Meeting of the Board of Regents | January 2009
Report of
REGENTS VESID COMMITTEE
to
The Board of Regents
January 13, 2009
Your VESID Committee held its scheduled meeting on January 13, 2009. All
members were present with the exception of Regent Chapey who was excused. Chancellor Bennett, Vice Chancellor Tisch, Regents Bendit, Bottar, Brooks Hopkins, Cohen, Dawson, Phillips, Tallon and Young also attended.
MATTERS REQUIRING BOARD ACTION
The Board voted to approve the second emergency action on the proposed amendment of sections 200.4 and 200.5 of the Regulations of the Commissioner of Education to further extend the initial effective date for required use of State forms for individualized education programs (IEP), meeting notice and prior written notice (notice of recommendation). The effective date of this second emergency rule is January 26, 2009. (VESID (A) 1)
The Board discussed the draft revised recommendations for reauthorization of NCLB and indicated their support for them. (BR (A) 3)
MATTERS NOT REQUIRING BOARD ACTION
Staff presented to the Board on New York State’s special education due process system for students with disabilities. They discussed with the Committee the procedures followed to ensure that children with disabilities and their parents are guaranteed procedural safeguards with respect to the provision of a free appropriate public education and additional steps VESID is taking to improve the quality of dispute resolution, reduce the numbers of impartial hearings and promote better communication and cooperation between parents and school districts. (VESID (D) 1)
Deputy Commissioner Cort discussed several State law and/or regulatory requirements proposed as areas for consideration for cost savings mandate relief. Some of the proposed areas would provide administrative relief to school districts; others would provide districts with greater flexibility in the design of the service delivery system. The Committee asked for additional information regarding actual cost savings and an alignment across the Department’s cost reduction recommendations which staff will bring back at the February Regents meeting. (VESID (D) 2)
That concludes our report.