By Joanna Miller and Keighla Schmidt, Staff Writers

Local special education teachers are concerned that new rules proposed by the Minnesota Department of Education could make their work more cumbersome.

Doug Kern, director of special education for the Prior Lake-Savage Area School District, said the legislation being reviewed would equal more time spent on paperwork for special education teachers.

Five rules have undergone the most direct changes as Minnesota rules were changed to match with federal provisions in the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, (IDEA), which ensures educational services for children across the nation.

Behavioral-intervention rules increase the paperwork required when behavior situations occur, Kern said. “The rules are more prescriptive about frequency of reports,” he explained.

Another rule impacted is the specific learning-disability evaluation and identification rule. Changes will offer a second option for identifying specific learning disabilities.

The care and treatment rule changes are “designed to ensure that all regular-education students and special-education children placed for care and treatment will receive education services,” according to the Minnesota Department of Education.

Evaluation, re-evaluation and development of individualized education plan rules were revised to remove duplicate requirements to federal law.

Lastly, the rule governing criteria for re-evaluation has been proposed as a new rule, as a way to clarify discrepancies between state and federal law.

A Special Education Task Force has been examining practices in special education and determining what things educators may already be doing that meet or exceed state or federal expectations. The task force is set to convene and present its discoveries to the state Legislature on Feb. 15.

Meanwhile, Administrative Law Judge Barbara Neilson solicited comments from educators regarding proposed rule changes. The state then had the opportunity to rebut things the educators said and that deadline was Jan. 11.

Following that, Neilson has a few options. She can wait a month for the task force report to come in, make revisions based on comments from both parties, or implement the changes immediately.

Stephanie Corbey, individualized student services coordinator for the Burnsville-Eagan-Savage School District, said she sent a letter to Neilson in December asking her to wait for the report from the task force before imposing the changes.

“Holding back another month isn’t going to harm anyone,” Corbey said. “If the task force finds Minnesota to be above and beyond already, the new rules could be counter productive.”

Administrators in the Prior Lake-Savage Area School District have also submitted a letter to Judge Neilson regarding the proposed rules.

The letter echoes concerns of the Minnesota Administrators of Special Education (MASE) about Minnesota statutes that duplicate or exceed federal standards.

“The proposed special education rules will burden our special education teachers with ever-increasing paperwork and regulations,” the letter says.

Kern said the field of special education already has seen attrition because of the rigors of paperwork. “Then, it takes teacher time away from student time,” he said.

Kern sees attrition in more regulated areas, such as math, science and special education. “It’s already hard to find qualified special education teachers,” Kern said.

“The intent of the rules is obviously good. They want to make sure the rights of the students are being looked after,” Kern said.

In some districts, Kern said a due-process specialist would oversee the administrative portions that will crop up from the added duties, but he doesn’t see that happening in Prior Lake-Savage.

“We don’t want to add these kinds of regulatory processes to a situation already regulated quite a bit,” Kern said.

Kern and Westerhaus requested that the state Department of Education team with a legislative task force to review Minnesota rules and statutes.

Corbey said she has mixed feelings about the new rules.

“In some cases, it’s helpful,” she said. “But, in some cases it’s too detailed, it makes it more difficult to implement things … there are more forms, there are more processes and there are more procedures to be in compliance with the new rules.”

Visit the state Web site dedicated to updates at: www.oah.state.mn.us/cases/130019249-sped/index.html. Keighla Schmidt can be reached at kschmidt@swpub.com and Joanna Miller can be reached at jmiller@swpub.com.