HB2170 amends Arizona’s special education statute governing individualized education programs (IEPs) for students with disabilities. The bill requires that, when a student is found eligible for special education because of a specific learning disability, the student’s IEP must indicate whether the student has been diagnosed with dyslexia. It also preserves existing rules that special education services be provided at no cost, that students receive necessary testing accommodations, and that students with disabilities are not automatically required to pass statewide assessments or the civics test to graduate unless the IEP specifically requires it in a particular academic area.
The bill also directs the State Board of Education to adopt guidelines clarifying the role of parents or guardians, or adult students, in developing a Section 504 plan, including testing accommodations. In addition, it expands how Arizona treats homeschooled pupils for purposes of federal special education services by deeming them included within the term used for private-school pupils, and it requires school districts and charter schools to provide federally funded services to homeschooled and private-schooled pupils in the same manner when such funds are available.
Impact
HB2170 changes A.R.S. § 15-763, affecting school districts, charter schools, special education staff, parents, and students with disabilities. Its main legal effect is to add a dyslexia-identification requirement to IEPs for students with specific learning disabilities and to formalize state guidance on parent/student participation in Section 504 planning. It also broadens the state’s treatment of homeschooled students for the delivery of federally funded special education services, which may affect how districts allocate and administer those services.
Sentiment
The bill appears to have been broadly supported and noncontroversial in the legislative process. It passed the House Education Committee, House Rules Committee, House third reading, Senate Education Committee, and Senate third reading with overwhelming support, including a 27-1 vote in the Senate. The lack of recorded opposition in committee and the strong floor votes suggest general agreement with the bill’s focus on dyslexia identification, parental involvement, and access to special education services.
Contention
No major substantive controversy is evident in the available record. The only recorded dissent was a single no vote on Senate third reading, but no committee transcripts are available to show the basis for that opposition. Potential areas of interest, though not reflected in the vote record, include the administrative burden on schools to document dyslexia diagnoses in IEPs, the scope of parent versus student control in Section 504 planning, and the requirement to serve homeschooled and private-schooled pupils consistently when federal funds are provided.