Posted by Howard Richman on November 12 2005 at 20:58:25:
In Reply to: Re: House bill 14 posted by Becky on November 12 2005 at 20:34:20:
I found the bill. It´s part of a bill designed to reduce property taxes. If this bill passes, the state, not the local school districts, would pay for special education.
Under the bill, parents of children that had been identified as handicapped would file two copies of their affidavit, one with the local school district and the other with the PA Department of Education. They could then request special education services from the PA Department of Education which would then be provided by the local Intermediate Unit.
The purpose of the bill is to have the local Intermediate Unit give special education services to homeschooling parents, should the parent request them. Currently, homeschooling parents can request the services from the local school district, but some school districts refuse to offer them. The Intermediate Unit would probably provide those services, should the parent request.
One problem is that the services would still have to be provided in a local school -- why restrict the services to schools? The rest of the bill does not tell the Department of Education where it must provide such services. The Department can even hire an independent contractor to provide them if it wishes. Why should only the services for homeschoolers have to take place in a school. I would suggest the following change in language. Currently the bill reads:
The supervisor of the home education program may request that the Department of Education through the intermediate unit of residence provide services that address the specific needs of the exceptional student in the home education program. When the provision of services is agreed to by both the supervisor and the Department of Education, all services shall be provided in the public schools or in a private school licensed to provide such programs and services.I would change the part that I italicized at the end so that the passage reads:
The supervisor of the home education program may request that the Department of Education through the intermediate unit of residence provide services that address the specific needs of the exceptional student in the home education program. When the provision of services is agreed to by both the supervisor and the Department of Education, all services shall be provided at an appropriate location.There may be additional problems with the bill´s language that need to be ironed out, but I don´t see this bill as especially threatening. It actually might provide some homeschooling families with free special education services.
Howard