding provisions and timelines for implementation of gifted 
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and talented provisions. 
5. It repeals the Maine Mentoring Partnership Grant Program since there have been 
no appropriations for the program for several years and the program no longer is 
operational.