256B.2 - DEFINITIONS -- POLICIES -- FUNDS.
256B.2 DEFINITIONS -- POLICIES -- FUNDS.
1. As used in this chapter:
a. "Children requiring special education" means persons under
twenty-one years of age, including children under five years of age,
who have a disability in obtaining an education because of a head
injury, autism, behavioral disorder, or physical, mental,
communication, or learning disability, as defined by the rules of the
department of education.
b. "Special education" means classroom, home, hospital,
institutional, or other instruction designed to meet the needs of
children requiring special education as defined in this subsection;
transportation and corrective and supporting services required to
assist children requiring special education, as defined in this
subsection, in taking advantage of, or responding to, educational
programs and opportunities, as defined by rules of the state board of
education.
2. It is the policy of this state to require school districts and
state-operated educational programs to provide or make provision, as
an integral part of public education, for a free and appropriate
public education sufficient to meet the needs of all children
requiring special education. This chapter is not to be construed as
encouraging separate facilities or segregated programs designed to
meet the needs of children requiring special education when the
children can benefit from all or part of the education program as
offered by the local school district. To the maximum extent
possible, children requiring special education shall attend regular
classes and shall be educated with children who do not require
special education. Whenever possible, hindrances to learning and to
the normal functioning of children requiring special education within
the regular school environment shall be overcome by the provision of
special aids and services rather than by separate programs for those
in need of special education. Special classes, separate schooling,
or other removal of children requiring special education from the
regular educational environment, shall occur only when, and to the
extent that the nature or severity of the educational disability is
such, that education in regular classes, even with the use of
supplementary aids and services, cannot be accomplished
satisfactorily. For those children who cannot adapt to the regular
educational or home living conditions, and who are attending
facilities under chapters 263, 269, and 270, upon the request of the
board of directors of an area education agency, the department of
human services shall provide residential or detention facilities and
the area education agency shall provide special education programs
and services. The area education agencies shall cooperate with the
board of regents to provide the services required by this chapter.
3. Special aids and services shall be provided to children
requiring special education who are less than five years of age if
the aids and services will reasonably permit the child to enter the
educational process or school environment when the child attains
school age.
4. Every child requiring special education shall, if reasonably
possible, receive a level of education commensurate with the level
provided each child who does not require special education. The cost
of providing such an education shall be paid as provided in section
273.9, this chapter, and chapter 257. It shall be the primary
responsibility of each school district to provide special education
to children who reside in that district if the children requiring
special education are properly identified, the educational program or
service has been approved, the teacher or instructor has been
licensed, the number of children requiring special education needing
that educational program or service is sufficient to make offering
the program or service feasible, and the program or service cannot
more economically and equably be obtained from the area education
agency, another school district, another group of school districts, a
qualified private agency, or in cooperation with one or more other
districts.
5. Moneys received by the school district of the child's
residence for the child's education, derived from moneys received
through chapter 257, this chapter, and section 273.9 shall be paid by
the school district of the child's residence to the appropriate
education agency, private agency, or other school district providing
special education for the child pursuant to contractual arrangements
as provided in section 273.3, subsections 5 and 6. Section History: Early Form
[C46, 50, 54, 58, 62, 66, 71, 73, 75, 77, 79, 81, § 281.2] Section History: Recent Form
83 Acts, ch 3, § 1; 83 Acts, ch 96, § 157, 159; 85 Acts, ch 24,
§1; 89 Acts, ch 135, § 82; 89 Acts, ch 265, § 41; 92 Acts, ch 1022,
§1; 92 Acts, ch 1163, §63
C93, § 256B.2
96 Acts, ch 1129, § 68, 113; 97 Acts, ch 23, §24; 2009 Acts, ch
133, §224
Referred to in § 234.1, 237.3, 256.7, 273.1, 273.2, 273.7, 598.21B