At the latest Board of Education Standards meeting, officials addressed rule changes stemming from new laws passed at this year’s legislative session. Namely, changes to special education programming.
Over 200 new laws take effect this month, including regulations for districts statewide.
Linda Turner is special education division director with the state Department of Education. She presented the rules proposal to the board.
“This change is from the Division of Special Education and Early Learning to the dispute resolution options," Turner said. "This rule change is coming about because of legislation from the 2024 session. There was a bill that passed that changes the timeline to allow a party to appeal a due process decision – it changed it from a 90-day time limit to a 30-day time limit.”
Put simply, the bill cuts the window to appeal by two-thirds.
“This is consistent with state law in other appeal options, but it was different in our administrative rule," Turner said. "This is a permissible change under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act as it’s left up to the state to determine the timeline between 30 to 90 days.”
Ultimately, Turner said the change met little challenge.
“There were no public comments collected during the request for public comment period, and when the bill was up in legislative session there was very little testimony in opposition during legislative session either,” Turner said.
The rules change was approved unanimously by the board as presented, with no opponent testimony offered.