BILL REQ. #:  H-4316.1 

Read first time 01/25/10.   Referred to Committee on Education.

     AN ACT Relating to parental involvement in the development of educational programs for children with disabilities; and adding a new section to chapter 28A.155 RCW.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF WASHINGTON:

NEW SECTION.  Sec. 1   A new section is added to chapter 28A.155 RCW to read as follows:
     In order for parents of a child with disabilities to participate fully and effectively with school personnel in the consideration and development of appropriate educational programs for their child, policies adopted pursuant to RCW 28A.605.020 must provide that, upon request by a parent, parents and parent-designated independent evaluators and educational consultants shall be afforded timely access for observations of the child's current program and of any program proposed for the child, including both academic and nonacademic components of any such program. Parents and their designees must be afforded access of sufficient duration and extent to enable them to evaluate the child's performance in a current program and the ability of a proposed program to enable the child to make effective progress. No conditions or restrictions may be imposed on the observations except those necessary to ensure the safety of children in a program, the integrity of a program while under observation, or the safeguarding of personally identifiable information consistent with the requirements of the federal family educational rights and privacy act and applicable state laws.