SENATE JOINT MEMORIAL 3

47th legislature - STATE OF NEW MEXICO - second session, 2006

INTRODUCED BY

Cynthia Nava

FOR THE LEGISLATIVE EDUCATION STUDY COMMITTEE

A JOINT MEMORIAL

REQUESTING THE PUBLIC SCHOOL INSURANCE AUTHORITY TO STUDY DUE PROCESS REIMBURSEMENT COVERAGE FOR SCHOOL DISTRICTS.

     WHEREAS, the federal Individuals with Disabilities Education Improvement Act provides circumstances under which parents of special-needs children may request due process hearings to address grievances regarding the services that school districts provide to their children; and

     WHEREAS, since school year 2002-2003, at least nineteen school districts in New Mexico have been involved in due process hearings; and

     WHEREAS, the total cost of these due process hearings has increased from two hundred thousand dollars ($200,000) in school year 2002-2003 to one million one hundred thousand dollars ($1,100,000) in school year 2004-2005; and

     WHEREAS, the 2005 legislature considered but did not pass two measures related to hearings pursuant to the federal Individuals with Disabilities Education Improvement Act; and

     WHEREAS, one of these measures would have limited the fees paid to due process hearing officers to five thousand dollars ($5,000) per case, and the other measure would have requested a study of methods to streamline due process hearings to make them more efficient and less costly; and

     WHEREAS, the fees paid to hearing officers are only one of several costs associated with due process hearings; and

     WHEREAS, since 1997, the public school insurance authority has voluntarily provided reimbursement coverage of due process costs as a courtesy to school districts; and

     WHEREAS, in recent years financial circumstances have compelled the public school insurance authority to place conditions upon and to reduce the amount of this coverage and even to consider discontinuing it altogether; and

     WHEREAS, despite mitigating effects in the federal Individuals with Disabilities Education Improvement Act as reauthorized in December 2004 and in rules promulgated by the public education department, due process hearings still present school districts with significant costs that are difficult to anticipate;

     NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF NEW MEXICO that the public school insurance authority, in collaboration with the public education department and school districts, be requested to conduct a study to determine the most cost-effective means of providing school districts with reimbursement coverage for the costs of due process hearings; and

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that this study include means of reducing the costs, frequency and duration of due process hearings; and

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the public school insurance authority, the public education department and the school districts report their findings and recommendations to the legislative education study committee by August 2006; and

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that copies of this memorial be transmitted to the director of the public school insurance authority, the secretary of public education and the director of the legislative education study committee for appropriate distribution.

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