S T A T E   O F   N E W   Y O R K
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                                  5439

                       2015-2016 Regular Sessions

                            I N  S E N A T E

                              May 14, 2015
                               ___________

Introduced  by  Sen.  GOLDEN -- read twice and ordered printed, and when
  printed to be committed to the Committee on Education

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
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

 EXPLANATION--Matter in ITALICS (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
              

                      [ ] is old law to be omitted.
                                                           LBD01260-03-5

S. 5439                             2

(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
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

S. 5439                             3

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
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.