PRINTER'S NO. 2952
THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF PENNSYLVANIA
HOUSE BILL
No.
2083
Session of
2019
INTRODUCED BY HOHENSTEIN, LEE, D. MILLER, MURT, DEASY, FREEMAN,
HARKINS, HARRIS, HILL-EVANS, ISAACSON, KENYATTA, KINSEY,
MALAGARI, MARKOSEK, McCLINTON, McNEILL, READSHAW, SHUSTERMAN,
SOLOMON, ULLMAN, DeLUCA, ROEBUCK, GALLOWAY AND GILLEN,
NOVEMBER 22, 2019
REFERRED TO COMMITTEE ON EDUCATION, NOVEMBER 22, 2019
AN ACT
Providing for rights of deaf students, for duties of school
entities and for duties of Department of Education.
The General Assembly of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania
hereby enacts as follows:
Section 1. Short title.
This act shall be known and may be cited as the Deaf
Student's Bill of Rights Act.
Section 2. Definitions.
The following words and phrases when used in this act shall
have the meanings given to them in this section unless the
context clearly indicates otherwise:
"Deaf." An impairment of hearing or speech which creates an
inability to understand or communicate the spoken English
language.
"Deaf student." A student enrolled in a school entity who is
deaf, hard of hearing or deaf-blind.
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"Department." The Department of Education of the
Commonwealth.
"School entity." A school district, intermediate unit, joint
school, area vocational-technical school, charter school,
regional charter school or cyber charter school.
"Technical support services." Technical assistance to ensure
compliance with Federal and State law, regulations and policies
regarding instruction requirements for deaf students.
Section 3. Declaration of purpose.
The General Assembly finds and declares as follows:
(1) Children who are deaf, hard of hearing or deaf-blind
who utilize one or more modes of communication have the same
rights and potential as children who are not deaf, hard of
hearing or deaf-blind.
(2) Each school entity must administer a deaf student's
bill of rights to ensure that deaf students have the same
access to a quality education as students who are not deaf,
hard of hearing or deaf-blind.
Section 4. Duties of school entities.
A school entity shall have the following duties:
(1) Provide a deaf student with appropriate screenings
and assessments of hearing and vision capabilities and
communication and language needs at the earliest possible age
and the continuation of the screenings and assessments
throughout the educational experience.
(2) Inform the parent or legal guardians of a deaf
student of all educational placement considerations,
including whether the deaf student should be placed in a
private school approved by the department to provide
instruction to deaf children.
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(3) Provide opportunities for the parent or legal
guardian of a deaf student to fully participate in the
development and implementation of education plans for the
deaf student.
(4) Provide a deaf student with opportunities to meet
and associate with adult role models who are deaf, hard of
hearing or deaf-blind and who utilize varied communication
modalities to learn advocacy skills, including self-advocacy.
(5) Provide a deaf student with opportunities to meet
and associate with their peers in the school environment and
during school-sponsored activities.
(6) Provide direct instruction to a deaf student.
(7) Provide a deaf student placement in an educational
environment that is best suited to the deaf student's
individual needs, including, but not limited to, social,
emotional, communication and cultural needs, by considering
all of the following factors:
(i) The deaf student's age.
(ii) The degree and type of hearing loss experienced
by the deaf student.
(iii) The deaf student's academic level.
(iv) The deaf student's mode of communication, style
of learning and motivational level.
(v) The amount of family support for the deaf
student.
(8) Provide a deaf student with free and appropriate
instruction across a continuum of education placement options
as required by Federal and State law.
(9) Offer a deaf student technical support services
provided by qualified and certified professionals in the deaf
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student's educational setting.
(10) Provide a deaf student with full communication
access to all programs in the deaf student's educational
settings, including, but not limited to, extracurricular
activities, recess, lunch, media showings, driver education
and public announcements.
(11) Ensure that the parent or legal guardian of a deaf
student receives information from appropriately qualified and
certified professionals on the medical, ethical, cultural and
linguistic issues of deaf individuals.
(12) Ensure that a deaf student has direct access to
mental health services and supporting services from qualified
and certified providers fluent in the deaf student's primary
mode of communication, including American Sign Language.
Section 5. Duties of department.
The department, in collaboration with the Pennsylvania
Training and Technical Assistance Network (PaTTAN), shall work
with school entities to ensure technical support services are
available to school entities for the purpose of complying with
section 4(10).
Section 6. Construction.
Nothing in this act shall be construed to provide greater
rights or protections than provided under the Individuals with
Disabilities Education Act (Public Law 91-230, 20 U.S.C. § 1400
et seq.), the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 (Public Law 93-112, 29
U.S.C. § 701 et seq.) or any other Federal law.
Section 7. Effective date.
This act shall take effect in 60 days.
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