117A 95th Legislative Session 615
AMENDMENT 117A FOR THE INTRODUCED BILL
Introduced by: Senator Nesiba
An Act to require the Department of Education to establish certain programs for children who are deaf and hard-of-hearing and to provide an appropriation.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of the State of South Dakota:
Section 1. That § 13-33B-1 be AMENDED:
13-33B-1. Programs for deaf and hard‑of‑hearing children.
The Department of Education may
shall establish
a program and policy to be disseminated to all school districts and
other local educational agencies which promote the education of
children who are
deaf and hard‑of‑hearing
children
and which recognizes the following:
(1) That deafness involves the
most basic of human needs, the ability to communicate with other
human beings. Many
children who are
deaf and hard‑of‑hearing
children
use, as their primary communication mode, American sign language,
while others express and receive language through English‑based
sign language, or orally and aurally, with or without visual signs or
cues. Still others, typically young
children who are
deaf and hard‑of‑hearing
children,
lack any significant language skills. Deaf
Children
who are deaf and
hard‑of‑hearing
children
require educational programs that provide appropriate, ongoing, and
communicationally accessible educational opportunities. For the
purposes of this chapter, communication mode and language refer to
the individual child's communication mode or language, whether oral,
manual, or a combination of oral and manual. The purpose of this
chapter is to promote understanding of communication needs and not to
favor any one particular communication mode or language over another;
(2) That
children who are
deaf and hard‑of‑hearing
children
shall have an education in which their unique communication mode is
respected, utilized, and developed to an appropriate level of
proficiency;
(3) That
children who are
deaf and hard‑of‑hearing
children
have an education in which special education teachers, psychologists,
speech therapists, assessors, administrators, interpreters, and other
personnel understand the unique nature of deafness and are
specifically trained to work with
children who are
deaf and hard‑of‑hearing
children
and in which their special education teachers and interpreters are
proficient in the primary language mode of those children;
(4) That
children who are
deaf and hard‑of‑hearing
children
have an education with a sufficient number of language mode peers who
are of the same or approximately the same age and ability level and
with whom the children can communicate directly, or as appropriate
through the use of qualified interpreters;
(5) That parents of
children who are
deaf and hard‑of‑hearing
children,
people
who are deaf
and hard‑of‑hearing
people,
teachers, and professionals trained in the area of education of the
deaf assist in determining the extent, content, and purpose of this
program;
(6) That
children who are
deaf and hard‑of‑hearing
children
have direct and appropriate access to all components of the
educational process, including recess, lunch, and extracurricular
social and athletic activities;
(7) That
children who are
deaf and hard‑of‑hearing
children
have programs in which their unique vocational needs are provided
for, including appropriate research, curricula, programs, staff, and
outreach;
(8) That a determination of the
least restrictive environment as used in state and federal law takes
into consideration the unique communication needs of
children who are
deaf and hard‑of‑hearing
children
as described in this chapter;
(9) The Department of Education
shall take such steps as are necessary to implement this section,
including,
but not limited to,
the development of written and other materials, the dissemination of
said
the
information, and the provision of workshops, symposia, and other
procedures to insure that the local educational agencies understand
and implement the policy of this chapter.
Section 2. There is hereby appropriated from the general fund the sum of three hundred seventy thousand three hundred thirty-eight dollars ($370,338), or so much thereof as may be necessary, to the Department of Education, for purposes of promoting the education of children who are deaf and hard-of-hearing.
Section 3. The secretary of the Department of Education shall approve vouchers and the state auditor shall draw warrants to pay expenditures authorized by this Act.
Section 4. Any amounts appropriated in this Act not lawfully expended or obligated by June 30, 2021 shall revert in accordance with the procedures prescribed in chapter 4-8.
Catchlines are not law. (§ 2-16-13.1) Underscores indicate new language.
Overstrikes
indicate deleted language.