S T A T E   O F   N E W   Y O R K
________________________________________________________________________

                                 4330--A

                       2015-2016 Regular Sessions

                          I N  A S S E M B L Y

                            January 30, 2015
                               ___________

Introduced  by  M. of A. SIMON, BRENNAN, BROOK-KRASNY, DINOWITZ, MILLER,
  MOSLEY, SEAWRIGHT, TITONE, TEDISCO, GOTTFRIED,  COLTON,  COOK,  FINCH,
  ROBINSON,  RODRIGUEZ,  PERRY -- Multi-Sponsored by -- M. of A. ABBATE,
  BRAUNSTEIN, CLARK, DUPREY, GIGLIO, GLICK, HEVESI,  HIKIND,  JOYNER  --
  read  once  and  referred  to  the Committee on Education -- committee
  discharged, bill amended, ordered reprinted as amended and recommitted
  to said committee

AN ACT to amend the education law, in relation to the  certification  or
  training  of  teachers,  administrators and instructors in the area of
  dyslexia and related disorders

  THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK, REPRESENTED IN SENATE AND  ASSEM-
BLY, DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:

  Section  1.  Section  3004 of the education law is amended by adding a
new subdivision 7 to read as follows:
  7. A.  NOTWITHSTANDING ANY OTHER PROVISION OF LAW, THE COMMISSIONER IS
AUTHORIZED AND EMPOWERED TO CERTIFY OR  REQUIRE  TRAINING  OF  TEACHERS,
ADMINISTRATORS  AND  INSTRUCTORS IN THE AREA OF DYSLEXIA AND ITS RELATED
DISORDERS. THE COMMISSIONER SHALL HAVE THE POWER TO PRESCRIBE THE NECES-
SARY REGULATIONS AND ESTABLISH SUCH PROGRAMS AND TRAINING RELATED TO THE
NEEDS OF CHILDREN WITH DYSLEXIA OR A RELATED DISORDER. SUCH PROGRAMS AND
TRAINING SHALL INCLUDE, BUT NOT BE LIMITED TO, SUCCESSFUL COMPLETION  OF
SUFFICIENT  HOURS  OF  COURSEWORK AND SUPERVISED CLINICAL EXPERIENCE, AS
DETERMINED BY THE COMMISSIONER TO BE EVIDENCE-BASED EFFECTIVE  PROGRAMS,
SUCH  AS  MULTISENSORY  STRUCTURED  LANGUAGE  EDUCATION OR OTHER SIMILAR
EDUCATION PROGRAMS FOR TEACHING CHILDREN AT RISK FOR BEING, OR DIAGNOSED
AS, DYSLEXIC OR A RELATED DISORDER. SUCH PROGRAMS  OR  TRAINING  MAY  BE
OBTAINED  FROM AN INSTITUTION OR PROVIDER WHICH HAS BEEN APPROVED BY THE
DEPARTMENT TO PROVIDE SUCH PROGRAMS AND TRAINING.
  B. FOR THE PURPOSES OF THIS SECTION, THE TERM "DYSLEXIA" SHALL MEAN  A
SPECIFIC  LEARNING  DISORDER  THAT IS NEUROLOGICAL IN ORIGIN AND THAT IS
CHARACTERIZED BY UNEXPECTED DIFFICULTIES WITH ACCURATE  OR  FLUENT  WORD

 EXPLANATION--Matter in ITALICS (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                      [ ] is old law to be omitted.
                                                           LBD01260-02-5
              

