Delaware Senate Bill 92 (Prior Session Legislation)

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Spectrum: Slight Partisan Bill (Democrat 10-4)
Status: Enrolled on April 14 2016 - 75% progression, died in committee
Action: 2016-05-05 - Assigned to Appropriations Committee in House
Pending: House Appropriations Committee
Text: Latest bill text (Draft #1) [HTML]

Delaware Code Title 141332 addresses the Program for Children with Autism and its “Special Staff.” Enacted nearly three decades ago, these regulations established a network of educational programs initially within a separate school structure known as The Delaware Autism Program (DAP). Today, this network continues as a combination of both separate school programs and within local school district support services. In addition, the code designates a Statewide Director who primarily has provided direction, training, and technical assistance within the DAP. However, current practices in special education, especially regarding inclusive education and parents’ desire to have their children educated within their local communities, seem to be incongruent with this older model of service delivery. In addition, the magnitude of the increase in students identified with ASD has clearly created difficulty for the Statewide Director to provide the level of services/support that once was offered. Therefore, the recommended code changes also revise the concept of DAP toward a system in which the Statewide Director would work in collaboration with a team of experts to provide technical assistance and training to districts and educational entities. This recommendation reconstitutes the regulations to neutralize the distinction between DAP approved programs and other in-district options, thereby, allowing and providing adequate resources to serve on behalf of all student with ASD in Delaware. The number of technical/ training experts has been identified as one expert per 100 students statewide. It is suggested that the fiscal mechanism to support these changes should be through mandated district participation that is congruent with the current needs based funding system in Delaware. Lastly, the current mandatory committee structure is enhanced to include a Parent Advisory Committee, in addition to the Peer Review Committee and Statewide Monitoring Review board. These changes include articulation of the qualifications and duties of the Statewide Director for Students with ASD; the addition of a technical assistance team of educational autism specialists numbering a ratio of 1 for every 100 students (currently estimated at 15 positions); and the further clarification / additions to the committee structure for family input, monitoring, and protections under human rights. This recommendation recognizes and supports the need for specialized technical assistance and training staff to be available to build capacity for teachers in all districts and other programs educating students with ASD. These changes essentially expand available supports so that excellent, evidence-based training and technical assistance can be made available to all Delaware schools and the students within them.

An Act To Amend Title 14 Of The Delaware Code Relating To Education And Autism Spectrum Disorder.

Sen. Margaret Henry [D]	Sen. Catherine Cloutier [R]	Rep. Earl Jaques [D]	Sen. Patricia Blevins [D]
Sen. Bruce Ennis [D]	Sen. Bryan Townsend [D]	Rep. Paul Baumbach [D]	Rep. Stephanie Bolden [D]
Rep. Ronald Gray [R]	Rep. Kevin Hensley [R]	Rep. John Mitchell [D]	Rep. Michael Ramone [R]
Rep. Bryon Short [D]	Rep. Kimberly Williams [D]

Date	Chamber	Action
2016-05-05	House	Assigned to Appropriations Committee in House
2016-05-04	House	Reported Out of Committee (EDUCATION) in House with 1 Favorable, 7 On Its Merits
2016-04-19	House	Introduced and Assigned to Education Committee in House
2016-04-14	Senate	Passed by Senate. Votes: Passed 21 YES 0 NO 0 NOT VOTING 0 ABSENT 0 VACANT
2016-04-14	Senate	Amendment SA 1 - Passed by Senate. Votes: Passed 21 YES 0 NO 0 NOT VOTING 0 ABSENT 0 VACANT
2016-04-14	Senate	Amendment SA 1 - Introduced in Senate
2015-06-03	Senate	Reported Out of Committee (EDUCATION) in Senate with 4 Favorable, 4 On Its Merits
2015-05-12	Senate	Assigned to Education Committee in Senate

Type	Source
Summary	http://legis.delaware.gov/LIS/lis148.nsf/2bede841c6272c888025698400433a04/25d6f36fc1e3d46385257e150054a52a?OpenDocument
Text	http://legis.delaware.gov/LIS/lis148.nsf/vwLegislation/SB+92/$file/legis.html?open