First Regular Session
Sixty-second General Assembly
LLS NO. 99-0106.01 Julie Pelegrin HOUSE BILL 99-1045
STATE OF COLORADO
BY REPRESENTATIVES Gotlieb and Mace;
also SENATORS Tebedo, Arnold, and Hernandez.
EDUCATION
A BILL FOR AN ACT
101 CONCERNING EDUCATION OF GIFTED STUDENTS.
Bill Summary
(Note: This summary applies to this bill as introduced and does
not necessarily reflect any amendments that may be subsequently
adopted.)
Committee on Dropout Rates in Secondary Schools. Requires
each administrative unit to adopt policies to ensure that any student who
indicates that he or she may be gifted receives an evaluation to determine
whether the student should receive an individual education program (IEP)
for gifted students.
Specifies that the determination of whether a student is gifted and
should receive an IEP shall be made by a committee of professionals
appointed by the school district board of education. Instructs the
committee to work with the student's parents. Applies the existing
procedures for appealing the determination of a disability to any appeal
of the determination of whether a student is gifted.
Requires the administrative unit to provide an IEP for gifted
students, based on requirements adopted by the state board of education,
to any student who the committee determines to be gifted. Requires the
IEP to specify whether the gifted student will achieve the school district
content standards or personalized content standards included in the IEP.
Requires, rather than allows, administrative units to develop a
management plan for excellence in education, which shall include the
education of gifted children. Requires each administrative unit, no later
than October 1, 1999, to submit to the department of education an
addendum to its plan for providing an education to all children with
disabilities to specify how the administrative unit will provide an
education to gifted students.
Makes a conforming amendment.
[ ] denotes HOUSE amendment. { } denotes SENATE amendment.
Capital letters indicate new material to be added to existing statute.
Dashes through the words indicate material to be deleted from existing statute.
Page 2
1 Be it enacted by the General Assembly of the State of Colorado:
2 SECTION 1. 22-20-102.5, Colorado Revised Statutes, is
3 amended to read:
4 22-20-102.5. Legislative declaration - identification of gifted
5 students - required testing. (1) The general assembly hereby finds and
6 declares that traditional assessment methods currently used do not
7 adequately identify some gifted children STUDENTS, including those who
8 are economically and culturally disadvantaged and those with disabilities;
9 and that the state board, the department, and every administrative unit are
10 encouraged to give the highest priority to the identification of such gifted
11 children STUDENTS and to the development of educational programs
12 which include such gifted children STUDENTS.
