State Legislation

This bill was introduced in 2021, but did not pass. This legislation would create the Building Better Futures Program, which funds existing or emerging CTPs in Texas. The program will be overseen by the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board (THBC). In order to apply for Building Better Futures funding, programs must either: Have been granted CTP status by the U.S. Department of Education or be awaiting approval of CTP status. If a program awaiting CTP status is given funds, they must be declared a CTP within 3 years in order to retain Building Better Futures funds.

This bill, enacted in 2021, amends the Dual Credit Quality Act, stating that transition planning must include information regarding career and technical education opportunities, as well as postsecondary CTE opportunities. The bill also outlines how school districts within community college districts will create partnerships with one another that modify their dual-credit plan to include students with intellectual and development disabilities providing appropriate accommodations.

This legislation, enacted in 2020, appropriates $500,000 in funding for inclusive postsecondary education for students with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD) in the FY 2021 Georgia state budget. This continues an annual source of funding set up in 2019, when the legislature reallocated $500,000 from the Georgia Vocational Rehabilitation Agency to the Georgia Council on Developmental Disabilities for the purpose of promoting inclusive postsecondary education. This specific funding has been kept at the same level consistently since then.

This bill, which expired in committee in 2020, proposed the expansion of grants for students with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD) enrolled in approved comprehensive transition programs (CTPs) to include postsecondary institutions in states that share a geographic border with Minnesota. This means that Minnesota’s public financial assistance grants for students with IDD could be used at institutions in Minnesota, North Dakota, South Dakota, Iowa, and Wisconsin. Students must have an IDD and be enrolled in a comprehensive transition and postsecondary program.

Enacted in May 2019, this legislation requires the Minnesota Office of Higher Education to make available to all residents information about preparing for postsecondary education. Starting in seventh grade, students and their families must receive annual notification about postsecondary and transition planning opportunities by September 30. Information must also be supplied to out-of-school youth and their families.

This brief explores the state-level policy actions and trends that have occurred that are designed to strengthen inclusive PSE practices in several states.

This bill, introduced in 2019, but not passed, would establish a pilot program for special education students to attend college courses or vocational training programs at county college, vocational schools and local IHEs in NJ. The program would be administered by local school districts that would submit a proposal to the New Jersey Education Commissioner to set up a partnership with a nearby postsecondary institution. They would be responsible for all management and must cover students’ tuition.

The Texas Education Code (TEC), Section 61.0664 requires the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board (THECB or Coordinating Board) to conduct an ongoing study on the college recruitment of persons with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD). According to the statute, the study is to “identify previously made recruitment efforts, limitations on recruitment and possible methods for recruitment” for this population (TEC, Section 61.0664(c)).

Enacted in June 2016, this legislation mandates that the Governor’s Workforce Board create and expand job and career opportunities for individuals with intellectual, developmental, or other significant disabilities while producing a strategic statewide employment and training plan for the state. The law directs the Board to structure the plan over a period of two fiscal years and produce a comprehensive analysis of all workforce development activities in Rhode Island in order to identify strategies to improve statewide employment, including for individuals with IDD.