A. 4330--A                          2

RECOGNITION  AND  BY POOR SPELLING AND DECODING ABILITIES NOT CONSISTENT
WITH THE PERSON'S INTELLIGENCE, MOTIVATION,  AND  SENSORY  CAPABILITIES,
WHICH  DIFFICULTIES  TYPICALLY RESULT FROM A DEFICIT IN THE PHONOLOGICAL
COMPONENT OF LANGUAGE.
  S  2.  Clause (a) and subclause (i) of clause (b) of subparagraph 3 of
paragraph b of subdivision 1 of  section  4402  of  the  education  law,
clause  (a)  as  amended by chapter 53 of the laws of 1991 and subclause
(i) of clause (b) as amended by chapter 378 of the  laws  of  2007,  are
amended to read as follows:
  (a)  Obtain,  review  and evaluate all relevant information, including
but not limited to that presented by  the  parent,  person  in  parental
relationship  and teacher, pertinent to each child suspected of or iden-
tified as having a handicapping condition, including the  results  of  a
physical  examination performed in accordance with sections nine hundred
three, nine hundred four and nine hundred  five  of  this  chapter  and,
where  determined to be necessary by a school psychologist, an appropri-
ate psychological evaluation performed by a qualified private or  school
psychologist,  and  other appropriate assessments as necessary to ascer-
tain the physical, mental, emotional  and  cultural-educational  factors
which  may contribute to the suspected or identified handicapping condi-
tion, and all other school data which  bear  on  the  child's  progress,
including,  where appropriate, observation of classroom performance.  IF
THE COMMITTEE OR SUBCOMMITTEE HAS REASON TO BELIEVE THAT  THE  HANDICAP-
PING CONDITION MAY INVOLVE DYSLEXIA, AS DEFINED IN PARAGRAPH B OF SUBDI-
VISION  SEVEN  OF  SECTION  THREE  THOUSAND  FOUR  OF THIS CHAPTER, OR A
RELATED DISORDER, THE CHILD SHALL BE EVALUATED AND TESTED  ACCORDING  TO
CURRENT  SCIENTIFIC  UNDERSTANDING  OF DYSLEXIA TO DETERMINE WHETHER THE
CHILD HAS DYSLEXIA OR A RELATED DISORDER.
  (i) Make recommendations based upon a written evaluation setting forth
the reasons for the recommendations, to the child's parent or person  in
parental  relation  and board of education or trustees as to appropriate
educational programs and placement in accordance with the provisions  of
subdivision six of section forty-four hundred one-a of this article, and
as  to the advisability of continuation, modification, or termination of
special class or program placements which evaluation shall be  furnished
to  the  child's parent or person in parental relation together with the
recommendations provided, however that the  committee  may  recommend  a
placement  in a school which uses psychotropic drugs only if such school
has a written policy pertaining to such  use  that  is  consistent  with
subdivision  four-a  of section thirty-two hundred eight of this chapter
and that the parent or person in parental relation is given such written
policy at the time such recommendation is made.  IF THE CHILD IS  DETER-
MINED  TO  HAVE DYSLEXIA, AS DEFINED IN PARAGRAPH B OF SUBDIVISION SEVEN
OF SECTION THREE THOUSAND FOUR OF THIS CHAPTER, OR A  RELATED  DISORDER,
THE RECOMMENDATIONS SHALL BE MADE BY THE INDIVIDUAL EDUCATIONAL PLANNING
TEAM, WHICH SHALL BE KNOWLEDGEABLE IN THE CURRENT SCIENTIFIC UNDERSTAND-
ING  OF  DYSLEXIA, INCLUDING THE INSTRUCTIONAL COMPONENTS AND APPROACHES
FOR STUDENTS WITH DYSLEXIA. If such recommendation is not acceptable  to
the  parent  or  person  in  parental relation, such parent or person in
parental relation may appeal such  recommendation  as  provided  for  in
section forty-four hundred four of this [chapter] ARTICLE.
  S  3.  Clause (b) of subparagraph 3 of paragraph b of subdivision 1 of
section 4402 of the education law, as amended by chapter 716 of the laws
of 1991, is amended to read as follows:
  (b) Make recommendations based upon a written evaluation setting forth
the reasons for the recommendations, to the child's parent or person  in

