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Professional
Scholarship Application
Each year the
HouMet Chapter of the Texas Educational Diagnostician’s
Association (TEDA), uses the funds raised at their November
conference to provide scholarships for college students with
disabilities and education professionals working towards certification
as Educational Diagnosticians.
HouMet plans to
award one scholarship in the amount of $750 to a university
graduate student in May of 2009.
Download
the application here
GENERAL
INFORMATION
Building a Stronger Chapter
Hou-Met
is seeking a contact person from each local district to facilitate
communication among our membership. If you are interested
or want to recommend someone, please contact us by e-mail,
Chapter
Contacts. We can
only grow and get stronger with your support and active participation.
Over
the last few months several key issues have occurred that
relate to special education and school law.
On November
19, 2004 Congress Passed and sent to the White House the reauthorization
of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act. More information
can be obtained at www.cec.sped.org
or http://thomas.loc.gov.
On October
25, 2004 the Assistive Technology Act was reauthorized. CEC
indicates that the primary purpose of the reauthorization
is to shift access of assistive technology resources from
networks to individuals. More information can be obtained
at www.cec.sped.org
.
On September 15,
2004 State District Judge John Dietz of Travis County found
that the state's current funding practices inadequately fund
education, thus violating the Texas Constitution.
On July
12, 2004 , the United States Department of Education responded
to the Texas Education Agency in regards to the Annual Yearly
Progress issue. The USDE denied TEA's request for an exception
to the 1% cap on use of the 2003-04 results from alternative
assessments in the AYP performance measures. More detailed
information on this subject may be accessed at www.tea.state.tx.us
.
Federal-IDEA
2004 Some Key Issues for Diagnosticians:
LD
Eligibility – “In General. – Notwithstanding
section 607(b), when determining whether a child has a specific
learning disability as define in section 602, a local education
agency shall not be required to take into consideration whether
a child has a sever discrepancy between achievement and intellectual
ability in oral expression, listening comprehension, written
expression, basic reading skill, reading comprehension, mathematical
calculation, or mathematical reasoning.
Additional Authority.—
In determining whether a child has a specific learning disability,
a local educational agency may use a process that determines
if the child responds to scientific, research-based intervention
as a part of the evaluation procedures described in paragraphs
(2) and (3).
IEP
Team Attendance:
“ Attendance
is Not Necessary.—A member of the IEP Team shall not
be required to attend an IEP meeting, in whole or in part,
if the parent of a child with a disability and the local educational
agency agree that the attendance of such member is not necessary
because the member's area of the curriculum or related services
is not being modified or discussed in the meeting. Excusal.—A
member of the IEP Team may be excused from attending an IEP
meeting, in whole or in part, when the meeting involves a
modification to or discussion of the member's area of the
curriculum or related services, if—(I) the parent and
the local educational agency consent to the excusal; and (II)
the member submits, in writing to the parent and the IEP Team
, input into the development of the IEP prior to the meeting.
(iii) Written Agreement and Consent Required. – A parent's
agreement under clause (i) and consent under clause (ii) shall
be in writing.”
“(III)
Effect on Agency Obligations.— If the
parent of such child refused to consent to the receipt of
special education and related services or parent fails to
respond to request to provide such consent—(aa) the
local educational agency shall not be considered to be in
violation of the requirement to make available a free appropriate
public education to the child for the failure to provide such
child with the special education and related services for
which the local educational agency requests such consent;”
“
Agreement not to Convene IEP meeting: “ The
district an parents may agree not to convene an IEP meeting
to make changes to a child's IEP after the annual IPE meeting
for the school year. Instead, they may develop a written document
to amend or modify the current IEP.” 614(d)(3)(E).
Copy
of Safeguards only Once Per Year: “ A copy
of procedural safeguards must be provided to the parents only
1 time per year. However, a copy must be given to the parents
upon initial referral, upon the first occurrence of a filing
of a complaint, or upon request by a parent.” 615(d)(1)(B).
State
- Key Legislative Issues to watch for include:
SBEC
Sunset bills SB 418 and HB 1633 – SB 418 contains
language requiring educational diagnosticians to be certified.
HB
2 – This is the new school finance bill. It
is attempting to change how schools are funded in Texas .
It also contains a statement that would require that schools
start for students on the first Tuesday after Labor Day and
end school no later than June 7.
CSHB
2 – The Senate version of the bill –
establishes on year of free college tuition for the child
of a teacher who has completed 15 years of service and an
additional year of free tuition for each year of service after
15 years.
Websites that help
you stay up to date on what is going on with Federal at State
Issues:
www.cec.sped.org
, thomas.loc.gov,
www.txeda.org,
www.houmet.org
, www.capitol.state.tx.us
If you
want to read the complete texts of these bills go to: Legislature. |
