A House bill proposes amending education statutes to require teachers, classroom instructions, individualized education programs, policies and rules to be “culturally competent” in order to interact effectively with students of different cultures, languages and economic backgrounds.
It would also require teachers to provide at least two alternate instruction strategies during regular classroom teaching before a special education evaluation could be administered.
The House E-12 Policy Committee on Tuesday heard HF341 authored by former Speaker of the House Rep. Paul Thissen (DFL-Mpls).
“This is not a silver bullet,” Thissen said. “It’s the start to a conversation we need to have.”
Thissen said another possible solution would be to require districts to provide more information for parents regarding special education placement procedures prior to enrolling students. The committee laid the bill over for possible omnibus bill inclusion. It has no Senate companion bill.
