urgent advocacy action request

Proposed Changes to the WACs

OSPI is proposing rule changes to the WACs that pertain to the provision of special education. These proposed changes have been reviewed by the WSASP Government and Public Relations (GPR) committee. While many of the changes involve moving toward person-first language and aligning vocabulary used throughout, there are some substantial changes being proposed. GPR highlighted several positive additions and has identified three changes that raise concerns. Though there are positive changes you may want to highlight in your comment, we recommend that you submit public comments only on areas of concern, and to do so as clearly as possible. To assist you, we have drafted language you may want to use in your public comment, as well as recommended replacement language for the WACs. In the text below, underlined sections are the changes we are recommending. As you make your comment, it is important to maintain the underlined portions of this drafted language and to not underline anything else. This helps the reader to understand what is being proposed. 

In addition to making these comments as individuals, the WSASP President will submit comments on behalf of WSASP, and Carrie Suchy, NCSP, from GPR has registered to testify at the 1/13 hearing being held via zoom. GPR has secured the support of WEA as well.  They will be submitting public comment on these three points as an organization in addition to WSASP.  GPR is also contacting other ESA professional organizations to increase the volume of this advocacy action. Please share this information with your colleagues who may also share these concerns.

Positive Additions or Changes in the Proposal:

• Changing the age limit for Developmental Delay through age 9 (was formerly through 8 years old), meaning a student can have services in this area until the day they turn 10.

• WAC 392-172A-01035 section 1e adds the sentence “Special education services may not be solely based on the disability category for which the student is eligible." 

• • While this has been the professional interpretation for many years, to have this explicitly stated is great!

• Across the entire document there are word changes moving towards student-first language.

Proposed Changes that are of concern:

• Changing the referral timeline from 25 school days to 15 school days.  

• • OSPI has indicated this is to be consistent with the OSPE letter 11-07, linked below. This letter pertains to delaying evaluations as a result of RtI, which is not permitted. We argue that we need this time not to delay an evaluation when we suspect a disability, but to gather data to help a team determine if they do suspect a disability, as opposed to any problems with instruction, environment, or curriculum. We also note concerns about scheduling within the shorter time frame.

• Adding behavior services as a related service with no definition of what that is. 

• • We have no concern with this being added as an option, but all other related services are defined to some extent. This should be no different. We have drafted a definition.

• Adding a required form for parents to complete when making a referral for special education.  

• • While we read this to be an attempt to remove barriers for parents and ensure parents rights to this process, we have concerns that it may inadvertently create a barrier for parents who would not have previously been required to make their request in writing.

Making a Public Comment:

For each area of concern, we have drafted comments you can submit with in under 1 minute.  You are encouraged to add information specific to your district or experience to these pre-written comments. For example: What do you use those 25 days for? Is it primarily a scheduling problem, or are you using that time to gather data? What information do you need to know if you suspect a student has a disability which is adversely impacting their educational progress?

You can send all three comments, as well as any other feedback, or delete those which you do not want to send,  by clicking "Take Action Now" below.

Take Action Now

 If you prefer to mail or fax your comments you can find that information here.

References

Proposed changes (these are updated in real time when OSPI makes changes based on public comment)

OSEP letter 11-07