CHAPTER 115
SUBCHAPTER V
children with disabilities
115.758 Construction. To the extent possible, this subchapter shall be construed in a manner that is consistent with 20 USC 1400 to 1487.
115.76 Definitions. In this subchapter:
(1) “Assistive technology device" means any item, piece of equipment or product system that is used to increase, maintain or improve the functional capabilities of a child with a disability.
(2) “Assistive technology service" means any service that directly assists a child with a disability in the selection, acquisition or use of an assistive technology device, including all of the following:
(a) The evaluation of the needs of the child, including a functional evaluation of the child in the child's customary environment.
(b) Purchasing, leasing or otherwise providing for the acquisition of assistive technology devices by the child.
(c) Selecting, designing, fitting, customizing, adapting, applying, maintaining, repairing or replacing of assistive technology devices.
(d) Coordinating and using other therapies, interventions or services with assistive technology devices, such as those associated with existing education and rehabilitative plans and programs.
(e) Training or technical assistance for the child or, where appropriate, the child's family.
(f) Training or technical assistance for professionals, including individuals providing education and rehabilitative services, employers or other individuals who provide services to, employ or are otherwise substantially involved in the major life functions of the child.
(3) “Child" means any person who is at least 3 years old but not yet 22 years old and who has not graduated from high school.
(4) “Child caring institution" means a child welfare agency licensed under s. 48.60.
(5) (a) “Child with a disability" means a child who, by reason of any of the following, needs special education and related services:
1. Cognitive disabilities.
2. Hearing impairments.
3. Speech or language impairments.
4. Visual impairments.
5. Emotional disturbance.
6. Orthopedic impairments.
7. Autism.
8. Traumatic brain injury.
9. Other health impairments.
10. Learning disabilities.
(b) “Child with a disability" may, at the discretion of the local educational agency and consistent with department rules, include a child who, by reason of his or her significant developmental delay, needs special education and related services.
(6) “Division" means the division for learning support, equity and advocacy in the department.
(7) “Free appropriate public education" means special education and related services that are provided at public expense and under public supervision and direction, meet the standards of the department, include an appropriate preschool, elementary or secondary school education and are provided in conformity with an individualized education program.
(8) “Hearing officer" means an independent examiner appointed to conduct hearings under s. 115.80.
(9) “Individualized education program" means a written statement for a child with a disability that is developed, reviewed and revised in accordance with s. 115.787.
(10) “Local educational agency", except as otherwise provided, means the school district in which the child with a disability resides, or the department of health and family services or the department of corrections if such department is responsible for providing a free appropriate public education to the child.
(11) “Native language", when used with reference to an individual of limited English proficiency, means the language normally used by the individual.
(12) “Parent" means a biological parent; a husband who has consented to the artificial insemination of his wife under s. 891.40; a male who is presumed to be the child's father under s. 891.41; a male who has been adjudicated the child's father under subch. VIII of ch. 48, under ss. 767.45 to 767.51, by final order or judgment of an Indian tribal court of competent jurisdiction or by final order or judgment of a court of competent jurisdiction in another state; an adoptive parent; a legal guardian; a person acting as a parent of a child; a person appointed as a sustaining parent under s. 48.428; or a person assigned as a surrogate parent under s. 115.792 (1) (a) 2. “Parent" does not include any person whose parental rights have been terminated; the state or a county or a child welfare agency if a child was made a ward of the state or a county or child welfare agency under ch. 880 or if a child has been placed in the legal custody or guardianship of the state or a county or a child welfare agency under ch. 48 or ch. 767; or an American Indian tribal agency if the child was made a ward of the agency or placed in the legal custody or guardianship of the agency.
(13) “Person acting as a parent of a child" means a relative of the child or a private individual allowed to act as a parent of a child by the child's biological or adoptive parents or guardian, and includes the child's grandparent, neighbor, friend or private individual caring for the child with the explicit or tacit approval of the child's biological or adoptive parents or guardian. “Person acting as a parent of a child" does not include any person that receives public funds to care for the child if such funds exceed the cost of such care.
