PRINTER'S NO. 1057
No. 939 Session of 1989
INTRODUCED BY MARKOSEK, SAURMAN, SCHULER, JACKSON, LaGROTTA AND
RUDY, APRIL 3, 1989
REFERRED TO COMMITTEE ON EDUCATION, APRIL 3, 1989
AN ACT
1 Amending the act of March 10, 1949 (P.L.30, No.14), entitled "An
2 act relating to the public school system, including certain
3 provisions applicable as well to private and parochial
4 schools; amending, revising, consolidating and changing the
5 laws relating thereto," further providing for the definition
6 of "exceptional children."
7 The General Assembly of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania
8 hereby enacts as follows:
9 Section 1. Section 1371 of the act of March 10, 1949
10 (P.L.30, No.14), known as the Public School Code of 1949, is
11 amended by adding a clause to read:
12 Section 1371. Definition of Exceptional Children; Reports;
13 Examination.--* * *
14 (1.1) The term "exceptional children" shall include children
15 of school age who suffer from autism. For purposes of this act,
16 autism shall be defined and determined as follows:
17 (i) The term "autism" shall mean a lifelong developmental
18 disability which is typically manifested before thirty (30)
19 months of age.
1 Autism is characterized by disturbances in the rates and
2 sequences of cognitive, affective, psychomotor, language and
3 speech development.
4 (ii) The manifestation of the characteristics specified in
5 subclause (i) and all of the following characteristics shall
6 determine if a person is autistic:
7 (A) Disturbance in the capacity to relate appropriately to
8 people, events and objects.
9 (B) Absence, disorder or delay of language, speech or
10 meaningful communication.
11 (C) Unusual or inconsistent response to sensory stimuli or
12 abnormalities relating to any of the following:
13 (I) Sight.
14 (II) Hearing.
15 (III) Touch.
16 (IV) Pain.
17 (V) Balance.
18 (VI) Smell.
19 (VII) Taste.
20 (VIII) The way a child holds his or her body.
21 (D) Insistence on sameness as shown by stereotyped play
22 patterns, repetitive movements, abnormal preoccupation or
23 resistance to change.
24 (iii) For a child to be considered to be autistic, there
25 shall be an absence of the characteristics associated with
26 schizophrenia, such as delusions, hallucinations, loosening of
27 associations and incoherence.
28 (iv) A determination of impairment shall be based upon a
29 comprehensive evaluation by a multidisciplinary evaluation team.
30 The team shall include, at a minimum, a psychologist or
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1 psychiatrist, a teacher of speech and the language impaired, and
2 a school social worker.
3 (v) A determination of impairment shall not be based solely
4 on behaviors relating to environmental, cultural or economic
5 differences.
6 * * *
7 Section 2. Section 1372 of the act, amended January 14, 1970
8 (1969 P.L.468, No.192) and August 24, 1977 (P.L.199, No.59), is
9 amended to read:
10 Section 1372. Exceptional Children; Education and
11 Training.--(1) Standards for Proper Education and Training of
12 Exceptional Children. The State Board of Education shall adopt
13 and prescribe standards and regulations for the proper education
14 and training of all exceptional children by school districts or
15 counties singly or jointly. The Department of [Public
16 Instruction] Education shall have power, and it shall be its
17 duty, to determine the counties which shall be joined for the
18 purpose of providing proper education and training of
19 exceptional children. Standards and regulations shall recognize
20 such factors as number of exceptional children, types of
21 handicaps, facility of transportation, adequacy of existing
22 provisions for exceptional children, and availability of school
23 plant facilities.
24 (1.1) Classrooms for Autistic Children. To provide
25 standards addressing the highly specialized environment for
26 appropriate education of autistic children, classroom size and
27 management for autistic children shall be set forth in each
28 autistic child's individualized educational program and shall be
29 in accordance with the following standards:
30 (i) There shall be two (2) teachers specialized in autism
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1 and one teacher's aide for each classroom of autistic children.
2 The term "specialized in autism" shall mean a minimum of an
3 undergraduate degree in special education, three (3) credit
4 hours in behavior management, six (6) credit hours in autism,
5 one (1) on the job team teaching practicum with a certified
6 mentor teacher in a program for autistic children and three (3)
7 continuing education credits ever two (2) years.
8 (ii) Classrooms with students who are determined as being
9 most challenging and classrooms with autistic children who have
10 received formal group education for three (3) or less years
11 shall have not less than three (3) and not more than six (6)
12 students.
13 (iii) In other instances, there shall be no more than nine
14 (9) students in a classroom of autistic children.
15 (iv) A behavior specialist or master teacher shall be
16 assigned to each program of autistic children for the purposes
17 of crisis intervention, teacher training and one-on-one
18 instruction for students who have severe behaviors which create
19 classroom and teaching difficulties. This staff person shall be
20 free of regular teaching commitments, but shall have a formal
21 room, for the purpose of carrying on the duties set forth in
22 this paragraph.
23 (2) Plans for Education and Training Exceptional Children.
