Tag Archives: ARD Committees

Dawg Bones

LEGISLATIVE ALERT! ARDC MEETINGS!!

 S.B. 1259 goes into effect with the start of the 2015-16 school year.  It does three specific things.

First, it specifies that the “regular education teacher” member of the ARDC must “to the extent practicable, be a teacher who is responsible for implementing a portion of the child’s” IEP.  In other words, don’t just pull a random P.E. teacher out of the hall. Get someone there who will be working with the student in the classroom.

Second, it specifies that the written documentation of the ARDC meeting must include the date of the meeting, the name position and signature of each member participating in the meeting, and “an indication of whether the child’s parents, the adult student if applicable, and the administrator agreed or disagreed with the decisions of the committee.”  More on this in a moment.

Third, each member of the committee who disagrees with the IEP developed by the ARDC is entitled to include a statement of disagreement.

We have had a lot of wrangling of late about this “agree or disagree” business.  For many years our rules required “each member’s agreement or disagreement with the committee’s decisions.”  Federal law has no such requirement, but Texas imposed it via 19 T.A.C. 89.1050(e).

This rule was dropped as of January 1, 2015. Thus current rules have no requirement that each member of the group indicate agreement or disagreement.

But now we have a statute that requires a statement of whether or not the parent (or adult student) and the administrator are in agreement with the decisions made.

This makes sense.  The ARD Committee needs to know, at the conclusion of business, whether or not there is an agreement between the school and the parent/adult student.  If there is a disagreement, the parent/adult student has the right to seek legal recourse.  So it is important for the record to reflect clearly whether or not the parent (or adult student) agrees with decisions regarding identification, evaluation, placement and the provision of a FAPE.  The administrator plays a critical role in this because he/she is identified in the regulations as the “representative of the school district.”

DAWG BONE: GET READY TO CHANGE THOSE IEP FORMS AGAIN!

 

 

Dawg Bones

Does every member of the ARD Committee have to agree or disagree with the decisions made at the meeting?

For as long as I can remember, Texas has required each member of the ARD Committee to indicate whether he or she agrees or disagrees with the decisions made at the meeting.  IEP forms used by school districts accommodated this requirement by including an “agree/disagree” check box next to the name of each of the required members of the Committee.

As of January of this year, this changed.  The Commissioner adopted new rules that dropped the “agree/disagree” requirement.  ARD procedures are spelled out at 19 T.A.C. 89.1050, and they no longer require the “agree/disagree” from each member.

But hold on.  Now there is a bill pending in the legislature (HB 3991) that would go back to the old way of doing business.

Out of curiosity I put out a question on the Council of School Attorneys’ website asking how other states handle this issue. I was informed that Oklahoma and Nebraska require each member of the IEP Team to agree or disagree. But there is no such requirement in Alabama, Connecticut, Georgia, Illinois, Louisiana, New York, Oregon or Utah.

What difference does it make?  Not a lot.  But if Texas wants to keep its procedures pared down to only what the feds require, it should not re-impose this requirement.  Federal law spells out who is supposed to be at the ARDC meeting, but does not require each individual to signify an agreement or disagreement with each decision.  The only time the IDEA speaks of each member “agreeing or disagreeing” is in connection with the report of the “group of qualified professionals” considering whether or not a child has a learning disability.  34 CFR 300.311(b).

It’s an obscure issue, but our special education laws specialize in micro-management. Thus the beat goes on. Keep an eye on HB 3991.

DAWG BONE: DON’T ORDER THOSE NEW IEP FORMS JUST YET.