(14) “Related services" means transportation and such developmental, corrective and other supportive services as may be required to assist a child with a disability to benefit from special education, including speech-language pathology and audiology services; psychological services; physical and occupational therapy; recreation, including therapeutic recreation; social work services; counseling services, including rehabilitative counseling; orientation and mobility services; medical services for diagnostic and evaluative purposes only; and the early identification and assessment of disabling conditions in children.
(15) “Special education" means specially designed instruction, regardless of where the instruction is conducted, that is provided at no cost to the child or the child's parents, to meet the unique needs of a child with a disability, including instruction in physical education.
(16) “Supplementary aids and services" means aids, services and other supports that are provided in regular education classes or other education-related settings to enable a child with a disability to be educated with nondisabled children to the maximum extent appropriate.
(17) “Transition services" has the meaning given in 20 USC 1401 (30).
115.762 Division for learning support, equity and advocacy. (1) Appointment of administrator. The state superintendent shall appoint the administrator of the division.
(2) Staff. Subject to the approval of the state superintendent, the administrator of the division shall appoint qualified staff necessary to perform the duties required of the division.
(3) Division duties. The division is responsible for all of the following:
(a) Ensuring that all children with disabilities, including children who are not yet 3 years of age, who reside in this state and who are in need of special education and related services are identified, located and evaluated.
(am) Ensuring that a free appropriate public education is available to all children with disabilities who reside in this state, including such children who are suspended or expelled from school.
(b) Developing and implementing a practical method to determine which children with disabilities are receiving special education and related services.
(c) Complying with the requirements of this subchapter and applicable federal law, including 20 USC 1415 (k).
(d) Coordinating and supervising the provision of all publicly funded special education and related services for children with disabilities in this state and ensuring that such education and services meet the educational standards of the department, including any criteria established by the department relating to enrollment.
(e) Pursuant to s. 115.77 (4), approving the plan for the provision of all special education and related services provided by a local educational agency.
(g) Monitoring and enforcing local educational agency and child caring institution compliance with this subchapter and applicable federal law, including 20 USC 1415 (k).
(h) Maintaining current information on all publicly funded special education and related services within this state and making this information public.
(i) Coordinating a comprehensive system of personnel development that is designed to ensure an adequate supply of qualified special education, regular education and related services personnel and that meets the requirements of applicable federal law, including participation, as appropriate, by institutions of higher education, state and local agencies and other public and private organizations.
(j) Examining data to determine if significant discrepancies are occurring in the rate of long-term suspensions and expulsions of children with disabilities among local educational agencies or compared to such rates for nondisabled children within such agencies. If such discrepancies are occurring, the division shall review and, if appropriate, revise or require the affected local educational agency to revise its policies, procedures and practices relating to the development and implementation of individualized education programs, the use of behavioral interventions and procedural safeguards to ensure that such policies, procedures and practices comply with this subchapter.
(4) Limitation. Nothing in this subchapter requires that special education and related services be provided to a child with a disability who is at least 18 years old but not yet 22 years old and who, in the child's educational placement before his or her incarceration in a state prison, was not identified as a child with a disability or for whom an individualized education program was not developed.
115.77 Local educational agency duties. (1) In sub. (1m) (a) to (d), except as provided in s. 118.51 (12) (a) and (b) 2., if a child with a disability is attending a public school in a nonresident school district under s. 118.51, “local educational agency" means the school district that the child is attending.
(1m) A local educational agency shall demonstrate to the satisfaction of the division that it does all of the following:
(a) Identifies, locates and evaluates all children with disabilities who are in need of special education and related services, including such children who are not yet 3 years of age. A local educational agency may provide special education and related services to children with disabilities who are not yet 3 years of age under an interagency agreement with a county agency responsible for the early intervention program under s. 51.44.
(b) Makes available a free appropriate public education to children with disabilities as required by this subchapter and applicable state and federal law.
(bg) Includes children with disabilities in statewide and local educational agency-wide assessments, with appropriate modifications where necessary, or in alternative assessments for those children who cannot participate in statewide or local educational agency-wide assessments.