24 Each intermediate unit, cooperatively with other intermediate
25 units and with school districts shall prepare and submit to the
26 [Superintendent of Public Instruction] Secretary of Education,
27 on or before the first day of August, one thousand nine hundred
28 seventy for his approval or disapproval, plans for the proper
29 education and training of all exceptional children in accordance
30 with the standards and regulations adopted by the State Board of
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1 Education. Plans as provided for in this section shall be
2 subject to revision from time to time as conditions warrant,
3 subject to the approval of the [Superintendent of Public
4 Instruction] Secretary of Education.
5 (3) Special Classes or Schools Established and Maintained by
6 School Districts. Except as herein otherwise provided, it shall
7 be the duty of the board of school directors of every school
8 district to provide and maintain, or to jointly provide and
9 maintain with neighboring districts, special classes or schools
10 in accordance with the approved plan. The Secretary of Education
11 shall superintend the organization of such special classes and
12 such other arrangements for special education and shall enforce
13 the provisions of this act relating thereto. If the approved
14 plan indicates that it is not feasible to form a special class
15 in any district or to provide such education for any such child
16 in the public schools of the district, the board of school
17 directors of the district shall secure such proper education and
18 training outside the public schools of the district or in
19 special institutions, or by providing for teaching the child in
20 his home, in accordance with rules and regulations prescribed by
21 the Department of Education, on terms and conditions not
22 inconsistent with the terms of this act or of any other act then
23 in force applicable to such children. However, the institution
24 of special classes and programs at the secondary level for
25 exceptional children who are gifted and talented students may be
26 deferred until September 1978 at the discretion of the board of
27 the school directors of any school district.
28 In addition to the above and in accordance with rules and
29 regulations prescribed by the Department of Education, homebound
30 instruction shall be provided for children confined in detention
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1 homes as provided in section 7, act of June 2, 1933 (P.L.1433,
2 No.311), as amended, for the period of their confinement, if
3 their confinement exceeds or is expected to exceed ten days,
4 even though such children are not exceptional.
5 (4) Classes for Exceptional Children. The intermediate unit
6 shall have power, and it shall be its duty, to provide,
7 maintain, administer, supervise and operate such additional
8 classes or schools as are necessary or to otherwise provide for
9 the proper education and training for all exceptional children
10 who are not enrolled in classes or schools maintained and
11 operated by school districts or who are not otherwise provided
12 for.
13 (5) Day-Care Training Centers, Classes and Schools for the
14 Proper Education and Training of Exceptional Children. Where in
15 the judgment of the [Superintendent of Public Instruction]
16 Secretary of Education, the provisions of this act relating to
17 the proper education and training of exceptional children have
18 not been complied with or the needs of exceptional children are
19 not being adequately served, the Department of [Public
20 Instruction] Education is hereby authorized to provide,
21 including the payment of rental when necessary, maintain,
22 administer, supervise and operate classes and schools for the
23 proper education and training of exceptional children. Pupil
24 eligibility for enrollment in classes for exceptional children
25 shall be determined according to standards and regulations
26 promulgated by the State Board of Education. For each child
27 enrolled in any special class or school for exceptional children
28 operated by the Department of [Public Instruction] Education,
29 the school district in which the child is resident shall pay to
30 the Commonwealth, a sum equal to the "tuition charge per
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1 elementary pupil" or the "tuition charge per high school pupil"
2 as determined for the schools operated by the district or by a
3 joint board of which the district is a member, based upon the
4 costs of the preceding school term as provided for in section
5 two thousand five hundred sixty-one of the act to which this is
6 an amendment plus a sum equal to ten (10) per centum of such
7 tuition charges. In the event that any school district has not
8 established such "tuition charge per elementary pupil" or
9 "tuition charge per high school pupil," the [Superintendent of
10 Public Instruction] Secretary of Education shall fix a
11 reasonable charge for such district for the year in question. In
12 order to facilitate such payments by the several school
13 districts, the [Superintendent of Public Instruction] Secretary
14 of Education shall withhold from any moneys due to such district
15 out of any State appropriation, except from reimbursement due on
16 account of rentals as provided in section two thousand five
17 hundred eleven point one of the act to which this is an
18 amendment, the amounts due by such school districts to the
19 Commonwealth. All amounts so withheld are hereby specifically
20 appropriated to the Department of [Public Instruction] Education
21 for the maintenance and administration of centers and classes
22 for exceptional children.
23 (6) Pupils Credited to District of Residence. The average
24 daily membership of pupils enrolled in classes and schools for
25 exceptional children, operated by an intermediate unit or by the
26 Department of [Public Instruction] Education, shall be credited
27 to the school district of residence for the purpose of
28 determining the district's "teaching units" to be used in
29 calculating the district's reimbursement fractions or weighted
30 average daily membership to be used in calculating a district's
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1 aid ratio and in determining payments to the district on account
2 of instruction as provided in section two thousand five hundred
3 two of the act to which this is an amendment.
4 Section 3. This act shall take effect in 60 days.
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