Relating to classroom management and related practitioner preparation procedures for reporting classroom violence and assaults, to corporal punishment, establishing a grant program and fund for creation of therapeutic classrooms, providing claims reimbursement to school districts for costs relating to therapeutic classrooms, making appropriations, and including effective date provisions

This bill relates to classroom management by providing for development and distribution of guidelines, requiring approved practitioner preparation programs to include preparation relating to the development of individualized education programs (IEP) and to positive behavioral interventions and other strategies, prohibiting implementation of what is commonly referred to as a classroom clear in a student’s IEP, establishing a therapeutic classroom incentive grant program and fund under the control of the department of education to provide competitive grants to school districts for the establishment of therapeutic classrooms, providing for the submission of reports of violence or assaults by students to the department of education and the general assembly, making changes to provisions relating to corporal punishment, and appropriating moneys. DEVELOPMENT AND DISTRIBUTION OF GUIDELINES. The bill directs the director of the department of education to develop and establish, and distribute to school districts, evidence-based standards, guidelines, and expectations for responses to behavior in the classroom that presents an imminent threat of bodily injury to a student or another person. The director must consult with the area education agencies to create comprehensive and consistent standards and guidance for professional development relating to successfully educating individuals in the least restrictive environment, and for evidence-based interventions consistent with the standards. The bill defines “bodily injury” as physical pain, illness, or any other impairment of physical condition. The bill appropriates $500,000 to the department from the general fund of the state for FY 2020-2021 for such purposes and allows the moneys to carryover for the following fiscal year. PRACTITIONER PREPARATION REQUIREMENTS. Approved practitioner preparation programs must include preparation in developing and implementing individualized education programs and behavioral intervention plans, preparation for educating individuals in the least restrictive environment, and strategies to address difficult and violent student behavior and improve academic engagement and achievement. This provision takes effect July 1, 2021. THERAPEUTIC CLASSROOM INCENTIVE GRANT AND FUND. A school district, which may collaborate and partner with one or more school districts, area education agencies, accredited nonpublic schools, nonprofit agencies, and institutions that provide children’s mental health services, located in mental health and disability services regions providing children’s behavioral health services, may apply for a grant to establish a therapeutic classroom in the school district. The department is directed to develop a grant application and selection and evaluation criteria, and to give priority to grant applications submitted by school districts located in regions providing children’s behavioral health services, with highest priority to those proposing to serve the most students. If state, federal, or private moneys deposited in the therapeutic classroom incentive fund are sufficient, the department of education may issue grants to school districts for the establishment of therapeutic classrooms. The bill appropriates $1,582,650 to the fund. Grant moneys shall be distributed after December but before the start of the school calendar for start-up costs for a new therapeutic classroom in the fall semester.5 pupils calculated for 150 pupils. The therapeutic classroom incentive fund is established in the state treasury under the control of the department of education. The department may accept gifts, grants, bequests, and other private contributions, as well as state or federal moneys, for deposit in the fund. Placement of a child requiring special education in such a classroom is subject to the state board’s rules and to federal law. The bill defines “therapeutic classroom”. Provisions relating to the therapeutic classroom incentive grant and fund take effect upon enactment.9, but who are assigned to a therapeutic classroom that is located more than miles from the school designated for attendance or accredited nonpublic school and is operated by another school district or accredited nonpublic school under an agreement between the school districts or between a school district and an accredited nonpublic school. The bill appropriates $500,000 from the general fund of the state to the department of education for the transportation reimbursement claims, allows the moneys to carryover to the following fiscal year, and establishes conditions for which the department must prorate the amount of claims reimbursement. Such claims shall include the number of eligible pupils transported, the number of days each pupil was transported, and a listing of the actual costs incurred. On or before December 1, 2022, the department shall review the data collected through the claims process and shall prepare and submit to the general assembly a report containing an analysis of the efficacy of claims reimbursement and recommendations for changes as appropriate.9, subsection 1, paragraph “b”, “c”, or “d”, and for whom behavioral intervention plans have been implemented. The bill includes a formula for determining the amount of the claim. The bill provides, for each fiscal year beginning on or after July 1, 2021, an appropriation from the general fund of the state to the department an amount necessary to pay all approved claims. An accredited nonpublic school pupil shall be enrolled in a school district as a shared-time pupil for the school district to be eligible to submit such claims. The bill directs the department to draw warrants payable to school districts for such claims by July 1. The bill makes conforming changes relating to state assistance to school districts for transportation costs. BOARD OF EDUCATIONAL EXAMINERS.51A. CLASSROOM CLEAR REQUIREMENTS. Though an IEP developed for a child requiring special education and a behavioral intervention plan implemented for a child shall not include provision for clearing all other students out of the regular classroom in order to calm the child, a classroom teacher may clear students from a classroom if a student’s behavior presents an immediate danger to the health or safety of persons in the classroom. If a teacher clears a classroom in such a situation, the school principal must, by the end of the school day optimally or at least within hours of the incident, notify the parents or guardians of all students assigned to the classroom of the action taken to clear the classroom. The notification shall not identify the student. The principal of the school shall request that the parent or guardian of the student whose behavior caused the classroom clearance meet with the principal, the classroom teacher, and other staff as appropriate. If the student has an IEP, the classroom teacher may call for and be included in a review and potential revision of the student’s IEP or by the student’s IEP team. A classroom teacher must report any incident of violence or assault by a student to the principal. REPORTS OF INSTANCES OF VIOLENCE OR ASSAULT. Each school district shall report to the department of education, in a manner prescribed by the department, an annual count of all instances of violence or assault by a student in a school building, on school grounds, or at a school-sponsored function, and any time a student is referred for the use of or transfer to a therapeutic classroom. The bill describes the information the report must include, and requires that the department summarize the reports and submit the summary to the general assembly by November annually. A teacher or administrator who submits such a report and meets certain statutory requirements is immune from civil or criminal liability and reprisals against such teacher or administrator are prohibited. Personal information regarding a student in such a report is confidential. CORPORAL PUNISHMENT. The bill also adds to exemptions under the statutory provisions relating to corporal punishment of a student, provides circumstances under which a school employee shall be granted immunity from civil and criminal liability, and immunity from disciplinary action by the employer or the board of educational examiners, which results from reasonable and necessary physical contact with a student, and establishes an evidentiary standard for a disciplinary action. Currently, if an employee’s physical contact with the body of a student meets current statutory requirements and is reasonable and necessary under the circumstances, the physical contact shall not be considered corporal punishment. To the current circumstances under which a school employee shall be granted immunity, the bill adds relocating a student who is causing a severe distraction or disturbance that is detracting from the educational experience of other students. To prevail in a disciplinary action alleging violation of the corporal punishment provisions or a related school policy, the bill provides that the party bringing the action must prove the violation by clear and convincing evidence. EMERGENCY RULEMAKING AUTHORITY. The bill authorizes the state board of education to adopt emergency rules to implement the bill. This provision takes effect upon enactment.