13 (2) (a) EACH ADMINISTRATIVE UNIT SHALL ADOPT POLICIES TO
14 ENSURE THAT ANY STUDENT WHO PROVIDES INDICATIONS THAT HE OR SHE
15 MAY BE GIFTED RECEIVES AN EVALUATION PURSUANT TO PARAGRAPH (b)
16 OF THIS SUBSECTION (2) TO DETERMINE WHETHER THE STUDENT SHOULD
17 RECEIVE AN INDIVIDUAL EDUCATION PROGRAM FOR GIFTED STUDENTS.
18 SAID POLICIES SHALL SPECIFICALLY IDENTIFY INDICATORS THAT REQUIRE
19 EVALUATION, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO CONSISTENT OUTSTANDING
20 PERFORMANCE BY A STUDENT FOLLOWED BY AN ABRUPT DECLINE IN THE
21 STUDENT'S LEVEL OF PERFORMANCE, AN INCREASE IN BEHAVIORAL
22 PROBLEMS, OR INCREASING TRUANCY.
23 (b) THE DETERMINATION THAT A STUDENT IS GIFTED AND THE
24 RECOMMENDATION FOR PLACEMENT OF THAT STUDENT IN AN INDIVIDUAL
25 EDUCATIONAL PROGRAM FOR GIFTED STUDENTS SHALL BE MADE BY A
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1 COMMITTEE OF PROFESSIONALLY QUALIFIED PERSONNEL DESIGNATED BY
2 THE BOARD OF EDUCATION OF THE SCHOOL DISTRICT OR BY THE
3 GOVERNING BOARD OF THE BOARD OF COOPERATIVE SERVICES IF THE
4 ADMINISTRATIVE UNIT ENCOMPASSES MORE THAN A SINGLE SCHOOL
5 DISTRICT. THE STATE BOARD SHALL PRESCRIBE THE COMPOSITION OF THE
6 COMMITTEE, WHICH MAY BE COMPOSED OF, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, THE
7 FOLLOWING: THE DIRECTOR OF SPECIAL EDUCATION FOR THE
8 ADMINISTRATIVE UNIT; A PSYCHOLOGIST; A SOCIAL WORKER; A PHYSICIAN;
9 A SCHOOL ADMINISTRATOR; AND A TEACHER OF GIFTED STUDENTS. THE
10 COMMITTEE SHALL UTILIZE GUIDELINES RECOMMENDED BY THE
11 DEPARTMENT TO DETERMINE THE MOST APPROPRIATE PROGRAM IN WHICH
12 TO EDUCATE THE STUDENT. THE COMMITTEE SHALL GIVE THE STUDENT'S
13 PARENTS AN OPPORTUNITY TO CONSULT WITH THE COMMITTEE OR A
14 REPRESENTATIVE THEREOF PRIOR TO A DETERMINATION OF WHETHER THE
15 STUDENT IS GIFTED.
16 (c) IN THE EVENT OF AN APPEAL OF THE DETERMINATION OF BEING
17 GIFTED OR OF THE PLACEMENT OF A STUDENT IN AN INDIVIDUAL
18 EDUCATIONAL PROGRAM PURSUANT TO THIS SUBSECTION (2), OR AN
19 APPEAL OF THE PROGRAM TO BE OFFERED, THE APPEAL PROCEDURES SHALL
20 BE THE SAME AS THOSE PROVIDED IN SECTION 22-20-108 (3).
21 (3) EACH STUDENT DETERMINED BY THE COMMITTEE TO BE GIFTED
22 PURSUANT TO SUBSECTION (2) OF THIS SECTION SHALL BE PROVIDED WITH
23 AN INDIVIDUAL EDUCATIONAL PROGRAM FOR GIFTED STUDENTS THAT
24 SHALL BE DEVELOPED IN ACCORDANCE WITH REQUIREMENTS ESTABLISHED
25 BY THE STATE BOARD AND SHALL BE REVIEWED ANNUALLY. SUCH
26 INDIVIDUAL EDUCATIONAL PROGRAM SHALL SPECIFY WHETHER SUCH
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1 STUDENT SHALL ACHIEVE THE CONTENT STANDARDS ADOPTED BY THE
2 DISTRICT IN WHICH SUCH STUDENT IS ENROLLED OR WHETHER SUCH
3 STUDENT SHALL ACHIEVE INDIVIDUALIZED STANDARDS WHICH WOULD
4 INDICATE THE STUDENT HAS MET THE REQUIREMENTS OF SUCH STUDENT'S
5 INDIVIDUAL EDUCATIONAL PROGRAM.
6 SECTION 2. 22-20-103 (3.7), Colorado Revised Statutes, is
7 amended to read:
8 22-20-103. Definitions. As used in this article, unless the context
9 otherwise requires:
10 (3.7) "Gifted children" AND "GIFTED STUDENTS" means those
11 persons between the ages of five and twenty-one whose abilities, talents,
12 and potential for accomplishments are so outstanding that they require
13 special provisions to meet their educational needs.
14 SECTION 3. 22-20-104.5 (1), Colorado Revised Statutes, is
15 amended to read:
16 22-20-104.5. Plan for academic excellence - inclusion of gifted
17 children - cooperation. (1) Administrative units may SHALL develop
18 and implement a management plan for excellence in education which
19 shall include the education of gifted children. Any plan developed and
20 implemented pursuant to the provisions of this section shall satisfy any
21 criteria for accreditation which have been established by the state board.
22 No management plan shall be implemented by an administrative unit
23 unless adequate funding is provided for such implementation.
24 SECTION 4. 22-20-106 (2) and (3), Colorado Revised Statutes,
25 are amended to read:
26 22-20-106. Special educational programs. (2) Each
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1 administrative unit shall submit a plan to the department indicating how
2 the school district will provide for education of all children with
3 disabilities between the ages of five and twenty-one and, on and after
4 January 1, 1992, between the ages of three and twenty-one. Each unit
5 plan shall include the type and number of children with disabilities in the
6 unit based upon the department's criteria of incidence, the services to be
7 provided, and the estimated resources necessary. An addendum to the
8 administrative unit's plan to cover gifted children may SHALL be
9 submitted by January 1, 1980 OCTOBER 1, 1999.
10 (3) Administrative units shall make available special educational
11 services for the education of any child with a disability between the ages
12 of five and twenty-one and, on and after January 1, 1992, between the
13 ages of three and twenty-one under jurisdiction of the administrative unit
14 and may SHALL serve gifted students. In providing these services, an
15 administrative unit shall pay for salaries and employee benefits of
16 certified special education teachers and special education staff;
17 equipment; in-service training of the staff of an administrative unit who
18 have pupil contact; mileage expenses incurred by staff; the costs of
19 educational services for a child in an eligible facility; or any other
20 expenses related to special education. Special education services may be
21 provided by community centered boards in cooperation with
22 administrative units and school districts.
23 SECTION 5. Safety clause. The general assembly hereby finds,
24 determines, and declares that this act is necessary for the immediate
25 preservation of the public peace, health, and safety.