Bill Caption

Relating to positive behavioral interventions and supports for students enrolled in public school who receive special education services.

Fiscal Notes

There is no significant fiscal implication to the State.

Local Government

Some school districts would be required to hire or to contract with a behavior analyst, a clinical psychologist, or a licensed specialist in school psychology. Additionally, functional behavioral assessments are evaluations, so if they are used to develop or modify a child's behavioral intervention plan, school districts may incur expenses related to providing independent educational evaluations (IEEs) or requests for due process hearings if parents disagree with the functional behavioral assessment conducted by the district. In the latter case, parents may also incur expenses if a school district requests a due process hearing in response to a parent's request for an IEE.

Bill Analysis

SB 1584 would amend Education Code to require that staff development training include training on positive behavioral intervention and supports strategies, including ensuring that adequately trained personnel can handle the positive behavioral intervention and supports strategies needs of children in a special education program.

The bill would add a section to Education Code to provide guidelines on positive behavioral intervention strategies and providing functional behavioral assessments to students who interfere with other students' ability to learn. The bill would require school districts to notify a student's parent if restraint or time-out was used on a student by the end of the school day when it was used. The bill would require an admission, review, and dismissal (ARD) committee to be scheduled within 10 days of the incident to determine the need for a functional behavioral assessment or modified behavioral intervention plan. There are additional provisions for guidelines on behavioral intervention plans and legal use of restraints on a child.

Vote Recommendation Notes

This bill has no discernible connection to the principles of liberty, but we remain concerned about the unfunded mandate that this bill creates as well as the vagueness of the bill regarding whether or not teachers would be required to act essentially as school psychologists, instead of focusing on providing quality education to children. We are neutral on SB 1584.