Title
Authorizing the Committee on People with Disabilities and Special Needs to hold hearings to examine current and best practices on secondary transition services for Philadelphia public school students.
Body
WHEREAS, With 19,487 students enrolled in special education, the School District of Philadelphia has almost five times more students ages 6-21 enrolled than the next largest school district in the Commonwealth; and
WHEREAS, Students with disabilities are legally entitled to a Free Appropriate Public Education under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act ("IDEA"); and the Individualized Education Program ("IEP") is the main tool school districts use to comply with the Act; and
WHEREAS, A component of the IEP, required for students in Pennsylvania ages 14 and older, is transition services. Transition services are a coordinated set of activities designed to prepare students with disabilities to move from school to post-school life including further education and employment; and
WHEREAS, Transition services are critical because they prepare each student to work, live and participate in the community as adults; and
WHEREAS, There exists serious concern that neither the Commonwealth, nor the School District are meeting their legal obligation to provide transition services to students; and
WHEREAS, The Pennsylvania Department of Education reports, in the School District for the 2017-2018 school year, which is the most recent year the District was monitored for transition services, 62 percent of the IEPs reviewed were not in compliance with the federal requirements for transition services; and
WHEREAS, The document, entitled Local Education Agency Performance on State Performance Plan Targets, shows that for the 2017-2018 school year, only 29 percent of students in the School District who had IEPs when they left high school were enrolled in higher education within one year of leaving high school, only 59 percent were either enrolled in higher educ...
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