BILL REQ. #:  H-1200.1 

Read first time 02/06/13.   Referred to Committee on Education.

     AN ACT Relating to holding state agencies accountable for providing opportunities for certain students to participate in transition services; 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:
     (1) The office of the superintendent of public instruction must establish interagency agreements with the department of social and health services, the department of services for the blind, and any other state agency that provides high school transition services for students with disabilities or students covered by section 504 of the federal rehabilitation act of 1973, as amended (29 U.S.C. Sec. 794). The purpose of the interagency agreements is to foster effective multiagency collaboration to provide transition services for students with disabilities and students with a section 504 plan age fourteen through twenty-one, or through high school graduation, whichever occurs first. Interagency agreements are also intended to streamline services and programs, promote efficiencies, and establish a uniform focus on improved outcomes related to self-sufficiency.
     (2) The office of the superintendent of public instruction must ensure that special education teachers and school psychologists receive training to be appropriately prepared to address the transition needs of students with disabilities and students with a section 504 plan.
     (3) To the extent that data is available through data-sharing agreements established by the education data center under RCW 43.41.400, the education data center must monitor the following outcomes for students with disabilities and students with a section 504 plan after high school graduation:
     (a) The number of students who, within one year of high school graduation:
     (i) Enter integrated employment paid at the greater of minimum wage or competitive wage for the type of employment, with access to related employment and health benefits; or
     (ii) Enter a postsecondary education or training program focused on leading to integrated employment;
     (b) The wages and number of hours worked per pay period;
     (c) The impact of employment on any state and federal benefits for individuals with disabilities;
     (d) Indicators of the types of settings in which students who previously received transition services primarily reside;
     (e) Indicators of improved economic status and self-sufficiency;
     (f) Data on those students for whom a postsecondary or integrated employment outcome does not occur within one year of high school graduation, including:
     (i) Information on the reasons that the desired outcome has not occurred;
     (ii) The number of months the student has not achieved the desired outcome; and
     (iii) The efforts made to ensure the student achieves the desired outcome.
     (4) To the extent that the data elements in subsection (3) of this section are not available to the education data center through data-sharing agreements, the office of the superintendent of public instruction must collect the data.
     (5) The office of the superintendent of public instruction must prepare an annual report on the data and outcomes in subsection (3) of this section and submit the report to the legislature.
     (6) For the purposes of this section, "integrated employment" means a job where the individual with disabilities is employed in a type of job available to the general public; interacts with other workers rather than being segregated; has the same working conditions as individuals who do not have disabilities; has the same terms of employment, supervision, and promotion; and has comparable wages and benefits to other workers.