State Advisory Council on Special Education Calls Foul on Raised Bill 1142 Which Stops Special Education Services to Students Who Turn 21 in mid School Term

In a press release on March 22, 2009, the Connecticut State Advisory Council on Special Education opposed the policy change on special education issues in Raised Bill 1142, An Act Concerning Relief of State Mandates on School Districts. In previously proposed special education regulations (See "The Bureau Blog" May 14, 2007edition on the Connecticut State Department of Education, Bureau of Special Education website), the proposed Regulations were updated to allow students to finish their academic year on June 30th regardless of whether they reached age twenty-one during that year.

The language in the proposed Raised Bill 1142 states "The obligation of the school district under this subsection shall terminate when such child is graduated from high school or [reaches age twenty-one] upon the child's twenty-first birthday, whichever occurs first". "This completely reverses what was originally proposed in May, 2007" says Brenda J. Sullivan, Chair of the State Advisory Council on Special Education or SAC.

Brenda states that the Council has been working closely with the Bureau of Special Education for several years providing advice on updating special education regulations. The most recently outlined language revision stated: "[(7)] (4) Such education shall be continued until the end of the school year in the event that the child turns twenty-one during that school year."

Now suddenly and without warning the passage of this Bill would effectively blindside parents and force them to scramble for alternative programs during a partially completed school term. The negative impact on students who have difficulty dealing with change would be significant. It is blatantly unfair to both students and parents to place such an unnecessary burden on them.

The Council's position is that maintaining the status quo and allowing students to finish the school year in which they turn twenty-one is fair and corresponds to the regulations for other school children. No statutory provision arbitrarily terminates the ability of a non-special education student to complete a full high school program because he or she reaches a certain age. Therefore, all Special Education Students should likewise be permitted to finish the school year in which they turn twenty-one in order to complete their Individualized Education Plan or "IEP" created for that year, including the specific elements of that student's transition plan.

The Council encourages all parents of school aged children in the State of Connecticut should take notice of this dangerous legislation and actively voice their opposition to it by contacting their State Legislators.

The Connecticut Special Education Advisory Council is mandated under the Individuals with Disabilities Act (reauthorized in 2006) and Connecticut Statute to advise the Department of Education of unmet needs, to periodically review the laws, regulations, standards and guidelines related to special education and to recommend to the General Assembly and the State Board of Education any changes it deems necessary. Learn more at http://www.ctsac.org.