Celebration of a Measure that Places the Burden of Proof in Special Education on the School System Rather than the Parent.

 CONCORD – Katie Duran of Wolfeboro was beaming Thursday and said she almost accidentally signed House Bill 581 just after Gov. Chris Sununu in celebration of a measure that places the burden of proof in special education on the school system rather than the parent.

Duran and her mother Carrie, who is headed to Nashville to the Miss Amazing Pre-Teen Pageant, stood with other parents and families for the bill signing for a law that also includes the development of a committee to study the special education Individual Education Plan (IEP) and dispute resolution processes.

Sununu said it was a “bipartisan win” for the state that “hits home for a lot of families.”

 “It’s a very complicated path,” Sununu said. “You almost have to be a lawyer.”
State Rep. Rick Ladd, R-Haverhill, called the bill’s signing “almost historical.”

He was a school principal and at one time was also involved in getting special education services for a grandchild.
“When you look into it as a parent, who has the burden of proof? I did not have access to the piles of information” the school had.
Now, he said, the bill has “flipped the burden of proof.”

http://indepthnh.org/2021/07/29/sununu-signs-special-education-bill/