(c) Ensures that children participating in early intervention programs under s. 51.44 who will participate in preschool programs assisted under this subchapter experience a smooth and effective transition to those preschool programs and that, by the 3rd birthday of such a child, an individualized education program has been developed and is being implemented for the child. The local educational agency shall participate in transition planning conferences arranged by the county administrative agency, as defined in s. HFS 90.03 (10), Wis. adm. code.
(d) Ensures that children with disabilities who are enrolled in private schools and facilities are provided special education and related services, in accordance with individualized education programs, at no cost to them or to their parents, if such children are placed in, or referred to, such schools or facilities by a local educational agency to satisfy the requirements of this subchapter or applicable federal law.
(e) To the extent consistent with the number and location of children with disabilities residing in the local educational agency who are enrolled by their parents in private elementary and secondary schools, ensures that those children have an opportunity to participate in special education and related services and that the amount spent to provide those services by the local educational agency is equal to a proportionate amount of federal funds made available under this subchapter.
(f) Establishes written policies and procedures for implementing this subchapter and applicable federal law.
(g) Makes available to any person, upon request, all documents relating to the agency's eligibility for funds under this subchapter.
(h) Regularly publicizes information regarding its special education procedures and services.
(2) The local educational agency shall provide the division with information necessary to enable the division to carry out its duties under this subchapter and applicable federal law.
(3) Any state or federal aid that is made available to a local educational agency for special education and related services shall be used by the local educational agency to comply with this subchapter.
(4) A local educational agency shall submit to the division, pursuant to a schedule and instructions established and published by the division, the agency's plan, including a program narrative, for the provision of special education and related services that includes all of the following:
(a) The extent to which special education and related services is or is not organized around particular disabilities.
(b) The licensure and other preparation or experience of special education staff.
(c) The age ranges of pupils who are children with disabilities.
(d) The range of severity of disability among children with disabilities.
(e) The ratio of pupils to full-time equivalent staff, including both the ratio of pupils assigned to special education instructional and related services staff and to total special education instructional, support and administrative staff.
(f) The way parents participate in the development and review of the plan.
(g) The extent to which children with disabilities receive special education or related services beyond the school term.
(h) The way the local educational agency provides for a continuum of alternative placements that addresses the unique needs of children with disabilities and ensures that such children receive their educational programming in the least restrictive environment, including the agency's use of placements out of the agency and out of the state and private placements.
(i) The local educational agency's plan for employing qualified special education and related services staff, evaluating its staff's special education in-service needs and the plan for meeting those needs.
(j) The local educational agency's plan for evaluating its system for the design and delivery of special education and related services and for addressing any needs that are identified by the evaluation, including all of the following:
1. The local educational agency's graduation rate for children with disabilities and how the rate compares to the agency's graduation rate for nondisabled children.
2. The local educational agency's rate of suspension and expulsion of children with disabilities and how the rate compares to the agency's rate of suspension and expulsion of nondisabled children.
3. The local educational agency's overall incidence rate of children with disabilities and the agency's incidence rates of particular disabilities.
4. The rate of participation of the local educational agency's children with disabilities in statewide and local educational agency-wide assessments and the results of those assessments.
5. The rate of participation of the local educational agency's children with disabilities in alternative assessments and the results of those assessments.
6. The number of referrals under s. 115.777 and the percentage of those referrals resulting in the provision of special education and related services.
7. The number of children with disabilities placed in appropriate, interim, alternative educational settings under 20 USC 1415 (k) (1) (A) (ii).
8. General information about the satisfaction of parents of children with disabilities and adult pupils who are receiving special education and related services with special education and related services.
9. General information about persons who no longer attend high school and who received special education and related services provided by the local educational agency, such as whether they are employed, are living independently and are enrolled in postsecondary education.
10. If the local educational agency is a school district, the number of children with disabilities who attend the school district under s. 118.51, the disability of each such child and the special education or related services received by each such child.
(k) A roster of all of the agency's special education and related services staff, their function, their social security numbers and their special education licensure.
(L) Statements of assurance as required by applicable federal law.
(m) Information relating to access of private school pupils to the local educational agency's special education and related services.