A. 4330--A                          3

parental relationship and board of education or trustees as to appropri-
ate educational programs and placement in accordance with the provisions
of  subdivision six of section forty-four hundred one-a of this article,
and as to the advisability of continuation, modification, or termination
of  special  class  or  program  placements  which  evaluation  shall be
furnished to the child's  parent  or  person  in  parental  relationship
together  with  the recommendations provided, however that the committee
may recommend a placement in a school which uses psychotropic drugs only
if such school has a written policy pertaining to such use and that  the
parent  or  person in parental relationship is given such written policy
at the time such recommendation is made.  IF THE CHILD IS DETERMINED  TO
HAVE DYSLEXIA, AS DEFINED IN PARAGRAPH B OF SUBDIVISION SEVEN OF SECTION
THREE  THOUSAND  FOUR OF THIS CHAPTER, OR A RELATED DISORDER, THE RECOM-
MENDATIONS SHALL BE MADE BY THE INDIVIDUAL  EDUCATIONAL  PLANNING  TEAM,
WHICH  SHALL  BE  KNOWLEDGEABLE  IN  THE  INSTRUCTIONAL  COMPONENTS  AND
APPROACHES FOR STUDENTS WITH DYSLEXIA. If  such  recommendation  is  not
acceptable to the parent or person in parental relationship, such parent
or  person  in  parental  relationship may appeal such recommendation as
provided for in section forty-four hundred four of this [chapter]  ARTI-
CLE.
  S  4.  Paragraph  a  of subdivision 2 of section 4402 of the education
law, as amended by section 16-a of part A of chapter 56 of the  laws  of
2014, is amended to read as follows:
  a. The board of education or trustees of each school district shall be
required to furnish suitable educational opportunities for students with
disabilities by one of the special services or programs listed in subdi-
vision  two  of section forty-four hundred one of this article. The need
of the individual child shall determine which of such services shall  be
rendered.  IF THE STUDENT IS A STUDENT WITH DYSLEXIA OR A RELATED DISOR-
DER,  THE  DISTRICT  SHALL  BE  REQUIRED  TO PROVIDE TO SUCH STUDENT THE
SERVICES OF A TEACHER OR INSTRUCTOR  TRAINED  IN  DYSLEXIA  AND  RELATED
DISORDERS  PURSUANT  TO SUBDIVISION SEVEN OF SECTION THREE THOUSAND FOUR
OF THIS CHAPTER. Each district  shall  provide  to  the  maximum  extent
appropriate  such services in a manner which enables students with disa-
bilities to participate in regular education services when  appropriate.
Such  services  or  programs  shall  be  furnished between the months of
September and June of each year, except that for  the  nineteen  hundred
eighty-seven--eighty-eight  school  year and thereafter, with respect to
the students whose disabilities are severe enough to  exhibit  the  need
for a structured learning environment of twelve months duration to main-
tain  developmental  levels,  the board of education or trustees of each
school district upon the recommendation  of  the  committee  on  special
education  shall  also  provide, either directly or by contract, for the
provision of special services and programs as defined in section  forty-
four hundred one of this article during the months of July and August as
contained  in  the  individualized  education  program for each eligible
student, and with  prior  approval  by  the  commissioner  if  required;
provided  that a student with a disability who is eligible for services,
including services during the months of July  and  August,  pursuant  to
section  forty-four hundred ten of this article shall not be eligible to
receive services pursuant to this paragraph during the  months  of  July
and August.
  S  5.  This  act shall take effect on the thirtieth day after it shall
have become a law, provided that the  amendments  to  subclause  (i)  of
clause  (b) of subparagraph 3 of paragraph b of subdivision 1 of section
4402 of the education law made by section  two  of  this  act  shall  be

A. 4330--A                          4

subject  to  the  expiration  and  reversion  of such clause pursuant to
section 22 of chapter 352 of the laws of 2005, as amended, and  subdivi-
sion  d  of  section  27 of chapter 378 of the laws of 2007, as amended,
when  upon  such  date the provisions of section three of this act shall
take effect.